The psychological thriller “House of Silence” (Original German title: “Haus der Stille“) tells the story of a writer who not only wants to write a new bestseller on a secluded estate in the Lüneburg Heath, but also to come to terms with her post-traumatic experiences. But the heath idyll is deceptive, and a series of mysterious incidents soon leave her doubting her sanity. Only by confronting the ghosts of her past does she manage to free herself from her role as a victim.
The successful author Sorel Malkow (Simone Geißler) retreats to the Lüneburg Heath to write her new novel, which is based on autobiographical, traumatic experiences, in a secluded estate. The more the novel develops, the more strange and disturbing events accumulate and it soon becomes clear that she is being stalked by a man who seems to know his way around her memories and is driving Sorel to the edge of her physical and psychological limits. Neither meeting the village mechanic Marius (Aaron Thiesse) nor a surprise visit from her friend Laura (Cosma Dujat) gives her any respite.
As the line between reality and nightmare blurs, Sorel is faced with a decision: should she face up to the threat and take the risk of diving even deeper into the abyss of her fears?
Simone Geißler was born in 1979 in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz). She trained as an actress at the European Theater Institute e.V. (E.T.I.) in Berlin. After completing her training, she toured Germany for two years with the “Ensemble Radios” theater company.
She made her feature film debut with the film “1985 – Der letzte Sommer mit dir” (2004). She then appeared in front of the camera in films such as “Die Snobs – Sie können auch ohne dich” (TV series, 2010), “Alles Klara” (TV series, 2012), “Spirit Berlin” (fictional documentary, 2014) and “The Taste of Pray” (horror film, 2023).
The short film “Asphyxia” (2016, directed by Pol Ponsarnau) was her first film project as co-writer, co-producer and actress. Since 2018, she has also been leading the BANA-Schaupiel group as part of the guest auditor courses for people aged 45 and over at Technische Universität Berlin.
“House of Silence“, her feature film debut as director and producer, celebrated its world premiere at the 57th Hof International Film Festival.
Lenght: 84 Min
Aspect ratio: 2,39:1 (22:9) [DCP: DCI 2K Scope]
Frame rate: 25 FPS
Resolution: 2048×858
Sound: Surround 5.1 / 2.0 Stereo
Rating: FSK 16 (Deskriptoren: Sexualisierte Gewalt, Verletzung)
Premiere: Oktober 26, 2023 at the 57th Hof International Film Festival
Film label: Artkeim²
Theatrical distribution: UCM.ONE
Theatrical start: Dezember 07, 2023
Simone Geißler commented on the selection of those involved in the film: “As executive producer, I decided on a strong female team. Why a women’s team? The film deals with violence against women, which is a sensitive and serious topic. Women can bring a variety of perspectives to the topic and help to avoid stereotypes and clichés that might appear in the portrayal of violence against women. It was also important to me to make women visible in different positions in the film industry.”
Filmography
| 2024 (GER) | Alt wie ein Baum (Feature film, writer & director) |
| 2023 (GER) | Haus der Stille (Feature film, writer & director, production, leading role) |
| 2023 (GER) | The Taste of Prey (Feature film, supporting role; Director: Guido Tölke) |
| 2021 (GER) | Zwischen den Welten (Feature film, leading role; Director: James A. Delancey) |
| 2021 (GER) | Tremolo (Short feature film, supporting role; Director: Leonard Mink) |
| 2019 (GER) | Makellos (Short feature film, leading role; Director: Wellington Almeida) |
| 2017 (GER) | Wo kein Schatten fällt (TV movie, supporting role; Director: Esther Bialas) |
| 2016 (GER) | Asphyxia (Short feature film, co-writing, co-production, leading role, director: Pol Ponsarnau) |
Linda Matern has been working as a producer of documentaries and feature films as well as image and advertising films since 1993. In 1997 she founded Bildschön Filmproduktion, based in Hamburg and Hanover.
Since then, it has been co-producing with European and Eastern European partners and working with directors of auteur cinema.
