First Feature Competition Special Jury Award

Horst is a man whose life has been overshadowed by missed opportunities. Now, in a nursing home and with Alzheimer’s disease eroding his remaining memories, he is reunited with a brother he hasn’t spoken to in 30 years. Franz, who is in financial trouble and covets an inheritance, sees his brother as both an adversary and the only witness to their shared life, full of lost opportunities and unredeemed guilt.

Memories emerge like flashes in the dark. They reveal traces of brotherly love and envy: a jilted bride, a mother lost in Lourdes and silent guilt. Each memory is like a piece of a puzzle, attempting to piece together the whole picture. However, the more pieces that appear, the less certain it seems that the whole ever existed.

“Sunday Ninth” intertwines the stories of real nursing home residents with the fictional tale of the brothers, transforming each memory into a question that defines who we are and our reason for existence. It is precisely where reality and fiction intertwine that we gain an intimate glimpse into memory, a kingdom where the shadows of lost days lie alongside the hope of a better tomorrow.

Elise Jagomägi