OMA & BELLA

"Why did God give Moses the 12 commandments?" – "Ten!" This amicable, light-hearted squabbling is typical of Bella Katz and the filmmaker’s grandmother, Regina Karolinski, a couple of pensioners who have shared a Berlin apartment for many years. The film’s third main character is played by eastern european Jewish food, which the two old ladies prepare incessantly and which takes them back to their childhood. Yet beyond the carefree façade of their everyday life with its beer garden visits, card games and hairdressers appointments, we find glimmers of the Shoah survivors’ dark past. The protagonists’ accounts recall traumatic experiences, yet they don’t let go of the optimism within their current lives.
An affectionate portrait of friendship in old age and an ode to vitality. Anja Klauck