EVA TROBISCH

“Ivo”

Trobisch was only 6 years old when the Berlin Wall came down. “It changed everything,” the East Berlin native recalls, “but I couldn’t understand why everyone was so excited.” Today the writer-director and former teen actor analyzes more intimately transformative events, such as those in her prizewinning 2018 feature debut, “All Is Well,” about a woman coping with a sexual assault, and her upcoming Berlinale world premiere, “Ivo,” the story of a palliative care worker in a love triangle with her patient’s husband.

The documentary-style drama is partly based on a true story about people she knows, performed by professional and non-professional actors. “When I think about my next project, the starting point [is usually] a question that I don’t have an answer for,” she says.

Both films show the influence of her early role model, John Cassavetes, with his “vivid, naturalistic, character-driven approach.” Trobisch will move away from female protagonists with her next film, tentatively titled “Something Quite Special (Etwas Ganz Besonderes),” which begins shooting in March. The film focuses on the family members of a girl preparing for a televised singing competition. Several of Trobisch’s family members worked in theater, including her director father and dramaturge mother.

“I’m a total family person, so I’ve worked with my production company Studio Zentral [partnering with Trimafilm on ‘Ivo’] for years now. I’ve done every film with them and will continue that,” says Trobisch, who lives in Berlin with her partner and nine-yearold son.

After her debut, she was frustrated when she was only offered films about women and violence against them. “I’m very interested in the [whether or not] we can choose who we want to be, how we’re connected with our social backgrounds and how much we can change completely.”

— Murtada Elfadl

Rep: Agent: Kristina Müller-stöfen Influences: John Cassavetes, Robert Altman, Chantal Akerman