Serviam - I will serve

Story

Lost in the labyrinth of the quest for salvation: with Hitchcockian suspense, this thriller follows a nun’s religious fanaticism in the endless corridors of a private school. A Catholic girls’ boarding school in the 1980s near Vienna, where the Austrian elite send their children, not for religious but prestige reasons. The school is flourishing, but the faith is ebbing and the upper floors are deserted. The school’s director, a young energetic nun (Maria Dragus) is vigorously fighting this decline. 12-year old Martha, one of her favourites, is a devoted pupil, who seeks to atone for the sins of the world. Encouraged by the director, she is given a cilice and taken up to one of the upper floors.

Director

RUTH MADER (*1974 in Vienna) studied direction at the Vienna Filmakademie and won the Max Ophüls Prize for her short film Gfrasta in 1999. In 2003, her debut feature Struggle won her an invitation to Cannes, her documentary What Is Love premiered in 2012 at the Berlinale. In 2017, FILMFEST HAMBURG showed her second feature Life Guidance. SERVIAM – Ich will dienen already won the Screenplay Prize in 2005 at the Diagonale and ran in competition at this year’s Locarno Film Festival.

Trailer