ABOUT

In a small town during the 1950s, where gender roles were rigidly defined, dreams soared against the wind. "Breaking Glass" follows the journey of a young girl with a passion for aviation that defied societal norms. Based on real stories from female aviation pioneers.

The short film began with extensive research on the subject, studying the biographies of the pioneering women in commercial aviation, and eventually making contact with 3 of the first women globally, now in their 70s. From the conversations that emerged, a script was created that represents their stories as a whole.

The script was extremely ambitious from the start, due to the level of craft and production value aimed for, as well as the number of scenes and their complexity. Historical scenes were set in three different periods (50s, 60s, and 70s), and not only did props and costumes need to be adjusted, but historical aircraft in flying condition also had to be sourced, along with air-to-air scenes filmed using a helicopter. In another case, a formation flight of 4 historical aircraft was used for a particular scene.

Casting posed a significant challenge as well, as there was a need to find 3 actresses who closely resembled each other physically and didn’t require makeup or special effects to link them, across three different age ranges. Additionally, they needed to have the required qualities for the performances, with two of the actresses being minors.

In terms of art direction, great attention was paid to accuracy in all historical aspects of the film. This created a major challenge in finding the right locations and aircraft for the story, such as the 1969 airline cockpit during a stormy takeoff. These analog cockpit interiors from large airline jets are extremely difficult to find in good condition, as they are first-generation jet aircraft from the 60s that have not been in active service for decades. Fortunately, the last example still in operation (but not in flight) was located in Stockholm, where sound was recorded and 3D scans were taken to recreate the aircraft in the CGI scene.

Additionally, a cockpit of the same aircraft was found in an enthusiast's garage, which had been salvaged and refurbished, including its electronic components. Since hydraulic machinery for simulating cockpit movements was unavailable, a less conventional solution was applied: vibrating sports platforms were installed beneath the pilots' seats to generate a similar effect at almost no cost. The production featured many such low-budget solutions, which, however, achieved a high visual value.

An even older SAS aircraft with propellers was found, helping to recreate an airport scene from the 50s. This was one of only two surviving examples in Europe, located in Vasteras (Sweden), where a reduced crew was sent.

The CGI scenes were one of the biggest challenges. Initially, rudimentary techniques had to be used to move the project forward, working with scale models of the aircraft to block the scenes and perform tests in editing. Alternative methods were also sought to complete a very ambitious post-production process with limited resources.

Writer and Director: Nicolás Bori

Chief Executive Producer: Matías Dumont
Executive Producer: Konrad Steuer

Director of Photography: Valentin Lilgenau, AAC

Editor: David Gesslbauer

Production Design: Sophie Luise Rohm, Karla Fehlenberg, Jan Christoph Scheurer

Costume Design: Kaya Kuszak, Sarah Frede
Music: Hannes Bieber, Alexander Wolf David

Colorgrading: Lee Niederkofler

Sound Design: Johanna Roth

Sound Mix: Julian Berg
Set Sound: Julian Berg, Fabian Klein, Birk Overå, Florian Reittner

VFX Producer: Nicolás Bori, Tomás Ossipoff (Behind Studios)

VFX Supervisor: Omer Hudja, Nicolás Bori, Marc Angele

VFX Creative Director: Ruslan Borysov

On Set VFX Supervisor: Marc Angele

Lead CG Artist: Stepan Polivanov, Stephane Beilliard

Lead Compositor: Omer Hudja, Drigend Singh

VFX: Katharina Böttcher, Lara Dönges, Hannah Engel, Pia Riether, Denise Roehrich, Lea-Sofie Züfle

Animation: Konstantin Meidenbauer, Patrick Schellmann

Compositing: Samuel Heigl, Isabelle Kramer, Kseniia Kurilchik, Julia Schramm, Erika Stolz

Junior Producer: Miriam Baitinger

Production Assistant: Paula Accordi

First AD: Nils Ecke

Second ADs: Linus Heinzler, Leon Zitz

Set-Runner / Driver: Michael Offner, Cem Balsüzen

Hair and Make-up: Désirée Schober, Isabella Gajcic, Mari Miltvedt, Selina Schardt

Assistant Costume Design: Daniela Hochstätter

Props: Rebecca Bader

Assistants Production Design: Laura Avemarie, Marlene Mehrlein

Gaffer: Verena Mühling, Till Pallapies, Timmy Prag, Willi Rätzsch, Nico Schrenk

Best Boys & Electricians: Volker Kintzinger, Philip Koehler, Lukas König, Michael Mayr

Key Grip: Philipp Tsemperlis

Grip Assistant: Cem Balsüzen

ACs: Viktoria Blocher, Kevin Brari, Jonas Ernhill, Lisa Jilg, Laura Köhler, Alexandros Michalas, Matthias Mischkolin

Still Photographer: Leon Greiner

Credits Design: Volker Kintzinger

Casting Director: Nicolás Bori

Main Cast:
* Laeni Geiseler
* Trixi Janson
* Jana Heinisch
* Steffen Wink
* Silke Koidl
* Clayton Nemrow
* Jürgen F. Schmid