The Insta Murder

  • nordische filmtage

In August 2022, a young woman is found brutally stabbed in Ingolstadt. But then, the supposedly dead woman turns out to be alive — the victim is her doppelgänger.

Year

2025

Length

90 min 

Director
Carsten Gutschmidt  & Cordula Stadter
Share

Synopsis

The Doppelgänger Murder of Ingolstadt – a young woman, brutally stabbed, left on the backseat of her car. Her lifeless body covered with over 50 stab wounds. Suspicion quickly falls on her ex-husband, who had separated from her just a few weeks before the bloodshed after seven years together.

But then comes a shocking twist. A DNA test reveals that the deceased is not Shahraban, but Khadidja. Two women who look strikingly alike. Coincidence? Shahraban is alive – and shortly afterwards, she herself stands trial as the alleged murderer.

The indictment reads like a dark screenplay: Shahraban is said to have deliberately searched for doppelgängers via Instagram. Together with her accomplice, she allegedly lured her victim Khadidja into a forest and murdered her there, in order to stage her own death and escape the constraints of her family.

But nothing is as it seems. The trial unfolds into a labyrinth of contradictions, puzzles, and abysses. Was it really just about fleeing a strictly controlled life – or was it about jealousy, revenge, wounded feelings? And why did the accomplice participate in the crime? Shahraban had only met him a few days before the murder.

THE INSTA MURDER reconstructs, step by step, the events of that fateful summer night in August 2022. For the first time, lawyers and family members of the perpetrators, as well as the father of the victim and exclusively the ex-husband of the murderer Shahraban, speak out. Piece by piece, a picture emerges of what happened that summer and why Khadidja had to die.

Directors
Carsten Gutschmidt
Cordula Stadter

Executive Producer
Georg Tschurtschenthaler
Lea-Marie Körner

Written by
Cordula Stadter
Georg Tschurtschenthaler

DoP (Documentary)
Yannick Bonica

DoP (Fiction)
Jens Boeck, BVK

Editors
Leonardo Franke, BFS
Clara Andres, BFS

Music
Jens Südkamp

Sound Design
Jürgen Funk

Light
Philipp Gerhardt
Samuel von Mackensen
Toni Müllner

Postproduction Supervisor
Xavier Agudo

Production Management 
Anja Neuhaus

Line Producer
Kathrin Isberner

Producer
Eva Fouquet
Sonia Otto

Commissioning Editors Amazon Prime
Jonathan Schöller 
Andreas Hartmann 

Produced by
Christian Beetz

The Insta Murder
Trailer

Produced by

  • bb

For

  • br

In collaboration with

In association with

  • arte
  • arte

Supported by

  • mbb
  • NZ

The Insta Murder

  • nordische filmtage

In August 2022, a young woman is found brutally stabbed in Ingolstadt. But then, the supposedly dead woman turns out to be alive — the victim is her doppelgänger.

Year

2025

Length

90 min 

Director
Carsten Gutschmidt  & Cordula Stadter
Share

Synopsis

The Doppelgänger Murder of Ingolstadt – a young woman, brutally stabbed, left on the backseat of her car. Her lifeless body covered with over 50 stab wounds. Suspicion quickly falls on her ex-husband, who had separated from her just a few weeks before the bloodshed after seven years together.

But then comes a shocking twist. A DNA test reveals that the deceased is not Shahraban, but Khadidja. Two women who look strikingly alike. Coincidence? Shahraban is alive – and shortly afterwards, she herself stands trial as the alleged murderer.

The indictment reads like a dark screenplay: Shahraban is said to have deliberately searched for doppelgängers via Instagram. Together with her accomplice, she allegedly lured her victim Khadidja into a forest and murdered her there, in order to stage her own death and escape the constraints of her family.

But nothing is as it seems. The trial unfolds into a labyrinth of contradictions, puzzles, and abysses. Was it really just about fleeing a strictly controlled life – or was it about jealousy, revenge, wounded feelings? And why did the accomplice participate in the crime? Shahraban had only met him a few days before the murder.

THE INSTA MURDER reconstructs, step by step, the events of that fateful summer night in August 2022. For the first time, lawyers and family members of the perpetrators, as well as the father of the victim and exclusively the ex-husband of the murderer Shahraban, speak out. Piece by piece, a picture emerges of what happened that summer and why Khadidja had to die.

Directors
Carsten Gutschmidt
Cordula Stadter

Executive Producer
Georg Tschurtschenthaler
Lea-Marie Körner

Written by
Cordula Stadter
Georg Tschurtschenthaler

DoP (Documentary)
Yannick Bonica

DoP (Fiction)
Jens Boeck, BVK

Editors
Leonardo Franke, BFS
Clara Andres, BFS

Music
Jens Südkamp

Sound Design
Jürgen Funk

Light
Philipp Gerhardt
Samuel von Mackensen
Toni Müllner

Postproduction Supervisor
Xavier Agudo

Production Management 
Anja Neuhaus

Line Producer
Kathrin Isberner

Producer
Eva Fouquet
Sonia Otto

Commissioning Editors Amazon Prime
Jonathan Schöller 
Andreas Hartmann 

Produced by
Christian Beetz

The Insta Murder
Trailer

Produced by

  • bb

For

  • br

In collaboration with

In association with

  • arte
  • arte

Supported by

  • mbb
  • NZ