Whispers of War

Khalil, an elementary school teacher from Berlin, receives war footage from his Kurdish hometown of Cizre. He believes to have seen his sister, who was presumed dead, in the videos. His orderly life is thrown out of kilter, and at all costs, he tries to bring his sister to safety and inform the public about the brutal war. His existence in Berlin teeters on the brink, and he is forced to question where he belongs.

Cast

Khalil
Hadi Khanjanpour
Leyla
Kristin Suckow
Hamid
Aziz Capkurt
Chefredakteurin
Jeanette Hain
Melda
Melda Kanbak
Stille Post - Poster 2

Whispers of War

Florian Hoffmann

  • Fiction
Production Country / Year
Germany 2021
Language
de., tr., ku. OF mit en. UT
Format
DCP, Color, 94min
1.85:1, Discrete 5.1
Original Title
Stille Post

Director & Crew

Florian Hoffmann 1

Florian Hoffmann


Born in Berlin in 1987. Studied ethnology, sociology, and political science at the University of Basel. Studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). Active as screenwriter and director.

Filmography

2015 ARLETTE. MUT IST EIN MUSKEL, Dokumentarfilm

HOTEL DER DIKTATOREN, Kurzdokumentarfilm 

2017 EGAL GIBT ES NICHT, Dokumentarfilm

2021 STILLE POST, Spielfilm HOF 2021


‟My work on the film began in 2015 when I saw an incident in Turkey suddenly divide my Kurdish and Turkish friends in Berlin. In a covert operation, the Turkish military had surrounded the Kurdish city of Cizre and imposed a curfew. [...] Shortly afterward, they began to bombard it. [...] Jamming transmitters prevented residents from using cell phones. The military wanted to ensure that no images of the operation left the city. […] To learn more, I had to go there myself. [...]. I found a ruined city and spoke with traumatized locals. I also secured videos made secretly by Cizre residents using their cell phones: proof of the attacks and human rights violations during the curfew. […] Thousands of innocent people had lost their lives or were seriously injured - but no mention was made of this in the German media. I researched various news agencies, wanting to know: What do war images need to compete for media attention? But STILLE POST revolves around authentic cell phone videos from the Kurdish crisis region, reminding us of video activists who courageously document wars ignored by our media world - to whom this film is dedicated.

Writer
Florian Hoffmann
Director of Photography
Carmen Treichl
Editor
Marco Rottig
Production Designer
Anne Storandt
Winnie Christiansen
Costume Designer
Laura Kirst
Casting Director
Lisa Stutzky
Sound
Adel Gamehdar
Sound Designer
Jakob Mäsel
Make-up
Sarah Huzel
TV Commissioning Editor
Jörg Schneider
Executive Producer
Roxana Richters
Producer
Alexander Wadouh
Roxana Richters

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