DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT CATE SHORTLAND

When I first read the novel LORE by Rachel Seiffert, I felt it spoke to me on several levels right away. I loved the eeriness of the story, how these children wander the ghostly postwar landscape on their own. Most of all, I was fascinated by the interior landscape of the protagonist. Lore is a character who will go from a point of rock-solid conviction to the point of all-consuming doubt.The film's very physical story thrives on its captivating simplicity: the kids need to get from point A to point B. The themes of this material, however, are infinitely more complex. It's about guilt and responsibility, including what it means to be the children of criminals. Lore has grown up into one of the cruelest ideologies in history; and like most of us, she doesn't stand up for the weak, she remains silent. We tell of a girl struggling with her own ideals, no longer knowing where or to whom she belongs, now that everything she believed in has collapsed. In the end, she is full of questions. Questions she knows some can never be answered. And behind her seemingly calm facade, I think there's an unbridled rage.It is fundamentally important to me that there is something unmistakably contemporary about the film. It does not speak to the past, but seeks a dialogue with the present.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

• German Film Awards 2013 – LOLA in Bronze for Best Feature Film
• Locarno 2012 - Audience Award – Piazza Grande Prix du Public
• Hesse Film Award 2012 – Best Feature Film
• Stockholm International Film Festival 2012 – Bronze Horse for Best Film

CREDITS