‘Oasis’ Picked Up by Totem Ahead of Venice Premiere

Totem has picked up international sales rights for “Oasis,” by writer-director Jannis Lenz, which has its world premiere in the Horizons competition section at the Venice Film Festival.

The film joins Totem’s sales slate as the company shifts its primary focus to production.

The film centers on a school where a viral video of a student threatening his classmates surfaces online, and the situation spirals into escalating violence. Crushed by the pressure of teachers and parents, three outcasts take refuge in a nearby forest. There, play hardens into ritual and pain becomes an escape, until old wounds surface and the boundaries between them are redrawn.

“ ‘Oasis’ captures the fragility of adolescence with great precision, exploring fear, exclusion and violence through a deeply human perspective,” producer Markus Katsch of Zeitgeist said.

Bérénice Vincent, CEO at Totem, commented: “Jannis is a hugely promising talent, with a rare assurance behind the camera. What impressed us is the way he exposes the contradiction between the violence we’ve normalized and the violence we condemn – and the world as it stands proves his point every day.”

Lenz’s previous work includes the short “Wannabe” (2017), which won the Prix Clermont-Ferrand and was nominated for the European Film Award, while his graduation film “Soldat Ahmet” (2021) premiered at Visions du Réel and won several international awards.

He is a Vienna Film Academy graduate, mentored by Jessica Hausner, has been an assistant to Michael Haneke, and is a Berlinale Talents alumnus.

“Oasis” features newcomer Florian Geißelmann (“Sound of Falling”) and acclaimed actor Godehard Giese (“Rose”), as well as upcoming German actors Anton Petzold and Mathilda Smith.

The film is produced by Germany’s Zeitgeist Filmproduktion FFM and co-produced by Austria’s Wega Film and Germany’s Third Picture in collaboration with We Fade to Grey, Ocean Pictures Filmproduktion and Totem Films.

It is supported by Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien BKM, Deutscher Filmförderfonds DFFF, Österreichisches Filminstitut ÖFI+, MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Kuratorium junger deutscher Film and Filmförderungsanstalt FFA.