Directing
Fourteen-year-old Jasmin longs to be near her biological mother, Eva. Following her mother’s release from prison, an excursion into the country together becomes a first test for the fledgling mother-daughter relationship. They smoke, dance and stroll together – the mood is promising. But time and again, it is revealed that their needs and expectations are light years apart. For the moment, neither Eva nor Jasmin seem up to the task of fulfilling each other’s need for identity and support. (Talea is Italian for scion, a detached shoot or twig containing buds from a woody plant, used in grafting.)
In her desperate search for sleep seventeen-year-old Eva does everything to stay the night at other people’s houses where she watches others while sleeping. When being awake through the nights, Eva takes us to the backside of normal life at the same time forcing her family and friends to develop a different perspective on what they thought is „normal“.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is the life motto of 30-year-old Agnieszka. After serving five years in prison, Agnieszka flees Poland for Germany in an attempt to start over. In Munich she meets the lonely 70-year-old Madame, boss of an escort agency. The woman provides her with a refuge and a job: Agnieszka begins to work as a dominatrix for Madame. She becomes like a daughter to her. All seems well until a much younger boy falls in love with Agnieszka. Madame will not stand any competition."
At 67, Teresa's life is defined by the pain she carries in her body—invisible, yet ever-present. In search of relief, she lies down on the floor, at home or under a tree, near her "little heaven," a comforting amulet. But when patterns from the past return, Teresa must flee. This time, not from a man, but into an unexpected journey with her daughters—one of whom is the director of this film.
Maya suddenly wakes up in the middle of the night and finds herself at "Am Himmel" in Vienna. She is not dead, she is in Vienna. It is night. She checks out her body. What is she missing?
