The Past Returns in 'A Short Chronicle of Murder', Coming to NewCinema/Shorts+

German psychological thriller A Short Chronicle of Murder, directed by Jochen Isensee, will be streaming on Whush as part of the NewCinema/Shorts+ showcase.

Produced in 2020 and running 29 minutes, the German-language film is set in 1984 and centres on a confrontation between two men. Walther Loose is a wealthy and respected citizen whose apparently settled life is disrupted when a stranger named Leonard arrives at his home with a serious accusation: that Walther was once an SS concentration camp guard responsible for horrific crimes.

Walther categorically denies the allegation, dismissing it as a grotesque mistake. Leonard, however, refuses to leave.

What follows is a tightly contained psychological thriller in which questions of identity, guilt and memory gradually become inseparable from the immediate threat developing between the two men.

When the Past Confronts the Present

Written and produced by Adnan G. Köse, who also stars as Leonard opposite Hannes Liebmann as Walther Loose, A Short Chronicle of Murder uses the structure of a chamber thriller to examine what happens when accusations concerning historical crimes surface decades later.

Leonard appears to know details about a past Walther insists does not exist. As their confrontation continues, the comfortable domestic setting increasingly resembles an interrogation room, while the audience is left to assess the reliability and motives of both characters.

Is Leonard confronting a former perpetrator who has successfully concealed his past, or is Walther the victim of a dangerous and obsessive stranger?

Köse deliberately uses that uncertainty as part of the film's suspense. He wants viewers to form allegiances and then reconsider them as the balance of power changes.

“The film should work as a thriller,” he explains. “I want the audience to feel suspense, empathy and unease, and ultimately to be surprised.”

Beneath that thriller structure, however, are questions about unresolved injustice and the consequences of allowing responsibility to disappear with the passage of time.

Inspired by an Encounter with Fred Spiegel

The origins of the film have a personal connection for Köse.

The project was inspired by his late friend Fred Spiegel, a survivor of Bergen-Belsen, whom Köse met while working on a documentary. Later in life, Spiegel visited schools throughout Germany, speaking to young people about memory, responsibility and what Köse describes as “the fragility of truth.”

Köse stresses that A Short Chronicle of Murder is not based on Spiegel's life or his experiences. Instead, it was Spiegel's commitment to testimony and remembrance that provided the creative impetus for a fictional story about a buried past suddenly returning to confront the present.

“His presence and moral clarity moved me deeply,” Köse says.

The resulting screenplay became a psychological revenge drama built around suspicion, accusation and uncertainty, examining how guilt, memory and denial can continue to resonate long after the events themselves.

Justice, Revenge and Responsibility

While the Holocaust provides the historical context for the accusation at the centre of the film, Köse says it is not intended merely as background for a suspense story.

Instead, he uses the confrontation between Leonard and Walther to raise questions about individual responsibility and what happens when perpetrators of historical crimes are able to build new lives while their victims continue to carry the consequences.

For Köse, the passage of time cannot itself resolve responsibility.

“The passing of decades cannot undo suffering, nor can silence turn guilt into innocence,” he says.

At the same time, A Short Chronicle of Murder does not present revenge as an uncomplicated form of justice. Köse wants audiences to consider where one ends and the other begins, and whether responding to an unresolved injustice can ultimately create another.

His hope is that viewers leave the film debating whom they believed, when their sympathies shifted and whether justice was ultimately served.

A First Fiction Film for Jochen Isensee

A Short Chronicle of Murder marked Jochen Isensee's first fiction film as a director.

Isensee has an unusual professional background for a filmmaker: he is a specialist in anaesthesia as well as an artist and director. His filmmaking practice reflects an interest in unconventional storytelling and in finding approaches outside established creative paths.

The film was shot by cinematographer Steffen Isensee and also became an early example of a production principle developed by New Dakota: combining experienced artists with emerging filmmakers and providing new talent with an opportunity to develop an individual cinematic voice.

For Köse, that makes the project significant on two levels — as a film concerned with remembrance and as the beginning of an approach to production centred on discovering and supporting filmmakers.

International Festival Recognition

A Short Chronicle of Murder has participated in competition at more than 20 international film festivals and has received several awards and distinctions.

The screenplay has been particularly successful, winning Best Screenplay at the Global Indie Filmmaker Awards, Best Screenplay at the South Film and Arts Academy and Best Screenplay at the Golden Short Film Festival.

The film was also a winner at the Megaflix Movie Awards, while additional recognition includes Honourable Mentions from the Critics Society Short Film Festival and Hollywood Shortfest.

Coming to NewCinema/Shorts+

The film will now be available to audiences worldwide through NewCinema/Shorts+ on Whush.

Although rooted in the legacy of Nazi crimes and the Holocaust, A Short Chronicle of Murder approaches its subject through the conventions of a psychological thriller. Its focus remains tightly concentrated on two men in a room, an accusation, and the increasingly difficult question of who the audience should believe.

The result combines historical memory with a suspense narrative while asking broader questions about guilt, accountability and whether the passage of time can ever place serious crimes safely in the past.

A Short Chronicle of Murder (Germany, 2020), directed by Jochen Isensee and written and produced by Adnan G. Köse, runs 29 minutes in German with English subtitles and will stream worldwide on Whush as part of the NewCinema/Shorts+ showcase.

https://www.whush.com/newcinema-shorts