Private Project

Two Fish

Two Fish is the story of two kids and their creative way of dealing with situations of conflict. The two young brothers, Max and Lucas, are suffering under the divorce of their parents. One day, when the kids spend a day at the beach, a fisherman gives them two fish that they are allowed to keep in the bathtub for a day. The kids start to play with the fish and try to imagine a life as a fish, living peacefully underwater and having a muted perception of their surroundings. When their father shows up during dinner and loses his temper in his desperate need to see his sons, the kids spontaneously decide to dive into an imaginary underwater world.
As the days pass, they also start to notice that their mother is becoming increasingly more unconcentrated, seemingly overwhelmed by the conflict with their father. Anxious that they are going to lose their father over the divorce, Max and Lucas pose questions about presence and absence and the meaning of death. Max ends up being convinced that the absence of the fish can be seen as an equivalent to the absence of their father and desperately starts searching for traces of the fish.

  • Divina Hasselmann
    Director
  • Divina Hasselmann
    Writer
  • Sofia Theofilaktidis
    Producer
  • Susanne and Klaus Hasselmann
    Producer
  • Gerardo De Sousa
    Producer
  • Souzana Theofilaktidou
    Producer
  • Cole Iturregui-Shirley
    Key Cast
  • Benicio Franqui
    Key Cast
  • Malin Barr
    Key Cast
  • Kara Elverson
    Key Cast
  • Eddy James Ryan
    Key Cast
  • Theodoros Theofilaktidis
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    drama, kids, women, fiction, underwater, narrative
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 2, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    10,400 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • Berlin Short Film Festival
    Berlin, Germany
    July 2, 2015
    Germany Premiere
  • Miami Independent Film Festival
    Miami, USA
    August 25, 2015
    North America Premiere
  • Blackbird Film Festival
    Cortland, New York
    December 20, 2015
    Best Cinematography
  • Bronx International Film Festival
    Bronx, New York
    January 27, 2016
    New York Premiere
  • Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards
    Los Angeles
    August 10, 2015
  • Woman Up Independent Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    November 4, 2015
  • Made in NY Filmmakers Showcase
    Manhattan, New York
    February 13, 2016
    Manhattan Premiere
  • Philadelphia Independent Film Awards
    Philadelphia, PA
    May 22, 2016
    Nominated for "Best Student Film"
  • Discover Film Festival
    London
    April 10, 2016
    UK Premiere
  • Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
    Dubuque, Iowa
    April 21, 2016
    Iowa Premiere
Director Biography - Divina Hasselmann

Divina Hasselmann is a German-Filipino filmmaker and media artist currently working and living in Berlin. After graduating from High school in Lübeck, Divina moved to Frankfurt to study Theater-, Film and Media Studies, as well as Political Science and Linguistics at the Goethe University. As a Fulbright scholar she then earned her Master’s degree in Media Studies and Film at The New School University in New York, where she acquired her filmmaking skills.
Coming from a strong theoretical background, she implements complex contemporary theories around the notions of death, the body, simulation, language and into her media artworks, trying to give a response to these very ideas in a different format, as well as making them more accessible. She poses similar questions in her films in form of stories, which negotiate primarily those questions precluded from the dominant discourse in society. Ranging from essay- as well as experimental films to films in the neorealist tradition, her style is known to push the boundaries of conventional filmmaking, constantly exploring the potential of the medium. Divina has shown her work at festivals and in galleries in the U.S. well as in the UK and Sweden.

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