Donkey Days

In this absurdist comedy, tensions run high when rival sisters Anna and Charlotte are forced to return to their childhood home to care for their mother. As the endless battle for her attention flares up and old grievances resurface, mysteries begin to pile up. Whose ashes are in that mysterious urn on the mantelpiece, and where does their mother’s remarkable fascination with a donkey come from? Donkey Days places this sibling rivalry in a setting that is at once familiar and unsettling. What begins as a seemingly recognizable family drama about insecurity, manipulation, and childhood trauma quickly spirals into a story that is as hysterical as it is moving—a tale of sisters hoping, against all odds, to find their way back to one another.

Donkey Days premiered last year at the 78th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and is the second feature film by director Rosanne Pel; her debut, Light as Feathers (2018), was also screened at the Noordelijk Film Festival in 2022. Lead actress Jil Krammer, who made her acting debut in Donkey Days, will be present after the screening for a Q&A session in English.