A dystopian satire set in one room
«If you had to eliminate one third of humanity, what would you do?»
In a collapsing near future caused by dwindling resources and human ignorance, twelve strangers must unanimously decide within twelve hours which third of humanity dies – or a global lottery will do it for them, for the greater good, of course.
Why this film?
The movie is simple in its setting and complex in its subject matter: on the surface, it is about the global problem of overpopulation. At its core, twelve “angry” people negotiate the punishment to which the human species will be condemned for its criminal actions against the Earth, its fellow species and humanity!
We shot the film in six days: three days of rehearsals and three days of filming. What an adventure!
Two cameras, twelve actors, a crew of eleven – six days.
Making of, part 1
The location
We filmed LOTTERY at the baroque Gleina Palace in Saxony-Anhalt, a magical place that gave our story the perfect setting. Thanks to Felix Schenker and Klaus Karwarth for making it possible!
AI-generated podcast
A nine-minute conversation about LOTTERY – generated entirely by AI.
The director
Rebecca Panian
Before her life in film, Rebecca Panian worked as a sign painter, flight attendant and graphic designer, then as a TV editor for Endemol in Cologne and as a freelance editor and director for Swiss television. She graduated in journalism from ZHAW in 2010 and received her master's in fiction film directing from ZHdK in 2015.
Her debut documentary ZU ENDE LEBEN won the audience award at the Zurich Film Festival in 2014 and was released in cinemas in 2015. For her first feature film LOVERS she shot the main plot in 24 hours with a crew of six, without a classic script and with mostly improvised dialogue.
At the end of 2023 she launched the playful, collaborative talk show format VOLL AUF DIE 12, which is about finding solutions instead of just debating – a format that grew out of the research for LOTTERY.
Since 2017, Rebecca has been an activist for unconditional basic income as a human right. In 2018 she launched DORF TESTET ZUKUNFT to test basic income in a Swiss village – the origin of her documentary IMAGINE.