Based on Michel Houellebecq's controversial novel, Atomised (aka The Elementary Particles) focuses on Michael and Bruno, two very different half-brothers and their disturbed sexuality. After a chaotic childhood with a hippie mother only caring for her affairs, Michael, a molecular biologist, is more interested in genes than women, while Bruno is obsessed with his sexual desires, but mostly finds his satisfaction with prostitutes. But Bruno's life changes when he gets to know the experienced Christiane. In the meantime, Michael meets Annabelle, the love of his youth, again.
Jenny is young. Her life is over. She killed someone. And she would do it again. When an 80-year-old piano teacher discovers the girl’s secret, her brutality and her dreams, she decides to transform her pupil into the musical wunderkind she once was.
Flanders, a famous female author, travels in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin wall into the German capital. She is deeply depressed by the events because she saw the communist state as a very good thing that has now ended. In the joy of these days she finds no one to understand her, so she has to travel back to Munich. After meeting several people, known and unknown, it seems as if there will be no way to go.
Kurt and Lydia are planning a relaxed vacation at the Gripsholm castle in Sweden . What Lydia does not know is that for Kurt, a well-known publicist, the journey is actually a flight from encroaching fascism and a direct threat from the Nazis.
A holiday celebration with the extended family gets stretched to the breaking point in this comedy from Germany. Sara is happily married to Jan, though this wasn't always the case -- Sara is Jan's second wife, while Sara has three ex-husbands, Gunnar, Andi and Erich, and she and Jan are raising children from each of their previous marriages. Jan is less than thrilled with the prospect of spending the holidays with Sara's mother, but things get worse when he learns his wife has planned a surprise for Christmas eve -- they'll be joined by Gunnar, Andi and Erich, as well as Erich's new wife Pauline, Andi's current spouse Rita and his own ex-wife, Eva. To call the atmosphere uncomfortable is an understatement, and things only get worse when Sara announces she's pregnant, which is quite troubling for Jan since he's been waiting for the right time to tell her he had a vasectomy several months before.
To call or not to call? For young Cora it's not a question. In fact, after the first date you may never call the guy, even if it was the best sex of your life! It's him who must beg for a meeting - and not later than 72 hours after. Otherwise - delete it from memory.
Four female cons who have formed a band in prison get a chance to play at a police ball outside the walls. They take the chance to escape. Being on the run from the law they even make it to sell their music and become famous outlaws.
Many years after her notorious husband, Henry Fool, fled after killing a neighbor, Fay Grim receives a visit from CIA agent Fulbright, who tells her that Henry is dead, but that some of his journals have been unearthed in France. She sets forth on a globe-trotting odyssey that soon leads to the discovery that he is alive, and his journals are more than they appear to be.
Hannes Engel is a successful radio presenter in the countryside. By chance, he is heard by program director Conrad Scheffer one night, who immediately recognizes the potential of the cheeky presenter and wants to sign him up as the new figurehead for his late show, which is in a ratings slump. But this proves to be more difficult than planned. First of all, they have to get rid of the old show host, then Engel's wife has just been thrown out of one of the station's productions, and Engel is also being pursued by a sensationalist tabloid journalist who never misses a chance to drag Engel through the mud....
Chantal is at the beginning of her career as an influencer when she steps through a mirror and finds herself in a fairy tale. She identifies as Sleeping Beauty. Her best friend Zeynep follows her through the mirror. Chantal’s goal, naturally, is to find a man, definitely a prince. Perhaps she will marry Prince Bosco. She already has a wedding gown, but he seems more interested in men. Her friend, Aladdin (Mido Kotaini), has a magic lamp; he rubs it, and people appear. She works to finish making a flying carpet. There is a wicked witch, Sansara, who sometimes looks old but often young. Her friend Zeynep ends up in a grave but reappears. An elderly rather fat fairy pops up occasionally. Chantal must fight a dragon.
In the Andes, a Belgian doctor and his photojournalist wife become ensnared in a native tribe's struggle with a mining company.
Sara is in the midst of making plans for her wedding to popular radio DJ Robert when she stumbles into a passionate affair. Having been single for four years, Katherine falls for her ex-boyfriend, Nick, who walked out on her and his friends four years ago. Then there is Nina, a playgirl who hardly ever wakes up with the same woman twice—until she takes a ride in Ella’s taxi cab. She finally meets her match and surrenders to love, but not without first putting up a fight.
A complicated love triangle, enriched with plenty of drugs, sex and nightlife in Berlin.
Horst, a good-natured manager of a nightclub, falls in love with a guest, the beautiful Jenny. She is high class and spoiled and requires a lot of attention from him.
