Sound of Falling
A work of thrilling ambition realised by an assured directorial vision.
At times, it seems as though tragedy has seeped into the very walls of the sprawling farmhouse in Germany’s Altmark region where this story unfolds, only to leach out and pollute the happiness of each subsequent generation. At others, it feels as though the decades that separate the lives of the four girls who are the film’s focus are fluid, and that the barrier of time is somehow permeable. What’s certain is that “Sound of Falling,” the striking second feature from German director Mascha Schilinski, is a work of thrilling ambition, realised by an assured directorial vision.
It’s a work of striking beauty – the subdued, velvety light of farmhouse interiors is a backdrop against which children glow like pearls; the wholesome golds and fecund greens of the arable fields suggest a land bursting with life and shadowed by death.
Wendy Ide, Screen Daily
Mascha Schilinski (1984) is a German film director and screenwriter. She studied screenwriting at Filmschule Hamburg Berlin and directing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. Her early notable works include the medium-length film “Die Katze” (2015) and her first feature film “Die Tochter” (“Dark Blue Girl”, 2017), which premiered at the Berlinale and was shown at some 40 international film festivals, earning awards in various categories. In 2025, her second feature “Sound of Falling” was co-written with Louise Peter and premiered in the main competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize. It has also been selected as Germany’s submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th Academy Awards.
Filmography:
Die Tochter (Dark Blue Girl, 2017), In die Sonne schauen (Sound of Falling, 2025)
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