The Connections
Do I look all right? Do I have the right friends? Am I using my time in life effectively enough? Siblings Hanna and Jonas are circling around their self-realization. They live in different countries and have little contact.
Jonas lives in Berlin and is frustrated because, as a photo designer, he is only asked for cheap advertising campaigns. Hanna has been living in Lisbon for two years, wants to become an artist, but feels cramped by her boyfriend.
In their drive to be freer and more successful, the siblings isolate themselves more and more from those around them. In the end, no amount of affirmations and self-confidence-boosting audios will help.
A reflection on freedom, love, and solidarity in Portugal and Germany.
Cast
- Hanna
- Vanessa Thüring
- Jonas
- Alexander Peiler
- Luis
- Tiago Bôto
- André
- Miguel Coutinho
- Nathalie
- Katja Körber
- Clara
- Bettina Lieder
- Catarina
- Ana Luísa Pinto
- Lars
- Sebastian Kuschmann
The Connections
Carsten Jain-Pütz
- Fiction
- Production Country / Year
- Germany, Portugal 2023
- Language
- dt., engl., pt. OF m. dt. UT
- Format
- DCP, Color, 89min
2.39:1, Discrete 5.1
Nominated for:
Förderpreis neues deutsches Kino
Director & Crew
Carsten Jain-Pütz
Born in 1981 in Hagen. Studied Film at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund. Worked as an editor, cinematographer, director, and director of film workshops for children and youth. Active as a director.
Filmography
| 2012 | Die Tage dazwischen | Spielfilm | 2012 |
| 2007 | Der Menü-Kurier | Kurzfilm | |
| 2014 | Früher war ich in New York City | Kurzfilm Doku | |
| 2016 | Declaration of Dependence | Kurzfilm Doku | |
| 2023 | The Connections | Spielfilm | 2023 |
“In my film, I try to depict egocentricity in which the characters can only experience themselves as defective objects. Not only the two protagonists, but also everyone else is subjected to self-valorization and, in the process, wrestles with their loneliness. Hanna’s and Jonas’s problems, which superficially seem like first-world problems, are for me representative of eroding solidarity and isolation in society. The two countries they live in—Germany and Portugal—jointly create a European atmosphere and refer beyond the individual countries.”
Carsten Jain-Pütz
- Writer
- Carsten Jain-Pütz
- Director of Photography
- Daniel Schlichter
- Editor
- Carsten Jain-Pütz
- Set Designer
- Feline Krey
- Mira Laczkowski
- Vera Nau
- Anna Hilfrich
- Kim Kemner
- Clarissa Bortolon
- Lukas Rabl
- Sound
- Max Walter
- Kai Czerwonka
- Bal-Aton Bori
- Sound Designer
- Max Walter
- Music Composer
- Carsten Jain-Pütz
- Philip Flock
- Jason Pollux
- Make-up
- Marina Markgraf
- Executive Producer
- Marco Huppertz
- Vera Nau
- Marike Flömer
- Producer
- Carsten Jain-Pütz