THE LIGHTS, THEY FALL

In the heat of the Berlin summer, Maria is dying. Her 16-year-old son, Ilay, drifts through the city’s outskirts with his friends, while at home, Ana, the Mexican palliative care nurse, tends to the gravely ill woman. Ilay increasingly slips into a state of insomnia and daydreaming, fleeing from the approaching death of his mother and threatening to lose touch with reality. At the same time, Ana struggles with the demands of her job and the burden of her difficult past…

Through quiet, intense imagery, Saša Vajda’s first feature film depicts the everyday lives of Ilay and Ana. The bonds between the characters are delicate, and the mundane gently intertwines with the dreamlike. The film premiered in theGenerationsection as part of the 76th Berlinale in 2026.