I UNDERSTAND YOUR DISPLEASURE WINS FIRST STEPS AWARD

Best Director for *I UNDERSTAND YOUR DISPLEASURE*

From the jury’s statement
“The debut film I UNDERSTAND YOUR DISPLEASURE, directed by Kilian Friedrich, brings home the pressure of precarious working conditions with extraordinary cinematic precision.

From the very first second, we’re right there alongside the protagonist, Heike—a magnificent performance by Sabine Thalau. She rushes through the aisles of a shopping center, delegating, mediating, hauling, resolving conflicts, and covering for others—always on the move, always one step behind the next problem. The film builds a momentum from this that’s almost impossible to resist.

The camera stays relentlessly close to her. It takes on her rhythm, her breath, her constant state of alert. We can barely keep up; our bodies fall into the same rhythm as hers. In this way, the strain under which this woman works becomes an immediate physical experience for us.

Yet the film tells far more than the story of a single individual. It turns its gaze toward those whose work sustains the daily lives of others—people who usually remain invisible. Without accusation or pathos, it lays bare the mechanisms of a working world in which being overwhelmed has long since become the norm.

Kilian Friedrich translates his documentary experience into fiction with great ease. Raw, precise, and free of social kitsch, he depicts a reality of life that rarely finds its way into cinema with such accuracy. The decision to work with non-professional actors lends every scene a sense of authenticity that lingers long after the film ends.

The jury honors an impressively confident feature film debut with a distinctive cinematic style that gives the people behind an often-overlooked line of work a powerful cinematic voice.