Search The Archive
"This tartly comic tale of teachers on the verge of a nervous breakdown is not only Maren Ade's marvellous first feature, it was her film school graduation piece. For a first film, it's accomplished; for a college project, it's astonishing." – BBC
Along with her critical smash Toni Erdmann playing at this year's festival, here's a chance to see the debut work of German director Maren Ade, a film-school graduation project that would go on to win her the World Cinema: Dramatic Special Jury Prize at Sundance.
Packing a generous amount of dark comedy, unease and pathos into its brisk 81 minutes, Ade's low-budget character study follows Melanie (Eva Löbau, Inglourious Basterds), a 20-something teacher struggling to adapt to an unruly new school and her disintegrating personal life while living vicariously through a glamorous neighbour (Daniela Holtz). Ade's astute writing and direction and Löbau's nerve-wracking portrait are rewarding in themselves, but it's the film's transformative final moments that make Forest something truly remarkable – a sign, no doubt, of things to come.
"Ade delivers a genuine coup de cinema: thrillingly transcendent, disarmingly magical." – Jigsaw Lounge
