A poetically distilled documentary about great ambition, hidden wounds and the moments of losing control, caught between Olympic winds and inner storms.
LOGLINE21-year-old Elena throws herself into Olympic Windsurfing with no experience and a past she’s never faced. As she fights for control, the buried trauma of sexual abuse begins to resurface. Set against the vast beauty and indifference of the sea, this poetic coming-of-age documentary explores the fragile boundary between ambition and self-erasure.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
- from "Who Has Seen the Wind?” by Christina Rossetti
Is it a windsurfing film?
Kind of but no.
SYNOPSIS
The wind is both force and resistance. THE WIND IN HER HANDS is a poetically distilled documentary about 21-year-old Elena, who is trying to qualify for the Olympic Games in IQ Foil Windsurfing - an almost impossible goal, as she first lifted off the water on a foil just three years ago. As she learns to trust the wind, she must face a far greater challenge, buried deep within.
Her relentless ambition has brought her success before. Control was always her strategy - and her shield. A fine line between discipline and self-sabotage. The eating disorder she recently survived is just one of many waves crashing over her. But there is something else: a moment when self-determination was no longer an option, a trauma submerged in the depths. The wind propels her forward, but it also stirs up what was long forgotten. The body remembers what the mind refuses to. A storm that cannot be halted.
Only when Elena stops fighting the wind can she find her balance and stand her ground in competition. For the very first time she speaks out about the horrible rape she experienced years ago. Not in the protected environment of her family but in a public podcast. And suddenly, a new path to Olympic qualification emerges, one never seen before in this discipline.
A powerful coming-of-age story about the razor-thin line between great ambition and Self-denial - and the liberating freedom that comes from letting go of control.
VOICES FROM THE SCREENINGS
AWARDS & FESTIVALS
BEST DOCUMENTARY - Snowdance Independent Film Festival 2026
"SPORT & SOCIETY - Roberto Galante Award" - Matera Sport Film Festival 2025
Girona Film Festival 2025
Honorable Mention - Lookout Wild Film Festival 2026
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
FORMAT
80 min. || DCI Flat 1,85 || Color
FSK 12
LANGUAGE
German & English with Subtitles (OC or CC)
Available Subtitles: English, German, Italian
PRODUCTION OF
Siehste Film, Hamburg, Germany
SHOT IN
Netherlands, Spain, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece
WORLD SALES
Ananda Media
Ah, better give the world surprise
At great achieved from small,
Than start so high that nothing lies
Before you but a—fall!
- Their Chance, Amos R. Wells
Jonas Nellissen
Director's Statement
Beyond the production challenges, this film forced me to confront my own past. My struggles were different from Elena’s, yet just as mentally demanding. At a time when I questioned whether I should continue at all, her story pulled me forward. It became the reason I made this film, my first feature documentary.
In many ways, it mirrors my own journey. Elena’s fight for Olympic qualification reflects my struggle to bring this project to life. As she faces what seems impossible, I had to overcome countless obstacles to make it happen. Self-produced, entirely independent, through my own company, SIEHSTE FILM.
And then there is another layer: I clicked “render” on the final edit, and minutes later my wife called to say she was going into labor with our second daughter. That moment made Elena’s story feel even more urgent. Her resilience, her confrontation with control, her determination to rewrite her path in a time when misogyny is spreading like wild fire.
This film is a feminist marker of our time, a story about strength, about losing control, and about the freedom that begins when we stop fighting ourselves.
And when your fondest hopes are dead
And fate has ceased to smile.
'Tis then it pays to lift your head
And—just—hold on a-while.
- Hold on a while, Amos R. Wells
Narrative Style
FROM BREEZE TO STORM
While flying over the water, the wind becomes the narrator, returning throughout the film.
THE WIND IN HER HANDS is a cinematic journey into the life of a young woman striving to qualify for the Olympic Games in windsurfing while battling inner demons and traumatic experiences. Shot in an intimate, observational style yet with poetic imagery, the film’s recurring symmetrical and static compositions reflect the harsh conditions she must adapt to and the thoughts she cannot escape. This visual approach is disrupted in moments of crisis, when she faces her conflicts head-on—then, a handheld camera follows her, isolating her. Slowly the film pulls you in emotionally and cultivates a heartwarming melancholy in a story of departure. Additionally, a poetic layer allows the wind to become a narrator, merging with Elena’s experience.
Credits
a SIEHSTE FILM production
Written & Directed by Jonas Nellissen
Music - Felix Beck
Percussions & additional instruments - André Wittmann
Story advisor - Sandra Trostel, Kai Sieverding
Co-Producer - Christina Späth-Nellissen
Additional drone Footage - Henry Bloodworth
Artwork - Timo Zett
World Sales - Ananda Media
with
Elena Sandera
Henry Bloodworth
Ivana Imoli Sandera
and many more
