SWITZERLAND, ITALY

8 DAYS IN AUGUST 8 Tage im August

2023 – DCP – color – 90’

Direction: Samuel Perriard

Screenplay: Samuel Perriard, Markus Ziegler

Cinematography: Gaëtan Varone

Editing: Rebecca Trösch

Set design: Demian Wohler

Music: Balz Bachmann

Costumes: Sophie Reble

Cast: Julia Jentsch (Helena), Florian Lukas (Adam), Sarah Hostettler (Ellie), Sami Loris (Matti), Fortunato Cerlino (comandante commander)

Producers: Sarah Born, Dario Schoch, Rajko Jazbec, Martin Rattini

Production: Catpics (Ch), Helios Sustainable Films (It)

synopsis

It’s the same every year – but this time it’s completely different. The tradition has become established: Helena and Adam spend their summer holidays with their son Finn at the same time in the same place, by the sea in southern Italy. Always in the company of their old friends Ellie and Matti, and their son Luca. But at the end of a day at the hot beach Finn collapses on the way back to the car and is briefly unconscious. He is only kept in hospital for a short time before the doctors give him the all-clear… but it’s enough to undermine the façade of the seemingly well-functioning family. Because the question of what triggered Finn’s breakdown refuses to go away, and now a perceptible discord creeps into the harmony of the previously carefree days – between the two families, but above all between Adam and Helena. They are taken completely unawares by the crisis in their relationship that now engulfs them. While Adam feels powerless and seems to be just treading water, Helena longs for excitement and change. The doubts and unarticulated resentments that have no room to breathe in everyday life force themselves to the surface during this holiday, suspended like dark clouds over the objectively sunny skies of Apulia. Inevitable comparisons with the successful friends Ellie and Matti, who are busy forging plans for the future and looking forward to new challenges together, hardly make things easier.

Sensitively narrated, with powerful atmospheric images, this film by director Samuel Perriard depicts the gradual transformation of a couple – impressively embodied by Julia Jentsch and Florian Lukas – who in recent years have functioned primarily as “parents”. It’s not only that Finn has become a teenager; now Adam and Helena also have to try to find themselves and each other again. Eight days in August that change everything: one final summer before a new chapter begins. TAGLIARE SU CATALOGO

the director: Samuel Perriard

Samuel Perriard studied Design at the Zurich University of the Arts from (2003-6). Black Panther (2013) was his graduation film from the German Film and Television Academy Berlin and premiered at the Münich FF. The film went on to have its international premiere at the Chicago IFF in 2014. Black Panther was nominated for the First Steps Awards 2013 and the Studio Hamburg Young Talent Award 2014. In 2020, he co-directed the third season of the TV-series Wilder, and in 2023, he worked as 2nd Unit Director on Davos – a historical spy series. His latest short film Queen had its world premiere in January 2023 in the short film competition of the Max Ophüls Award. Lupus – a dystopian movie set in the mountains – is currently in development.

director’s statement

“Based on a childhood experience, 8 Days in August developed in different directions during the screenwriting process. I am interested in the moment when changes that have existed for some time finally come to the surface – but then with full force.

The question, where do I find my place in love and friendship relationships during turbulent times, is omnipresent in this film. The characters lose their ground, their rhythm, fail increasingly and begin to fight against it. They are forced to change – to move forward. Even if they actually want things to stay the way they were.

8 Days in August entertains and surprises again and again. Often you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I say; you are allowed to do both – even at the same time!”

filmography

2013 Schwarzer Panther (Black Panther, short)

2019 Starshot (short)

2020 Wilder III (tv series, co-director)

2023 Queen (short)

2023 8 Tage im August (8 Days in August)

Preview