Christian, Michael and Helene are siblings. Their youngest sister Linda has only recently committed suicide, but their father’s 60th birthday must still be celebrated.
Christian uses the gathering to reveal a long-kept family secret. He has written two speeches for his father: one on a green card and one on a yellow card. He lets his father choose a card. He chooses the green one and Christian begins to talk about how his own father sexually abused himself and his sister Linda. But there is no immediate sense of liberation. The people at the party don’t want their celebrations to be interrupted and accuse Christian of fouling the nest. But the professed family idyll is crumbling and the father can no longer be protected. The wounds may be deep, but the siblings and their mother will find a way to come together again.
How safe or unsafe is one’s own family? Not only since the current accusations of abuse levelled against the Catholic Church have the efficiency and brutality of silencing the voices of those who have suffered abuse become evident. In Das Fest, Stephan Kimmig will explore the deep pain points left behind by the institution of the family.