Balance

Johannes (49) is visited by his daughter Clara (20). A one-night stopover before she takes off on a long journey. But when Clara's flight is cancelled, they suddenly have more time than they are used to and have to leave their comfort zones.

Johannes lives in Berlin and hasn't seen his young adult daughter Clara for several months. In the meantime, she has graduated from school in the Netherlands, where she lives with her mother, and is about to move to Korea for an indefinite time. She stops off to spend a night with Johannes in Berlin before setting off on her long journey. But when Clara's flight is cancelled, they suddenly have more time than they are used to and have to leave their comfort zones. During the following winter road trip between punk rock and poetry to a place from their family past, they negotiate growing up in a father-daughter relationship.

Keywords: child-parent relationships, coming of age, fatherhood

Director's note:
In BALANCE I explore the complexities of a father-daughter relationship marked by physical distance. As a father of three, I experience both the closeness and distance in relationships with my own children, creating emotional challenges. In BALANCE, I want to portray the insecurities and inner conflicts in parent-child interactions and at the same time show the deep, lasting love between them. Therefore I want to establish the relationship as the protagonist and focus on the crucial moment when a daughter begins to separate because this is one of the biggest emotional challenges for this type of bond. I use visual elements such as blurred images and kaleidoscope effects to reflect the fragmentation of life, where moments of separation and closeness coexist. For me, BALANCE raises universal questions about what makes family relationships meaningful and enduring and also talks about life in its unpredictable and non-linear forms.

Producer's note:
BALANCE is created with a fluid, collaborative approach, involving multiple departments from the start, fostering constant interaction. To maintain this creative flow, we kept the team small, aiming for a triple debut in direction, screenplay, and camera. Working independently allowed us to bypass lengthy decision-making processes of traditional funding, preserving creative freedom and capturing the energy of the moment. BALANCE is our first feature film produced by projekt:::film, following several shorter projects. As a director and producer, my goal is to create a special arthouse film for the cinema, driven by passion and voluntary commitment. I believe BALANCE has the potential to first cause a stir at festivals and in international arthouse cinemas and then move on to digital marketing. Its universal themes of parent-child relationships in a mobile, modern world, combined with its emotional and musical storytelling, promise to resonate with viewers.