Winner of the Teddy Jury award in the 2025 Berlin Festival, “If you are afraid, you put your heart into your mouth and smile” describes a small and realistic moment in a current adolescent story in a beautiful and touching way. Anna (Siena Popovic) is a 12-year-old girl living with her deaf single mother Isolda (Mariya Menner) in Vienna.
When Anna begins her school year in a new school, she is ashamed of the way her world is different from her wealthy classmates. However, the more Anna’s relationships deepen, and her struggles become more complicated, she learns to use her voice.
The film describes, in touching gentleness, the relationship between Anna and her mother through a refreshing female queer lens. The film is housing a myriad of queer characters and actors including Daniel Sea (“The L Word”).
This is a very touching debut film by director Marie Luise Lehner on first innocent love.
In association with the Austrian Cultural Forum Tel Aviv
