Eyes Without Gaze
EYES WITHOUT GAZE is an experimental film that challenges conventional storytelling, drawing inspiration from the aesthetic style of Chantal Akerman, where atmosphere and space take precedence over direct action. Blending different formats - animation, 16mm, poetry, video art, video clip and digital - the film constructs a fragmented, dreamlike narrative. It intertwines everyday life experiences of living under patriarchal capitalism with subconscious knowledge of folklore and symbolism. The film explores how to depict sexual violence without retraumatization, presenting survivors as autonomous individuals in search of justice.
At its center is Maria, a Greek immigrant caught between reality and dream. Struggling with financial hardship and haunted by a dark desire, she embarks on a journey to reclaim something lost from her past. Inspired by the Russian fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful", Maria’s search leads her to a mysterious needle—an object tied to an ancient fate. As her obsession with it deepens, she is drawn toward a man from her past, facing a fateful decision.
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Leniko SennomaDirector
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Leniko SennomaWriter
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Leniko SennomaProducer
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Maria PapaoikonomouKey Cast"Maria"
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Sophia Jelena BobićKey Cast"Maya"
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Ramona OlaszKey Cast"Lawyer"
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Jakob NienhausKey Cast"Daniel"
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Ayleen TunçerKey Cast"Ayşe"
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Hannah-Sophia EckartKey Cast"Woman in Party"
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Tania ElstermeyerKey Cast"Sophia"
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Josephine HuntingKey Cast"Woman in Bar II"
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Eva Paulina LoskaKey Cast"Nurse"
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Edu Ana Sommer-MadisonKey Cast"Partner Maya"
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Greta MarkurtKey Cast"Cab Driver"
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George Walter StathisKey Cast"Man in Hallway"
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Ioana UrdaKey Cast"Woman in Bar I"
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Lasse WeberKey Cast"Man in Bar"
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Francisca Saez AgurtoCinematography
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Karoline SchürerSound Engineer
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Polyxeni FotopoulouEditor
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Manuela SchininàSound Design / Mix
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Nour YazbeckColorist
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Nadin HeinkeAnimation
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Christian PenselComponist
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Yubeen HaScenography
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Tarfa BachanCostume
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Seohee West ChoCamera Assistance
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Greta MarkurtCamera Assistance
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Frau FischAdditional Music
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AnaritzzzAdditional Music
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The Village Brass BandAdditional Music
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Viviana KammelProduction- & Distribution Consultant
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Júnia MatsuuraProduction- & Distribution Consultant
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Anna BitterProduction- & Distribution Consultant
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Nishmi BassiEditing Consultant
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Shadi FaridSound Consultant
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Eloísa KöllnTechnical, Scenographic Assistance and Continuity
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Mila StarostaLight Design
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Martina Lucía AlvarezDirectors Assistance
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Nina WyssDirectors Assistance
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GovoiDirectors Assistance
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Meryem CelikTrainee
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Project Title (Original Language):Augen Ohne Blick
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Project Type:Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Feature, Music Video, Student
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Runtime:1 hour 21 minutes
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Completion Date:February 10, 2025
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Production Budget:100,000 EUR
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Country of Origin:Germany
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Country of Filming:Germany
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Language:German
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Shooting Format:digital, 16mm
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Aspect Ratio:1.85:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes - Universität der Künste
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QueerLustinaleLudwigslust
Germany
September 11, 2025
World Premiere
Leniko Sennoma is a Berlin-based film and installation artist whose work challenges the boundaries between reality and dream. Their art focuses on themes such as social justice, intersectional feminism, and the dismantling of systemic oppression. They combine techniques of lucid dreaming and archetypical symbolism to question the status quo of neoliberal information society. Their art is an ongoing search for possibilities of collective liberation, the dismantling of systemic oppression, and the creation of political collaboration. By developing an audiovisual-metaphorical language that works with the synchresis of image, sound, and material aesthetics, they create hypnotic environments that appear simultaneously gentle and eerie. Influenced by their studies in epistemology, theoretical, feministic, analytical philosophy and film theory, their works play with the consciousness of the viewer, generating a broad spectrum of associations, emotions and contrasts. Sennoma’s video-/installations and short films have been shown in numerous galleries, museums and festivals across continents, including Zilberman Gallery Berlin Germany, Gallery 062 Chicago USA, Gallery SA-KURA Nagoya Japan, Inflamável Film Festival Santa Caterina Brazil "Daydreams" (2024) and Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Germany "Oniríco" (2020).
The film prioritizes form over explicit plot, using thriller and horror tropes to reinterpret familiar victim–perpetrator dynamics without reinforcing them. The narrative unfolds through fragmented threads, gradually building toward a convergence in the final third. This structure resists conventional storytelling and instead invites viewers into a world of disorientation that mirrors the characters’ lived experience. The delay in clarity creates space to encounter them not as predefined victims, but as complex, real people. By focusing on the women's search for truth rather than portraying their victimization, EYES WITHOUT GAZE dismantles conventional power structures and reimagines how trauma can be represented on screen.
I, and many others from the crew and cast, who are predominantly FLINTA* individuals from precarious backgrounds, have experienced this type of violence. It is ingrained in our bodies and influences us every day. This kind of pain can consume you and change you into a person you don’t want to be. I wanted not only to tell this story but to build a foundation for collective healing through the act of making it. A film is not just its final product; it is also its communal production. I have witnessed many unfair conditions in filmmaking, and I wanted to prove that it can be done differently. I wanted to build a collective of care, a space where we can heal together and start telling our stories—not in a way that primarily educates outsiders, but in a way that helps us become the people we were, or could have become, if we hadn't lived under these oppressive circumstances.
The making of this film has been a process of healing, community, rediscovery, and owning our own stories. In the final product, I believe one can also see and feel this form of healing and the reclaiming of autonomy, and this is what I want to achieve.
*FLINTA: Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-binary, Transgender, Agender.