Actress Julia Brendler was only 14 years old when she auditioned for a casting in her hometown Schwedt and won the lead role of Barbara in this DEFA film. A successful debut, for which the native Brandenburg received the Hessian Film Prize and with which her film and television career began.
Interestingly, despite its subject matter and nudity, this film was considered an educational film and was first shown on German TV.
The later SPD politician Manuela Schwesig plays a small supporting role in this movie. "It was a huge coincidence. My family and I lived in Seelow at the time, very close to Frankfurt (Oder), the city where I was born. The newspaper said that a Defa casting was taking place in Frankfurt, and my father said: 'Come on, let's go there'. I actually auditioned for the lead role. But I quickly realized: I don't want this leading role. Because I thought that some of the scenes that were planned there - and the difficult material in general - would be too much for me. That was really a big challenge for a young girl," she said.
In a 2022 interview at ND Filmclub, Julia Brendler said it was difficult for her to play the nude scenes. "Well, that wasn't easy for me. I also needed the director to embrace us with his love, his care and his caution. He treated us so tenderly that it was possible. And we had an incredible amount of time. I don't think you have that much time in movies today. But it wasn't easy for me when the director said, 'And now you have to play love'," she recalled.
In the school community room a poster for Sieben Sommersprossen (1978) is visible, another GDR cult movie about teenage love, also featuring "Romeo & Juliet" references. While in the movie the elements from the play are in the plot, in Sieben Sommersprossen (1978) the play itself is featured in the movie.