Heldin

In the organizer's words:

Floria (Leonie Benesch) works with passion and professionalism as a nurse in the surgical department of a Swiss hospital. Her every move is perfect, she always has an open ear for her patients even in stressful situations and is immediately on hand in an emergency - ideally. But in the harsh reality of her often unpredictable everyday life, things usually look different. When Floria starts her late shift that day, a nurse is absent from the fully occupied ward, which is already chronically understaffed. Despite all the hectic rush, Floria looks after a seriously ill mother (Lale Yavas) and an old man (Urs Bihler) who is urgently awaiting his diagnosis, just as caringly and routinely as the private patient (Jürg Plüss) with all his extra requests. But then she makes a fatal mistake and the shift threatens to get completely out of hand. A nerve-wracking race against time begins.

With HELDIN, Petra Volpe tackles a highly topical subject. The film is both a respectful tribute to all care workers and a gripping plea for humanity and commitment. Last but not least, it shows how essential good care in the event of illness is for us all. Leonie Benesch impresses with her powerful and captivating performance, which leaves the movie audience breathless and stays with them long after the film has ended.

Award-winning Swiss filmmaker Petra Volpe not only wrote the screenplay for HELDIN, but is also directing it herself for the first time. Petra Volpe's success as a screenwriter is impressive: the mini-series FRIEDEN was highly praised by critics and audiences alike, the book adaptation HEIDI is the most internationally successful Swiss film of all time and the comedy DIE GOLDENENEN JAHRE was the highest-grossing domestic feature film in 2022. Her acclaimed feature film DIE GÖTTLICHE ORDNUNG attracted over 360,000 people to the cinema.

The multi-award-winning actress and German Film Award winner Leonie Benesch (DAS LEHRERZIMMER, DAS WEISSE BAND, BABYLON BERLIN, DER SCHWARM) shines in the leading role. She received an Oscar nomination for Best International Film for the multi-award-winning drama DAS LEHRERZIMMER, in which she also played the lead role. Most recently, she starred alongside Peter Sarsgaard and Ben Chaplin in Tim Fehlbaum's SEPTEMBER 5, which premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival. Following TRAUMLAND and DIE GÖTTLICHE ORDNUNG, HELDIN is Petra Volpe's third collaboration with award-winning German cinematographer Judith Kaufmann (DAS LEHRERZIMMER, CORSAGE, DIE FREMDE), who transposes the everyday life of a clinic into impressive images on screen.