1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.
Eleven moving dates, eight friends: Philipp, Wiebke, Jessica, Maria, Swantje, Michael, Thomas, Dina – all in their twenties and mutually lonesome. And always searching: For a new city, a new job, an own apartment, a new, or even an old love. The search is never-ending, and so they repeatedly find themselves at a ritual gathering: someone moving. Boxes are shifted from one side of Berlin to the other, or the length and breadth of Germany, from one abode to the next as one life is exchanged for another. In 3 ZIMMER/KÜCHE/BAD, director Dietrich Brüggemann portrays existences in which relationships, social networks and backdrops are in a constant state of flux; where best friends are the only, and therefore the most valuable constant. Humorous sketches of the self-conception of a generation for whom moving has become the symbol of a life on the go.
When Isa provokes the Nazis with a satirical song at her graduation party, she is denied her degree despite passing her exams. She has to give up her plan to become a teacher and, against her mother Petra's wishes, manages to perform in a political cabaret. She enjoys stage success as a singer with an accordion and falls in love with the pianist Laurenz. During the Second World War, Isa's family gets caught up in the wheels of political power and is torn apart - until, after much turbulence, the Vermehrens regain their old cohesion and accompany Isa together as she enters a convent in Bonn.
A sperm donor becomes impotent - and so he searches for the woman, who got his sperm, to become a father after all...
The young prince decides to take revenge:putting himself insane, he wants to enlighten the murder of his father. Hamlet travels to England for a year and returns to kill the 11 uncles and save his mother.
Spring 1945: the Allies are outside Hamburg. In front of a movie theater, Lena Brücker meets Hermann Bremer, a marine assigned to the 'final battle on the home front'. After a night of love, Lena offers to hide the young man in her apartment during the last days of the war. This marks the beginning of a life-threatening love adventure for both of them, which they must keep secret from the rest of the world. While Lena blossoms over the next few weeks, Hermann suffers from his confinement and the constant fear of being discovered. Nevertheless, Lena will not tell her lover that the war is over so that she can spend as many days as possible with him on their shared 'mattress island' while everything changes outside.
Young forester Jana Doussière takes up a short-term position at the Grunewald forestry office. Coming from a wild forest in the Vosges, the solitude-loving Jana, who tends to struggle with people, encounters the big city forest and its "Berlin peculiarities". In addition to naked men, demonstrating wild boar fans and committed conservationists, the new forest warden is also confronted with sofas in trees, a mysterious city hunter and forest warden Robin, who hasn't exactly been waiting for her. And even her best friend Aylin, who brought her here, doesn't seem to have told her everything about the new job...
Divorced, widowed or long-term single: The participants of Flirtkurs 50plus the adult education center feel not yet old, but lonely. From the course, they hope for professional support for their attempts to find a new partner. But what trainer Jan trains with Julia, Frieda, Gila, and Britta, Friedrich, Heinz, and Ulf turns out to be far too mechanical for the individual needs and stories of the students. The course threatens to fail. But then the participants fire the coach and take the initiative themselves.
During a stormy night of grave political crisis, an expert interpreter suffers a nervous breakdown. Young diplomat Konrad Gelb is recruited to step in and interpret between the two conflicting superpower leaders, who seem to hold the fate of humanity in their hands - an absurd responsibility, which by extension rests on the shoulders of the young interpreter. He must balance the oversized egos in the room and maneuver the world's destiny to either peaceful resolution or total annihilation.
Nora's life changes overnight when her cousin Emily turns up on her doorstep. She actually just wants to stay with her for a while, but then the glamor girl catches fish poisoning. Nora has to stand in for her - as an escort girl.
An African-German Author loses his memory and is used by a modern National Socialist Party as promotion-figure for more political power over Germany.
The film tells the early life story of Marcel Reich-Ranicki, who was born in Wloclawek, Poland in 1920. During the Third Reich, the family was in great danger. Nevertheless, he returned to Germany with his wife.
David, a waiter, finds an unpublished manuscript in a dresser drawer. To impress a girl, he claims to be the author. When the novel becomes a best-seller, the real author introduces himself and begins to take over David's life.
Strongly acted, charmingly cheeky character comedy with a gentle culture clash note. After a boat accident, seaman Kurt (Hans-Uwe Bauer) needs short-term support in everyday life. A mammoth task, since no one can cope with the difficult patient. The emergency service conjures up its last ace up its sleeve: the resolute Roza from Poland's natural paradise, the wild and romantic Masuria.
Isn’t the trajectory of a shared life determined in advance? Get married, have kids, be like everyone else… According to Dietrich Brüggemann, who competed in Vary six years ago, 30-somethings conceivably have it all, yet they fail in their attempts to achieve their set ideals. Nö delivers a critique of contemporary values, while also highlighting the struggle to find and nurture love.
Teresa und Patricia are best friends. Despite the big differences between date-experienced Teresa and romantically predisposed single-mother Patricia, they have one thing in common: they have enough of bad dates and are sick of stupid dudes, bad surprises and broken hearts. When Teresa meets the neurotic programmer Anton, who is completely inexperienced in the field of romance, they come up with a genius business idea: together with the womanizer and start-up founder Paul, they develop an app with which potential dates can be categorized. In this manner, users can paint a picture of what they're getting themselves into. However, quite quickly they find out that people can't be easily fit into boxes and that matters of the heart shouldn't be left to an algorithm...
A German communist wrongly accused and sent to a labour camp has to keep her past life hidden for the sake of her and her family’s freedom.
Thirteen German directors present short films exploring the state of their country.
Life, death, and yet we know nothing.
Today is Lara’s 60th birthday, which happens to fall on the same day as her pianist son’s career-defining concert. A failed pianist herself, Lara spends the time before his performance pacing about Berlin—boiling with jealousy, nerves, and pride—trying to get hold of her elusive son.
Drama about two good friends, who discover their love on a holiday together, which turns their old life upside down.
Half-sisters Kim, Lesley and Olivia commit a robbery at a safe deposit box in order to convict the fraudster Christian Heisinger, who stole the development of Kim's HIV vaccine. But the coup fails. When the trio of sisters are released from prison five years later, Kim tries to persuade her sisters to give it another go