The Faces of Carmen on WDR/ARD Mediathek

26 OCT 2025: Overtone Films' new documentary in co-production with WDR, featuring mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina, premiered in Germany on 26 October.

The Faces of Carmen, a new 52-minute documentary by Hilan Warshaw from Overtone Films in co-production with Westdeutscher Rundfunk, had its premiere broadcast in Germany on WDR on 26 October, and is viewable in Germany on the ARD Mediathek.

The film takes a unique look at Georges Bizet's enduring operatic masterpiece by following 28-year-old mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina, "almost universally acclaimed as the Carmen of our times" (Operawire), throughout 2024 as she performs the role in five vastly different productions at some of the world's leading opera houses. Alongside captures of each production, director interviews and historical background about Bizet's classic, the film offers an up-close look at the life of a rising international opera star, and what it takes to embody each face of Carmen.

From the Royal Opera House Covent Garden to the Arena di Verona... from the Glyndebourne Festival to the Vienna State Opera and Teatro di San Carlo... from traditional productions to modernized and abstract ones, and even more politically and psychologically oriented versions... each director has his or her own highly individual take on the message of this opera, which ultimately may be as elusive as Carmen herself.

Information forthcoming on broadcasts and streaming outside of Germany.

English title The Faces of Carmen