For Lukas, Andy, and Maya, school is hardly an enjoyable place. A video of naked Andy, illicitly filmed, spreads among the students, while another video of Andy hurling violent threats at peers is sent to teachers and parents. The child who was once a victim of bullying is swiftly branded as a dangerous, aggressive threat. Rather than confronting the situation or explaining themselves, the three friends choose to escape into the woods. There, they begin a healing game of their own, one that is both bizarre and precarious. They inflict wounds on each other’s bodies, nurse those wounds, and film the entire process, as if performing a sacred ritual. By illuminating the relentless shifting and collapsing of boundaries between victim and perpetrator, inside and outside the frame, the film exposes the double standards of people who see only what they want to see, and how they want to see it. Rather than focusing on the reality of school violence, the film gazes upon the desperate struggles of children building their own defenses by masking pain with pain. It is an unrelenting, sharp directorial effort befitting a former assistant director to Michael Haneke.
He studied directing under Jessica Hausner at the Vienna Film Academy and worked as an assistant director to Michael Haneke; he is also a Berlinale Talents alumnus and a member of the European Film Academy. His short film Wannabe (2017) won an award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and was nominated for the European Film Award for Best Short Film. His graduation film, the documentary Soldat Ahmet (2021), premiered at the Visions du Réel festival and won awards at numerous international festivals. His debut feature Oasis, a German-Austrian co-production, was selected for the Orizzonti section of the 2026 Venice Film Festival.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
