DIE BRIEFFREUNDIN / THE PENPAL

THE PENPAL

DIE BRIEFFREUNDIN / THE PENPAL

Director: Sarah Klewes
Documentary | Germany | 2023
80 min | Dolby 5.1

57th Hof International Film Festival
2023

Director Sarah Klewes is merely twelve years old when she meets writer Claretta Cerio, 65 years her senior, in Tuscany. They begin a pen friendship that lasts 15 years. Then Claretta dies. The world loses an exciting author – and Sarah loses a dear friend. She is left with a shoebox full of letters – and the feeling that Claretta therefore somehow still is there. With the letters in her luggage, she travels to Italy in 2022 to remember her friend – and dares to glimpse into the past.

In a mix of fictional scenes and documentary interviews, the portrait of a fascinating writer unfolds. Despite numerous strokes of fate, Claretta Cerio was independent, passionate and self-determined. It is the story of an exciting contemporary witness who found her own special way of dealing with death.

With Carla Becker, Carol Berenyi, Giovanni Schettino, Hildi Hadlich, Ina Meling, Lorna Hillier, Romy Amberg, Silvia Cerio, Stefanie Sonnentag, Vincenzo Sorrentino

Screenplay Sarah Klewes, Ann-Kathrin Jahn, Cinematography Ute Bolmer, Felix Press, Editing Sophie Oldenbourg, Set design Luzia Ehrmann, Mercedes Corvinus, Costume design Lucia Heidepriem, Sound Moritz Törsiep, Luca-Els Mauritz, Sound Design Andrew Mottl, Music Hans Könnecke, Maximilian Kremser, Make-up Ilaria Glum, TV Commissioning Editor Claudia Gladziejewski, Production Susann Schimk, Nele Urbach