The Next Best Picture Podcast Interview With "Sound Of Falling" Filmmaker Mascha Schilinski
Jan 16, 2026
In this engaging conversation, Mascha Schilinski, a talented German filmmaker behind the acclaimed drama "Sound of Falling," explores her cinematic influences from Bergman and Kieslowski. She shares the unique origin of her film, rooted in a farmhouse photo that sparked ideas about transgenerational trauma. Mascha reflects on the film's creation during COVID, her innovative approach to script development, and the use of sound as a storytelling device. She also discusses the poignant visual themes and the significance of the recurring fly motif.
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Key Cinematic Influences
- Mascha Schilinski cites Bergman and Kieslowski as core cinematic influences on her sensibility.
- Their focus on interiority and memory shaped her approach to Sound of Falling.
Found Photograph Sparked The Film
- Schilinski and co-writer discovered a farmhouse during COVID and found a 1920 photograph of three women that became the film's seed.
- That photograph's gaze and the unchanged house inspired the idea of simultaneity of time in one place.
Structure Mirrors Memory
- The screenplay deliberately rejects classic plot rules to mimic how memory actually works: associative, unreliable, and fragmentary.
- Schilinski treats unseen images and suppressed memories as narratively as important as those shown on screen.