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BERLIN \u2013 Oscar-nominated German actor Sandra Hueller said on Sunday that the stigmatisation of gender nonconformity depicted in her new period piece \u201cRose\u201d is increasing again today.<\/strong><\/p>\n Sandra Hueller plays the titular character of the black-and-white film set in early 17th-century Germany about a woman who lives as a man to access the freedoms otherwise denied to her.<\/p>\n The ties between Rose\u2019s story, despite being set in the past, and developments happening right now were very palpable, Hueller said at the Berlin Film Festival ahead of the premiere.<\/p>\n \u201cMore and more people who were on the path of being more free and integrated in society, respected and accepted, are threatened these days. Again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n After serving as a soldier in the Thirty Years\u2019 War, the battle-scarred Rose hopes to settle down and become a respected member of her village, without revealing her identity.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was very aware of the risk that she\u2019s taking all the time,\u201d said Sandra Hueller, who starred in both 2024 Oscar-winning films \u201cAnatomy of a Fall\u201d and \u201cZone of Interest\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cShe knows that it can end very, very violently.\u201d<\/p>\n Austrian director Markus Schleinzer, who co\u2011wrote the screenplay, said women historically adopted male identities for many reasons, primarily to gain autonomy. But their traces survive mostly through court files or sparse diary entries.<\/p>\n Rose\u2019s character was an amalgamation of several real cases that he had read about. \u201cThe number of women who have chosen this life must be much higher,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cRose\u201d is competing against 21 other films at the Berlin Film Festival for the Golden Bear top prize, which will be handed out at the closing ceremony on February 21.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nAWARE OF THE RISK<\/strong><\/h2>\n
SPARSE TRACES<\/strong><\/h2>\n