Poised, distinguished horse trainer Wiebke (Nina Hoss) lives a moored and picturesque existence on the secluded farm she shares with her responsible adopted daughter Nicolina (Adelia-Constance Ocleppo). After a lengthy bureaucratic process, Wiebke is finally able to grow her family with the addition of Raya (Katerina Lipovska). Initially blissful and content, it doesn’t take long before the rosy-cheeked, cherubic 5-year-old starts exhibiting increasingly savage behavior, putting Wiebke’s experience taming the wild to the ultimate test. Audacious filmmaker Katrin Gebbe’s bone-chilling vision of parenthood examines the piercing, often dangerous depths a desperate mother will plumb to protect, heal and understand her young. With its sinister underpinnings and painterly lens, Gebbe’s follow-up to her searing 2013 debut Nothing Bad Can Happen is part The Bad Seed at magic hour, part The Omen on a farm, resulting in a ferociously entertaining and unpredictable contribution to the ever-fruitful “evil child” genre.

Writer/director Katrin Gebbe is expected to be in attendance on January 9 and 10.