Germany ’09 – 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation

In postwar Germany, an American psychiatrist must determine whether Nazi prisoners are fit to go on trial for war crimes, and finds himself in a complex battle of intellect and ethics with Hermann Göring, Hitler's right-hand man.

Occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of "Farsi" every day and teaching them to Koch.

Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife Tessa is killed he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy.

A high-profile terrorism case unexpectedly binds together two ex-lovers on the defense team - testing the limits of their loyalties and placing their lives in jeopardy.

Xatar’s way from the ghetto to the top of the charts is as dramatic as it is daring. From the hell of an Iraqi jail, Giwar Hajabi emigrated to Germany as a young boy with his family in the mid-1980s and has to start right at the bottom. There are opportunities, but far more obstacles. Giwar’s rise from petty criminal to major dealer is swift. Until one shipment goes missing. In order to clear his debts with the cartel, he plans a legendary gold heist. But just as everything goes wrong, another door opens for Giwar thanks to his passion for music …

After Ben Garvey foolishly turned back to crime, he thought his life was over when he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. But his death sentence isn't quite what it seems, as Ben regains consciousness near an eerie psychiatric ward, where he's told he's been hired as the groundskeeper. With the state of his soul in question, and the love for his wife and daughter all the more real and powerful, Ben must figure out if he's truly cheated death, or if he's become part of something far more sinister.

A woman creates fake dating profiles until she runs into one of the men she has deceived.

Katja's life collapses after the deaths of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.

Jessica knows exactly what her life is supposed to look like and where it takes her. But then she meets Danny. He has a complicated past and could confuse all their plans. Jessica has to decide.

Literary adaptation: a handsome youth of humble origins rises in society through his connections made as an elevator attendant in a luxury hotel.

Budapest in the 1930s. Restaurant owner Laszlo hires pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona who inspires András to his only composition. His song of Gloomy Sunday is, at first, loved and then feared, for its melancholic melody sets off a chain of suicides. The fragile balance of the erotic ménage à trois is sent off kilter when the German Hans falls in love with Ilona as well.

The successful writer Paul and the sought-after voice actress Emilia were always considered to be the absolute dream couple by friends: Harmonious, happy, successful, with three charming children named Bo, Marie and Fe. But now, in their late 40s, their relationship is threatened by a crisis.

On January 20, 1942, the Wannsee Conference takes place in Berlin, a meeting that had only one item on the agenda: The Final Solution, the organization of the systematic mass murder of eleven million European Jews.

The main thing is sexy - no matter whether thin, fat, what skin color, young, old, we can all be sexy in different ways. Almost every woman grows up having to work on herself in order to remain desirable. Why? What if we stopped pushing ourselves into a sexy pose with all our might? What if we no longer fought for the right to be sexy, but were truly free? What if we stopped investing all our time and energy in being heard and the world started to hear us? A modern movie about modern women and men - who might be able to find a common language.

In the occupied Netherlands during World War II, banker Walraven van Hall is asked to use his financial contacts to help the Dutch resistance. With his brother Gijs, he comes up with a risky plan to take out huge loans and use the money to finance the Resistance.

Before eleven years old Tilda's parents can put her beloved grandfather in an old people's home due to his progressing Alzheimer disease, she takes him on one last adventure that subliminally threatens to tear her family apart.

Frank, a man without a criminal record, attacks a money transporter and then turns himself in to the police. His behavior is a mystery. In prison he meets the unscrupulous and suspicious Arab Fuad, who is protected by his clan. To get closer to Fuad, Frank intervenes in the drug business within the walls and gets caught between the two rival groups of German and Arab inmates. It is only the prison guard Susanna with whom Frank will be able to build a relationship of trust, not knowing that she is part of Fuad’s business and has a sexual relationship with him. However, they come emotionally close. What only Frank knows is that his wife and his daughter died in a car accident. Fuad was the hit-and-run driver that remained unpunished. Frank seeks revenge.

Haunted by guilt and recurring dreams of a mesmerizing jazz singer, Paul, a grieving widower, is drawn into a mysterious cinema where he must confront the passion he’s long suppressed and choose whether to remain trapped in regret or be reborn in truth.

Anna is 60 and her acting heyday is now behind her. She lives on her own but has a friend and confidant in her downstairs neighbour Michel, who is also single. Reluctantly, Anna accepts a job as a language coach for 17-year-old Adrian who has a speech impediment and is something of a misfit. She recognises him as the boy who recently snatched her handbag in the street.

In Hamburg, German-Greek chef Zinos unknowingly disturbs the peace in his locals-only restaurant by hiring a more talented chef.

