It is primarily the prestige of this elite establishment that prompts well-heeled parents to send their daughters to the 1980s Catholic boarding school which is the setting of Ruth Mader's thriller SERVIAM – I WILL SERVE. A deeper bond with God appears to be lacking among the parents and many members of the religious order as well. Except for one young nun. In her religious verve she sends a particularly sensitive girl on a dangerous path to God; they both become lost in the labyrinthine search for healing – but ultimately salvation from outside is their only hope.

The people in LIFE GUIDANCE have subjugated themselves to the credo of self-optimization and handed their private lives over to an agency. That would be disturbing enough. But Ruth Mader has tightened the screw by setting her dystopia in a period which seems well within reach of the present day. We talked to director Ruth Mader.

Ruth Mader's new film LIFE GUIDANCE depicts the future as an apparent copy of the present, where imperceptibly yet efficiently an extensive surveillance system draws the net tighter. We had a short talk with the director during the shooting.

«I wanted to maintain distance, because in certain circumstances that can create more intimacy than getting extremely close.» Ruth Mader talks about WHAT IS LOVE her new film selected for the  Forum section at the 62^nd Berlinale 2012.

«Was meine Filme grundsätzlich von den anderen unterscheidet ist, dass mich das "bürgerliche Drama" nicht interessiert, ich will nicht vom persönlichen Seelenbauchweh erzählen, sondern mir geht es um gesellschaftliche Zustände.»

Ruth Mader wählte für Null Defizit das Genre des Propagandafilms, um ein politisches Statement abzugeben und den Begriff Solidarität neu und emotional zu besetzen. Internationale Premiere des Kurzfilms ist in Cannes' Cinéfondation.