- Interviews
by Delphine Trouillard
Fleeing judgment and new rituals: Jannis Lenz on his new film Oase
When a video of a student threatening his classmates goes viral, tensions at school spiral into violence. Crushed by pressure from teachers and parents, three marginalized boys seek refuge in a nearby forest. There, play turns into ritual and pain becomes a form of escape, until old wounds resurface and alter the balance between them. In his first fiction feature, Lenz explores the radical need for belonging and recognition during adolescence.
German director and screenwriter Jannis Lenz (Filderstadt, 1983) has developed a physical cinema attentive to bodies, vulnerability and male identity. Trained at the Filmakademie Wien under Jessica Hausner, he also worked as an assistant to Michael Haneke. His shortfilm Wannabe (2017) was nominated for the European Film Awards; with the documentary Soldat Ahmet (2021), presented at Visions du Réel, he followed a young man caught between boxing, the army and theatre. Oase is his first fiction feature.
