Four people come together during a summer holiday at an idyllic cottage closer to the beach than to any populated dwelling. As sirens wail, and fire trucks and helicopters signal the impending spread of a forest fire, they focus on their own problems. But will the fire catch up with them?
Genre: comedy, drama, romance
Language: German, subtitles: English
In a small vacation house by the Baltic Sea, the days are hot, and it hasn’t rained for weeks. Four young people get together, old and new friends. While everyone is trying to make the most of the summer, Leon is desperate to finish his next book. His complacency causes tension with the others. As the parched forests around them begin to ignite, so do their emotions; happiness, lust and love, but also jealousies, resentments and tensions take turns. Meanwhile, the forests are burning. And soon the flames are there.
The theme song In my mind sets the tone for this slow-paced, gloom announcing film in which a self-absorbed young writer is forced to face a bigger world.
This past summer, extreme weather became a frightening reality for many vacationers. This makes the film more timely and shocking than originally expected.
This film received the Silver Bear Grand Jury prize 2023 at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Reviews
“The German filmmaker Christian Petzold’s spiky and at times mordantly funny Afire [Roter Himmel] is a tonic for moviegoers tired of nice, squishable, likable, relatable dull and dull characters.” The New York Times
"Cinematic Miracle Between The Burning Forest & The Sea” The Playlist.
“It’s the film’s great, disorienting structural risks, its humoring of human untidiness and confusion, that make it so subtly thrilling and moving.” Variety
“It's a classical fable or a postmodern story within a story. Triumphant or deeply nihilistic — or both.” Slashfilm
Ticket information
This film will be shown at Filmhuis De Zwarte Doos. Buying a ticket online in advance is mandatory if you want to attend this film. You can buy a ticket via the black “order” button on this page.
Please note: you can only buy a ticket online; tickets are not purchasable with cash or bank card at the ticket counter.
You can find more general information about tickets, refund policy etc. here.
Please be on time
The screening of the film starts at 19:30 sharp (no pre-film movie trailers). We kindly ask you to be at the ticket counter when it opens 15 minutes prior to the start of the film. This is to ensure the film starts and ends on time.
The Studium Generale film program is created in collaboration with the student film committee and Natlab.