Südtiroler Kulturinstitut: Heilig Abend

An interrogation on Christmas Eve: The terror suspect Judith sits opposite investigator Thomas. He has only limited time to find out from her where she planted the bomb that is supposed to explode at midnight. But does this bomb really exist? Is Judith, who was taken out of the taxi on her way to the Christmas party with her parents, really guilty? Or are we witnessing an act of arbitrary state power? Judith is a professor of philosophy, she knows all about the varieties of violence. At least in theory. From her precise knowledge of social structures of violence and mechanisms, she begins to sow doubts about Thomas' actual role as a policeman. The suspect thus gradually becomes more and more an accuser of the system, asking questions about the meaning and purpose of surveillance and also of this specific interrogation. Is Judith playing a game with him or is she actually dangerous? The clock is ticking ... Daniel Kehlmann's theatre duel between a left-wing radical critic of the system and an unpredictable interrogator is about terror, about the extent and justification of state surveillance and about the question of whether freedom and security are compatible.