Das Lachen meiner Mutter
Description
Twenty years ago, Elli lost her mother to suicide. To protect Elli, who was four years old at the time, they didn't really talk to her about it. Even years later, she hardly knows anything about her own mother. Now Elli has decided to broach the subject and get to know the woman she is supposed to be so similar to. She moves back to the apartment where the accident happened. The stories told by her father and by friends fill in the gaps in her memory. But how does all of this affect those involved, as well as Elli herself?
Director
Anna Stegmann
Anna Stegmann | Director
Anna Stegmann, born in Filderstadt in 1998, spent most of her childhood and youth in Stuttgart. After graduating from high school in 2017, she spent a year in Chile as an au pair to familiarize herself with the culture and language. She completed her first degree in psychology with a bachelor's degree in Amsterdam in 2023. Since then, she has been studying documentary film directing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, where she is expected to graduate in 2028.
Director Statement
I was with Elli at kindergarten when we were told that her mother wanted to “become an angel.” For us children, that sounded logical. It was only many years later, when we started filming together, that Elli and I really talked about her mother's suicide for the first time. It was surprising for both of us—and for me, it was also a clear sign of how important it is to talk openly about this topic. Elli told me that she eventually stopped talking about it because it overwhelmed the people around her. Our film aims to break this silence. For Elli. And for everyone else who has experienced something similar. It is an attempt to talk about suicide differently—in a way that focuses on the person, not their end.