He Was a Giant with Brown Eyes

Eileen Hofer’s personal, independently-made feature debut has no professional actors, one or two takes for each scene and a budget of 20,000 Euros. Hofer could not and would not choose between fiction and documentary, so did not get funding via the traditional channels.
Born and bred in Switzerland with Turkish roots, the director tells a gripping coming-of-age story about life between two cultures. She follows her stepsister Sabina (17), who came with her mother from Azerbaijan to Switzerland. Her older sister Narmina stayed behind with their father in Bacu.
Five years later, Sabina returns to Bacu for a summer holiday. She secretly intends to stay with her beloved relatives. However, her father has marriage plans, again, while Narmina’s boyfriend has been called up for military service. And has Sabina in the meantime not become too alienated from her roots? The title refers to a dream of every child: that his or her father is a hero. Sabina has to learn to deflate that myth.

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