When German police viciously quell a protest against the shah of Iran, popular journalist Ulrike Meinhof rebels against her dishonest marriage, walks away from her children and joins radical anarchist Andreas Baader. Together with Baader's girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, they form the violent Red Faction Army, and together perpetrate a slew of terrorist attacks as a way of disrupting the fabric of what they see as an increasingly fascist state.
They are young, naive, know it all, and have just fallen in love: a simple, down to earth office girl, Sarah and up and coming, high-flying, web designer Stephan. Happiness reigns supreme...
In 1939, after barely escaping the Nazis, a Gypsy family returns to Switzerland only to be torn apart by racial persecution in the benign guise of children's welfare. This fictionalized story of Jana, an eight-year-old Gypsy girl snatched from her parents and consigned to a life of orphanages and bleak foster homes, is based on a little-known chapter of Swiss history: From 1926 to 1972, the state-supported Pro Juventute, a children's aid foundation, forcibly removed some 700 Gypsy children from their families, in order to sever the ties with their culture and assimilate them to a "better way of life." The underlying aim was to preempt a new generation's caravans from following their nomadic traditions along Switzerland's country lanes.
Sams in danger, it is said, when Mr. Taschenbier's son Martin brings the Sams back into the household, which, however, is kidnapped shortly afterwards by the sports teacher because of his special skills.
Survival is not enough. Fariba Tabrizi has made it. Under peril of death she has fled from Iran. In Germany she has no alternative way of avoiding the threat of deportation other than to assume the identity of a deceased co-detainee. So what happens after a few month in which she has tried to come to terms with a situation which is actually an insufferable one for her? How does Fariba live not only in this external state of exile but also in an inner state of exile? The term "in orbit" is officially used by the UN to refer to asylum-seekers who find themselves orbiting around planet Earth because they can actually find legal domicile nowhere at all.
A young teenage werewolf is torn between honoring her family's secret and her love for a man.
On the visual layer 'In Uranias' is like a diary film made while travelling through Iran and USA in early 2007. The text layer is more like a journey through the emotional landscapes of an iranian-american muslim. These two layers are intertwined - sometimes converging, sometimes diverging - to create an audio-visual anagram: Uranias.
A short documentary about the making of 'Fay Grim.'
A tragi-comedy telling the story of the adventures of Robin, Anna, Jost and Leo - the meds - who want to be anything but healthy, happy and mediocre. They all live in a large city in West-Germany and are "Westies" to the core. Precocious, disillusioned, morally eroded, politically bored and sexually sated. Always on the run from the next compromise, they are big kids caught up in their mid-twenties crisis. One day in the midst of all this depression the suspicion arises that one of them is in fact a closet "Eastie", a liar and betrayer, an undercover agent, a neo-Nazi or at least a Stalinist...
Dominik, a 16-year-old student, lives with a troubled family and finds himself alone. In order to impress a girl, he gets involved in a shady deal where things go wrong. Then a true friendship comes to save him from the disaster.
Gerd Meineke is a committed member of the Bundestag and member of the Parliamentary Assembly in the Council of Europe. And he has a problem: Leyla, the daughter of his partner Alina, was taken into custody as an opposition figure in her country of origin, Azerbaijan. The blogger fights there for democracy and against environmental destruction. Gerd travels to Baku as an election observer for the Council of Europe, where he wants to campaign for the release of Leyla and other political prisoners. Only on site does he realize that the government and the lobbyists of influential companies are using politicians like him to gain credibility for the ruthless, environmentally destructive extraction of critical raw materials. Leyla and her friend Valentina open his eyes to the extent of corruption that does not stop at Western European politicians. Will Gerd, together with Leyla and the help of her friend, be able to make the corruption of politics public?
After the death of her father, Maria travels to Berlin to visit her elder sister Helena, a dancer, who she hasn't seen for years. However, when she arrives in Berlin she finds out that Helena has quit dancing and now works as a croupier in an illegal gambling club. As the two sisters' relationship gradually becomes closer, Maria must draw Helena away from the underworld and help her overcome her dangerous addiction to gambling.
Leyla and her six-year-old daughter Nila live in the holy city of Mashhad in Iran. Nila is the result of a temporary marriage, which allows a man to marry a woman even if he is already married. Children born from such a relationship are legally non-existent. As long as the father does not recognize the child, no birth certificate can be issued and Nila cannot attend school. The documentary depicts Leyla's tireless efforts to clarify Nila's legal status in order to offer her a perspective for her future. In a never-ending bureaucratic battle, Leyla fights not only against the legal system, but also against a judgmental society.
