Ivie's view of herself begins to waver when her half-sister suddenly shows up and not only talks about the upcoming funeral of their father in Senegal, but above all sharpens Ivie's awareness of the everyday racism to which she is exposed as an Afro-German. An impressive debut about self-discovery and diversity.

Naomi, Ivie's half-sister, whom Ivie didn't even know existed, suddenly appears at the apartment door and tells Ivie of the upcoming funeral of their father in Senegal. For Ivie, who grew up with her white mother in Leipzig and is now looking for a job after having just finished her teacher training, this is an all-the-more intense confrontation with her own "African" background. During their extensive conversations, Naomi above all sharpens Ivie's view of her own identity as an Afro-German, and of all the everyday experiences of racism and discrimination that regularly happen to Ivie despite her privileged situation as an academic – and that are all too often not even meant to be evil, but arise from ignorance, habit, or thoughtlessness. In her affecting, occasionally cheerful and occasionally painful debut film about the self-discovery of a young woman, director Sarah Blaßkiewitz gives herself and her actors a lot of time for the development of the characters and their lifeworlds.

Frederik Lang (20.01.2022)

Reviews and Commentary:

"Ivie begins to question not only her personal relationships, but also her relationship to culture and society. Why doesn't she want Naomi to wear a turban for an interview? Why, during the interview, is she repeatedly asked where her parents were from? That which the non-affected dismiss as unpleasant, isolated events is clearly delineated in the film for what it is: racist micro-aggressions that Black people constantly experience. Naomi reaction to them is hard-nosed – which only makes it even clearer how commonplace they are for her.
"Blaßkiewitz succeeds particularly well in depicting the commonplace [...]. Precious Ivie [is] a visually impressive film about friendship, family, and identity [...] that reveals that we are far from having achieved an anti-racist society."
(Lillith Dörsch, jetzt.de, 17.06.2021)


Mirjam Ratmann in conversation with Sarah Blaßkiewitz at fluter.de (17.9.2021)

fluter.de: To what extent does the film reflect the reality of your own life?

Sarah Blaßkiewitz: I have drawn a lot from my own experiences, those that I myself have had as a Black woman in Germany. But I am neither Ivie nor Naomi. However, I do have a similar journey to that of Ivie behind me. As a young woman, I also asked myself: "Who am I, and how do the others see me?" I called many things into doubt. Others things are inspired by experiences and stories from my environment. You don't have to have an Afro-German background for that. My desire was to make everyone feel addressed. Ivie's best friend Anne calls Ivie "Chocolate". Neither of them had ever questioned the term – until Naomi shows up. Can a friendship withstand racist undertones like that in the long run?
I would hope that something like that can be worked out. Because, Anne wasn't being intentionally malicious, she was simply using culturally anchored mechanisms that she had never questioned. Good friendships should be able to endure and overcome such conflicts – and that also includes reflecting on one's own racist ways of thinking and actions, and talking about them openly.

fluter.de: You wrote the script between 2016 and 2017. Has anything changed in the awareness of everyday racism since then?

Sarah Blaßkiewitz: I think so. The issue of racism has received much more social attention in recent months. Especially the debates in the USA and the Black Lives Matter movement have had a major influence on this. This has given many Black people – in Germany as well – more self-confidence, and has changed the public representation and perception of Afro-Germans for the better. [...] We had discussions in the team – I especially had close talks with the two main actresses: What are we okay with, and what not? From that point of view, Black Lives Matter empowered me and all of us to go through with it.

Production Country

Germany (DE)

Production Period

2019-2021

Production Year

2021

color

color

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Feature Film

Genre

Drama

Topic

Relationship / Family, Coming of Age, Friendship, Discrimination / Racism, Equal Rights / Emancipation

Available Media

DCP, Blu-ray Disc, DVD, DCP, Digital Film

Original Version

German (de)

DCP

Subtitles

German (full), German (partly), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Arabic (ar), Chinese (zh), Russian (ru), Italian (it), Turkish (tr), Estonian (et), Czech (cs)

Note on the Format

DCP sind verschlüsselt

Blu-ray Disc

Subtitles

German (full), German (partly), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Arabic (ar), Chinese (zh), Russian (ru), Italian (it), Turkish (tr), Estonian (et), Czech (cs)

DVD

Subtitles

German (full), German (partly), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Arabic (ar), Chinese (zh), Russian (ru), Italian (it), Turkish (tr), Estonian (et), Czech (cs)

Note on the Format

DVD-Auswertungszeit: ab 01.11.2022

DCP

Subtitles

German (full), German (partly), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Arabic (ar), Chinese (zh), Russian (ru), Italian (it), Turkish (tr), Estonian (et), Czech (cs), Romanian (ro)

Note on the Format

DCP sind verschlüsselt

Digital Film

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Arabic (ar), Russian (ru), Italian (it), Turkish (tr), Estonian (et), Czech (cs), Chinese (short), Romanian (ro)

Note on the Format

kurdisch - ku