“She’s not an idealist, but she has a fight in her”: Petra Volpe and Leonie Benesch on Late Shift at Berlin Film Festival 2025

Set during a single intense shift in a Swiss hospital, Late Shift by Petra Volpe offers a gripping look at the pressures of an overstretched healthcare system. Floria (Leonie Benesch), a skilled and compassionate nurse, struggles to keep up with mounting responsibilities in an understaffed surgical ward, where she cares for a spectrum of patients, each with their own complex stories and unique needs. With a fast-paced, immersive style, Late Shift captures the exhaustion, urgency, and ethical dilemmas faced by those on the frontlines of healthcare.

Ahead of The Late Shift’s premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, Volpe and Benesch sat down with The Upcoming to discuss the extensive groundwork behind the film, which included shadowing nurses for five consecutive days and engaging with healthcare professionals worldwide to understand the challenges they face. They also shared the technical complexities of capturing the film’s fast-paced rhythm and expressed their excitement for the nurses’ union, which was deeply involved in the research process, to see the final result.

Christina Yang

Late Shift does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.