Berlin student Irma plays the balalaika in a gay choir, is having an affair with her married psychotherapist and is getting on quite well with her life. She works as a cleaner in the villa of judge Dr. Schwarz. But her life is thrown into turmoil when she discovers that the lady of the house is holding her mother-in-law Nelly captive in the cellar. Irma quickly frees the old lady and takes her into her own home for the time being. As soon as Nelly regains consciousness, she launches a campaign of revenge against her daughter-in-law, giving Irma a million in cash and the villa where Irma had been cleaning the day before. Nelly herself disappears to Mallorca, the island of cleaning ladies. Irma, who has grown fond of the lively old woman, travels after her...
A high school student who leaves school shortly before graduating begins a relatively "exotic" apprenticeship as a bandager in order to become self-employed. In the process, she gains a wealth of life experience and, in addition to learning how to make prostheses, also has to learn how to provide emotional support and guidance.
After Lucy (17) finds out that she was conceived during a porn shoot she sets out to find her father and meets Udo, a has-been former porn star. Together this unlikely couple go on a journey during which both find more than they bargained for…
A girl struggling with asthma is taken to a clinic in South Tyrol to be cured. After some time she decides to get out of this hell (that's how she feels about it) and soon she'll meet a new friend. Together they try to reach the peak of a mountain where, according to an old custom, she can be healed.
In a villa, the penetrating hiss of the pumping bellows of a breathing apparatus. The maid has to endure the harassment of her lung-diseased master, who is vegetating in his sickbed—at first, a purely routine matter for the domestic servant. But she will never forget this day...
A dog who was named after the Beatles album, inherits his master's fortune. His owner's two children, however, devise a plan to make off with his wealth.
No crisis is as disastrous, overwhelming and unjust as that of Alfi Seliger. The Jewish filmmaker, hypochondriac and family man is up to his neck in problems: his pubescent children Romy and Alain find him ridiculous, his wife Helena would be happy if she only found him ridiculous, his bank is going bankrupt and his new film project is finding it difficult to meet with approval. Friend becomes foe, hope becomes paranoia and when even his psychiatrist advises him to end his life, Alfi Seliger attempts a theatrical exit. But as befits a born "Nebbich", a lovable loser, even this fails - he survives and only appears to awaken in his old life...
In her desperate longing for sympathy and understanding, a single mother tries to get back in touch with her grown-up son, who locked himself up in his room since two years. She doesn't sense that she runs the risk of loosing him forever.
A rowdy teacher accompanies a class trip to Thailand to recover some diamonds accidentally sent there and restore the school's reputation.
Thirteen German directors present short films exploring the state of their country.
Mina and Saeed live a stressful life in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Being a woman in Iran is not particularly easy and Mina sees a future for the family elsewhere. She wants to move abroad, but Saeed then invents a device that places the responsibility for the hijab where it belongs - with the men whose gaze women need protection from.
Three stories about couples who all have a gas station in Austria
Funnyman John Cleese leads viewers through an exhaustive -- and hilarious -- tour of the world of soccer, complete with the sport's most memorable goals, kicks, saves, goofs and penalties. Also included are reflections on soccer's impact on culture, including the Monty Python sketch "Philosophy Football," and interviews with celebrities Dave Stewart, Dennis Hopper and Henry Kissinger, as well as soccer icons Pelé, Mia Hamm and Thierry Henry.
“37 years after her daughter Mitra was executed in Iran and she fled her home country, Haleh leads a successful life as a renowned academic in the Netherlands. Her peaceful existence is shaken by the arrival of a woman she believes may be the traitor responsible for Mitra’s death.”
Bex has caused a serious accident and is therefore in prison. In order to rehabilitate the inmates, the prison offers them a dance class led by Ava. But Bex doesn't want to take part. However, she has no other choice and soon she feels drawn to Jay in particular and they realize that they have much more in common than this dance class. The cohesion within the prisoners of rehabilitation grows, but when Bex's past catches up with them again, everything is in danger.
Journalist Carla is supposed to interview her estranged mother, a successful penny dreadful novelist. Suddenly she finds herself in a picturesque mountain village as Alpine baker Lilia LeClerk - a character from a novel.
Compilation of five shorts, including: The Stretch Marks (Der Schwangerschaftsstreifen), What Grown-Ups Know, Angesichts, Nacht in Wilhelmsburg, & Out Now! The short films revolve around coming out, the dangers of the big city, a stylish suicide, and, of course, love.
Pregnant Martha decides to put her child up for adoption.