FIRST LAP CRASH

Switzerland 2026 — Directed by: Liam Erlach — 73 min — Spoken language: German — Subtitles: German, English, French — Production: Zürcher Hochschule der Künste — Producers: Elisabeth Agethen, Liam Erlach

Through her brother’s lens, 21-year-old Amina shares her daily life with ME/CFS, transforming silence and invisibility into connection and strength.

Amina lives with the invisible chronic illness ME/CFS that has imprisoned her in an exhausted body. To better understand this elusive illness, her brother Liam starts filming. Together they build her a room of her own where she can exist as something other than a patient. Amina shares her feelings, thoughts and resilience.
In an interplay of documentary observation and artistic rendering, the siblings find ways to make both the invisible illness and their way of coping with it visible.

Writer: Liam Erlach, Amina Erlach. Camera: Samuel Röösli. Sound: Annaka Minsch, Felix Scherrer. Editing: Riccarda Schwarz. Music: Tobias Preisig. Production: Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK. Producers: Elisabeth Agethen, Liam Erlach.

Festivals & Awards

- Visions du Réel 2026

- DOK.fest München 2026 – Special Mention Student Award.

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