Catalogue > At random

Paul Sonntag, Luzie Loose

A New Normal

Film expérimental | 4k | couleur | 17:10 | Allemagne | 2019

A NEW NORMAL is a stereoscopic essay film that examines the question how to go on when everything has changed. A young man leaves his apartment in an old high-rise and wanders through deserted landscapes. Something is waiting for him out there, but what drives him forward is his desire to leave everything behind, even himself. A narrator recounts fragments and experiences of an everyday life following catastrophe. They bear no resemblance with the journey of the young man, but cannot be cleanly separated from them either. Stories start out as banal episodes about grocery shopping or commuting to work but reveal various strategies to engage with a profound crisis of identity. The 3D images are both an artistic and a narrative choice: they serve as a window into his thoughts and attempts to develop a new sense of normalcy.

Luzie Loose (born 1989) and Paul Nungeßer (born 1991) both grew up in post-wall Berlin of the 1990s. Luzie studied communications at Universität der Künste in Berlin while Paul majored in Photography and Architecture at Columbia University in New York. Their paths crossed for the first time in 2017 at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, where Luzie graduated in 2018, directing her first feature-length fiction film Swimming. The film premiered at Busan International Film Festival and won the Hof gold award for best directing debut. Paul is studying cinematography since 2016 at Filmakademie. His films have been shown at various festivals, including Dok.Fest & Filmfest Munich, Achtung Berlin and Max-Ophüls-Prize. A NEW NORMAL is the first collaboration between the two filmmakers and celebrated its world premiere at Filmfest Munich. Paul and Luzie live and work in Berlin.