Filmography (Extracts)
| 2023 (GER/RU) | Ghost Train (Documentary, Production; Director: Darya Khrenova) |
| 2023 (GER) | Haus der Stille (Feature film, Production; Director: Simone Geißler) |
| 2021 (GER) | Für Nichts und wieder Nichts (Documentary, Production; Director: Margot Neubert-Maric & Gisela Tuchtenhagen [Executive Producer]) |
| 2019 (GER) | Dorotcha (Short film, Production; Director: Olga Delane; Nominated for the German Short Film Award 2019) |
| 2017 (GER) | Siberian Love (Documentary, Production; Director: Olga Delane) |
| 2015 (AU/GER/UK) | Dreams Rewired (Documentary film, production; directors: Manu Luksch, Martin Reinhart, Thomas Tode, narrator: Tilda Swinton; German Documentary Music Award 2016, Papierene Gustl Award 2017) |
Anna Motzel – born in 1984 and raised in Schleswig Holstein – has been working as a director of photography in the fields of feature films, documentaries, art films, theater and music videos since 2014.
She completed her studies in cinematography at the Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin in 2016. Already during her studies she gained experience in camera distribution and since 2009 internationally as first and second assistant cameraman on a variety of projects.
Filmography (Extracts)
| 2023 (GER) | The Mole (Short documentary; Director: Hannah Plaß ) |
| 2023 (GER) | Haus der Stille (Feature film; Director: Simone Geißler) |
| 2022-23 (DE) | Besides, It’s Been Always The Others Who Died & Bye, Bye, Bye (Medium-length art film parts 1 & 2; directed by Roman Hagenbrock & Steffen Klewar) |
| 2022 (DE) | Paartherapie – Now Or Never (TV Serie, (Bildgestaltung gemeinsam mit Jakob Seemann; Regie: Peter Jeschke) |
| 2019 (DE/RO) | Ecdysis (Dokumentarfilm; Regie: Anna Motzel) |
Maxi Menot studied classical music, composition and music production in Frankfurt, Barcelona and Mannheim and has since worked as a composer and producer with various projects in the field of film music as well as artist* productions and album recordings. She is also co-founder of the Female Composers Collective TRACK15 and runs her own publishing edition B+, which focuses primarily on female artists and music for film.
She has received many grants for her music, including from the Initiative Musik, the Yehudi Menuhin Organization, the Musikfonds and the V.U.T..
Filmography (Extracts)
| 2023 (GER) | Haus der Stille (Feature film; Director: Simone Geißler) |
| 2021 (GER) | We Might As Well Be Dead (Feature film; Director: Natasha Sinelnikova) |
| 2020 (GER) | Die Wellenbrecherinnen (Cinema documentary; Director: Guido Weihermüller) |
Angelina Hild
Head lighting technician
Cinzia Grundke
Equipment assistant
Gretl Kautzsch
Set costumes & wardrobe
Giulia Branse
Production management
Laure Estival
1st camera assistant
Linda Hofmann
Production designer
Lisa Strohbehen
Sound engineer
Marie Kreutzfeldt
Make-up artist
Stefanie Spachmann
Co-director
Tetyana Chernyavska
Production assistant
Alle Bilder der Crew: © Merle Bondar
Aaron Thiesse was born in Hanover in 1980. He moved to Berlin in 2005 to complete his acting training at the Berlin School of Drama.
His first engagement was at the Parktheater Berlin-Weißensee. Over the course of his career, he has received various awards and nominations, including the Blaue Blume Award and a nomination for the Max Ophüls Prize.
He has appeared in numerous short films, feature films, commercials, moderations and dubbing roles. He is known for his roles in TV series such as “Tatort“, “Soko Wismar” and “Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten“.
He has also appeared in Dennis Gansel‘s feature film “Die Vierte Macht” and Vanessa Jopp‘s feature film “Lügen und andere Wahrheiten“.
Filmography (Extracts)
| 2023 (GER) | Haus der Stille (Feature film, Production; Director: Simone Geißler) |
| 2022 (GER) | Bye (Short film, director: Sebastian Matthias Weißbach) |
| 2021 (GER) | Glitchig (Short film, Director: Jan Becker) |
| 2021 (GER) | Kink (Short feature film, Director: Betty Koschka) |
Cosma Dujat is an actress and camera acting coach for cinema and TV from Hamburg. She completed her acting studies at Schauspielstudio Frese and has been working as a freelance artist ever since.
She has been engaged at the Altonaer Theater (“Mephisto“, “Die Muschelsucher“), Imperial Theater (“Fünf Frauen und ein Mord“), Lichthof Theater (“Küsse.Bisse.Penthesilea.“) and Hamburger Sprechwerk (“Touched“, “Die Frau, die gegen Türen rannte“, “Bodyrule“), among others. Most recently, she was seen at the Komödie Bremen in the play “Weiber” and for a new ZDF crime series with Desirée Nosbusch.
