EXCLUSIVE: German filmmaker Helene Hegemann is just 24, but she already has written and published a bestselling novel (at age 17) and now touches down in Park City with the launch of her feature debut.
Axolotl Overkill gets its world premiere tonight in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition section and, if the clip above is anything to go by, Hegemann knows a thing or two about confident and reckless teens.
Story follows 16-year-old Mifti (Jasna Fritzi Bauer). Her mother is dead and her wealthy, eccentric father is too self-absorbed to be responsible for her, so, being aware of the sexual power she wields, she immerses herself in a world of adults of questionable character. Lovesick over an elusive older woman, she strikes up a friendship with Ophelia, an actress, and together they test the limits through Berlin nightlife and extreme partying.
Here, we get a taste of her Mifti’s attitude toward authority. After being called into the headmaster’s office for inappropriate behavior, her rebellious and arrogant attitude lands her in hot water.
The Match Factory holds world rights, excluding Germany.
