FILM SCORE

THE EDUCATION OF JANE CUMMING 

Director: Sophie Heldman

Music: Balz Bachmann

Edinburgh, 1810. Teachers Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods embark on their  dream of an independent life together and open a boarding school. Their  lives are changed forever when a wealthy aristocrat enrols Jane Cumming,  her “illegitimate” 15-year-old grandchild from India. The teachers  struggle to integrate the girl who remains an outsider among her  classmates. Miss Pirie and Miss Woods are brought closer to Jane when  her grandmother insists they look after her over the summer. Private and  professional lines blur, affection between them grows and they start to  form an unlikely family. Tensions rise, however, as the new term  begins. The two teachers are overwhelmed by the girl’s increasing desire  for closeness as well as by their own changing relationship. As Jane  begins to feel excluded from her new family, she demands to be taken  home to her grandmother. An accusation follows which leaves the teachers  in an existential battle, resulting in a legal fight that would last a  decade and scandalise the Scottish establishment. Based on true events.

World Premiere: Berlin International Film Festival 2026