Die Sonne,
so strahlend und Schwarz

A coming-of-age story about falling down, getting back up and dancing on.

Nova is 17, bright, very intelligent and a real roller skating pro. A queer, Black girl full of joie de vivre. Always by her side: her best friend Mitra, who loves Missy Elliott and is therefore called Missy by everyone. It is just before the summer holidays when her mother moves with Nova and her little half-brother Cosmos to the other end of Berlin. There is to be no more room here for bad memories of her violent stepfather. Nova wants a fresh start and dreams of her first kiss.

And indeed, her life becomes colourful again when she meets Akoua. The girl with the blue braids is known to everyone as Doc; she works part-time in an ice-cream parlour and is a hip-hop dancer. Nova falls head over heels in love – to her, Akoua is the sun, so radiant and Black. Their love story seems perfect until Nova is suddenly caught up in her painful past once more and threatens to lose herself in anger and helplessness. But the courageous girl makes a decision that finally frees her and her little brother from the cycle of fear and violence.

Chantal-Fleur Sandjon won the German Youth Literature Prize in 2023 with her verse novel Die Sonne, so strahlend und Schwarz (The Sun, So Radiant and Black). In powerfully condensed language, she explores growing up as a Black, queer young woman in Germany in all its facets. In her production, Shari Asha Crosson embarks on a quest for healing and a way out of the cycle of intergenerational trauma.