Adolescent outcasts, identity and violence take center stage in Oasis (Oase), the much-anticipated debut feature of German writer-director Jannis Lenz, which will world premiere on Sept. 6 in the Horizons section of the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival.
This one will be very different from that other Oasis movie at Venice, Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger, a concert documentary about the reunion tour of the famous band that brought Liam and Noel Gallagher back together.
If you don’t believe me, just read this synopsis for Oasis. “When a viral video of a student threatening his classmates surfaces online, the school spirals into escalating violence,” it notes. “Crushed by the pressure of teachers and parents, three outcasts take refuge in a nearby forest. There, play hardens into ritual, and pain becomes an escape, until old wounds surface and the boundaries between them are redrawn.”
The cinematic drama is an exploration of violence, body and identity – themes that Lenz has also touched on in his previous work.
The cast stars up-and-coming German actors Florian Geißelmann (Sound of Falling, Home Stories), Anton Petzold (Home Stories, Ouija) and Mathilda Smidt (Almania, Chabos), as well as veteran Godehard Giese (Rose, Transit, Babylon Berlin). Britta Hammelstein (Murder Mindfully, Woman of the Dead, The Sparrow in the Chimney) and Ioana Iacob (Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World) also feature in the cast.
Lenz directed Oasis based on a screenplay that he wrote with Alexander Dirninger, who also served as
director of photography. The editors are Lenz and Melisa Krasniqi.
“Body, space, and identity dissolve into one another, revealing the fragile beauty and quiet brutality of human relationships, while echoing the violence that shapes our contemporary world,” tease the press notes for Oasis.
Check out the poster for the film, which THR can exclusively debut, right here.
Lenz has previously turned heads with such shorts as Wannabe (2017), which got nominated for the European Film Award, and Soldat Ahmet (2021), which won several awards after its world premiere at the Visions du Réel festival in Switzerland.
Oasis is produced by Germany’s Zeitgeist Filmproduktion and co-produced by Austria’s Wega Film and Germany’s Third Picture in collaboration with We Fade to Grey, Ocean Pictures Filmproduktion and Totem Films. The German theatrical release is planned for February 2027 via Mindjazz Pictures. Totem is handling international sales on the German-Austrian co-production.
THR can now also exclusively premiere a trailer for the movie. School scenes, one pupil getting questioned about his threat of violence against schoolmates, and images of the protagonists in the forest create unsettling atmosphere. Oh yeah, there are also disturbing drawings. All in all, the audiovisual atmosphere teased here feels unnerving.
But check out the trailer for Oasis yourself right here.
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