Jenny loves her boyfriend Bolle and is expecting their child. That may mean boundless joy for others, but Jenny is full of ambivalent feelings – life has been anything but easy up to this point. She got tangled up with the court system and child welfare services, and her relationship to Bolle increasingly suffers from their drug addiction. When family midwife Marla is assigned to them, Jenny initially reacts dismissively. However, against expectations, Marla doesn’t judge her, instead seeing her as the person she is deep inside. Jenny begins to trust Marla, gradually working up the courage to face her fears and take on responsibility – for the new life inside of her, but above all for herself.

Chiara Fleischhacker has pulled off a remarkable feature-film debut, a social drama full of emotional impact, hope and tenderness. Emma Nova is phenomenal in the role of Jenny.

Chiara Fleischhacker was born in Kassel/Germany in 1993 and lived in Erfurt from the age of 14, where she attended an elite boarding school for sports. From 2015, she studied documentary film directing at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Her films have screened at many festivals, including European Film Festival Lille, Max Ophüls Film Festival, Interfilm Berlin and Filmfest Dresden, and have won several awards. In 2022, her screenplay for her feature-film debut VENA was honoured with the Thomas Strittmatter Award at the Berlinale.

Filmography (selection): 2016 L’AMOUR FOU, 2017 KOMMEN UM ZU GEHEN, 2018 WAS BLEIBT (all short films), 2024 VENA

Awards: Award for the Best Feature-Length Film and Michael Ballhaus Award (First Steps – The German Young Talent Award, Berlin/Germany 2024)