Filmography (Extracts)
| 2023 (GER) | Haus der Stille (Feature film; Director: Simone Geißler) |
| 2019 (GER) | Totgeschwiegen (TV movie, director: Franziska Schlotterer) |
| 2018 (GER) | Universum der Ameisen (Kurzspielfilm, Regie: Peter Neugebauer) |
| 2017 (GER) | Crush (Kinospielfilm. Regie: Celina Schmidt) |
| 2017 (GER) | Caraba (Kinospielfilm, Regie: Katharina Mihm) |
Lutz Scheffer was born in Kassel in 1980. It was there that he gained his first acting experience in the youth club of the Staatstheater Kassel. After training as an actor, he went on to work in film, television and theater. Lutz started working in front of the camera with a permanent role in a daily series.
Lutz has lived in Berlin for ten years and almost gave up acting, but then came “Haus der Stille” – at exactly the right moment.
Filmography (Extracts)
| 2023 (GER) | Haus der Stille (Feature film; Director: Simone Geißler) |
| 2019 (GER) | Totgeschwiegen (TV movie, director: Franziska Schlotterer) |
| 2018 (GER) | Universum der Ameisen (Kurzspielfilm, Regie: Peter Neugebauer) |
| 2017 (GER) | Crush (Kinospielfilm. Regie: Celina Schmidt) |
| 2017 (GER) | Caraba (Kinospielfilm, Regie: Katharina Mihm) |
Simone Geißler
Sorel
Christiane Ostermayer
Helga
Julia Dordel
Agnes
All pictures of the actors © Merle Bondar
Comments on the movie
“I am very impressed! Instead of just using the usual clichés, Simone Geißler has really dared to do something. At first, the movie struck me as a psychological thriller that plays with common expectations and varies the arc of suspense well, with dream and reality merging more and more. So far so good. In my reading, however, the movie neither wants to dwell on the level of a TV thriller nor be a cheap revenge fantasy about injustice suffered. I have experienced several times in contact with those directly affected just how much violence, especially rape and sexual abuse, can destroy a person’s life and affect their relationships with other people. And it is not only through my psychology studies that I know that victims can later become perpetrators themselves. Some of them don’t get back on a “green branch” even with professional support. In this sense, Simone has taken a life situation or a development to its logical conclusion on film. Neither as documentary reality nor as irrational delusions, but as a kind of vision – as indicated by the reflections on the left-hand side of the picture in a central scene. I can only hope that others see it the same way. I was fully engaged in the development of the main character, who increasingly loses the ground under her feet due to her experiences and adventures. For me, that is the essence of the film on the subject of experiences of violence and trauma and it came across very well.” (Holger Twele, film journalist, member of the Association of German Film Critics; source: BABU Film UG)
“House of Silence ends up being a lot louder than the title suggests, and that takes a lot of cinematic courage. Everyone involved in the movie had this courage, and that makes the movie all the more an important cinematic experience. The acting power that Simone Geißler unleashes here in her own film is tremendous and gives the taboo subject of ‘violence against women’ a face. A violence that flows through every scene of the film like an insidious poison and then, in an unexpected plot twist, poisons everyone equally – perpetrators and victims alike.” (Ben Scharf, producer, writer, director; source: BABU Film UG)
The psychological thriller “Haus der Stille” by Simone Geißler, which tells the story of a writer who not only wants to write a new bestseller on a secluded estate, but also wants to come to terms with her post-traumatic experiences, is available today as a digital download and stream on the Artkeim² label. The film…
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The thriller “House of Silence” (German original title: “Haus der Stille”) celebrated its cinema premiere in Berlin on the evening of 7 December 2023 at the traditional Berlin film theatre Colosseum in the Prenzlauer Berg district. In front of an almost sold-out auditorium, the interested audience followed the feature film directorial debut of writer, director,…
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On Thursday, October 26, two new films from the Darling Berlin label will be presented for the first time at the Hof Film Festival: “Haus der Stille” by Simone Geissler and “Überleben in Brandenburg” by Zoltan Paul. “Haus der Stille” (English translation “House of Silence”), directed and performed by Simone Geissler, tells the dramatic and…
