UCP.ONE is co-publisher of the film music for the film “Swimming” by Luzie Loose

Synopsis:

After the separation from Elisa’s (Stephanie Amarell) parents, the life of the 15-year-old gets out of control. Together with her mother Anna, she has to move out of their shared single-family home on the outskirts of the city and into a council flat in the middle of Berlin-Neukölln. Her body reacts to the stress with fainting fits. During one such episode after swimming lessons, her classmates* take Elisa’s vulnerability as an opportunity to make her a victim in class. At this moment Anthea (Lisa Vicari) enters her life. She is beautiful, self-confident and intrepid and gets Elisa out of her defenseless rigidity in no time. The two become best friends and develop a game in which they record everything they do with the cameras of their mobile phones.

Elisa uses her mother’s night shifts to roam the clubs with Anthea and her older brother Pierre (Jonathan Berlin) and experiences a thrilling summer with her new girlfriend. Anthea protects her, gives her self-confidence and support. Both girls fill for each other the voids created by the separation from Elisa’s parents and the lack of affection in Anthea’s family. But Anthea always sets the pace.

Soon they get the idea to turn the cameras around and secretly film those classmates who have beaten up Elisa in a similar way. In order not to appear cowardly in front of her, Elisa collects and sends one compromising video after the next. Soon they need this game to maintain their cohesion, and their intimate friendship develops into a destructive dynamic that becomes threatening to anyone who gets in their way.