Vera and Wolf Küper live in Berlin with their 5-year-old daughter Nina and their one-year-old son Simon. Vera takes care of the children and the household alongside a part-time job, while Wolf works as a scientific advisor to the UN, trying to raise awareness of the seriousness of the coming climate catastrophe. The stressful everyday life in a system that is not exactly family-friendly puts increasing strain on the young family and the couple's relationship. The Küper family's way of life is finally shaken to the core when little Nina is diagnosed with a fine motor and coordination disorder. At this moment, Wolf remembers a wish that his daughter expressed shortly before going to bed. Nina would like to have a million minutes, just for the really nice things.

17-year-old Jana has a congenital heart defect. To defy fate, Jana seeks every challenge, plunges into every wild and dangerous adventure. Her parents does not like that and are even more in constant fear of their daughter.

Andreas Baader starts out as a small-time criminal. In Berlin, he is recruited by a revolutionary cell. They plan to overthrow the state.

Alex, Fedja, Timo and Lara are four troubled teens for whom the upcoming Christmas eve isn't a time of peace and joy: Since they all have a history of escalating family conflicts, they'll be spending the holidays not at home, but in a psychiatric ward. The utterly different adolescents not only have to adjust to one another, but also have to confront themselves in exhausting therapy sessions. Yet thanks to the unorthodox psychiatrist Dr. Wolf, the sessions take a turn for the unexpected - and the four experience a Christmas which they will never forget.

This film is the story of a 13-year-old girl from Hamburg who, after the death of her mother, wants to travel to her aunt Lena and her family - her only living relatives - in Jena. Crossing the inner-German border in 1988, even from West to East, is very difficult. When Lilly finally manages to make the detour via Berlin, she realizes that not everyone in her aunt's family is happy about it. There is a secret in the family that has to do with her mother.

Merle is often distracted by daydreams. When her teacher Heinicken threatens her parents, Kathrin and Roman Falkrät, with expelling the 11-year-old from high school due to her bad grades, the mother sends her to a psychologist. She diagnoses her with ADD, or Attention-Deficit Disorder. But her parents don’t want her to take remedial drugs, so they attempt to help their daughter on their own. Their jobs, their marriage and her teenage sister Lea are increasingly at risk...

Where do we go when everyone wants their country back? A film about collective guilt and what remains between two people when an entire nation looks away.

After years of waiting for her big break, singer Amanda has finally achieved her goal: she is allowed to host a big TV show. Unfortunately, it's Christmas of all times, so she has no time for her ten-year-old son Joshua, whom she wants to send by courier to his father Bernhard, who lives somewhere remote in the mountains. On the way, the courier driver Maurice learns what a valuable cargo Joshua is and, together with the waitress Lizzi, plans to kidnap the little boy and collect a ransom. However, when the kidnapping is supposed to take place at night, the two are drunk, so an accident occurs on the way to their hideout, a lonely mountain hut, and Joshua manages to escape. Left to his own devices, he now tries to get back to the valley, where the greatest adventure of his life begins.

A son tries to save his mother's eyesight by drinking beer and playing darts.

In 1933 Nuremberg, successful Jewish businessman Leo Katzenberger owns an apartment building and runs a shoe store. A devoted family man, he has a good relationship with his loving wife Claire. As the climate in Germany grows increasingly dangerous, bombshell Irene moves to the neighborhood. After forming an unlikely friendship, his relationship with Irene is immediately regarded with suspicion.

An interpol agent and an attorney are determined to bring one of the world's most powerful banks to justice. Uncovering money laundering, arms trading, and conspiracy to destabilize world governments, their investigation takes them from Berlin, Milan, New York and Istanbul. Finding themselves in a chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk.

Two years have passed. There is a normal life, but handsome Ludo meets his old love, and Anna is very jealous...

Red carpet, spotlights, screaming fans, photo- graphers chasing for the best photo, camera teams waiting for interviews - a premiere is about to take place and everyone’s eagerly awaiting to see Germany‘s biggest film star, Marvin Bosch. But Marvin’s nowhere to be seen after his interview with the bitchy tabloid journalist Bettina Bamberger ended in disaster. On the run from the media, the star lands in a small, independent feminist LGBT+ theater called “3000” of all places, which is on the verge of going out of business.

A census-taker is sent to investigate why a certain small town has had the same population -- 436 residents -- for the last 100 years.

It's double trouble when fate and an ill-executed diamond robbery throw Mel and Franny together in a race and chase against time.

The story of Lanze who is in love with the princess. One day the princess is kidnapped by the Dark Knight and Lanze starts his journey to rescue her. But he is not alone because Erdal, a turk, joins him on his journey.

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.

Robert lacks direction and seems alienated as a young adult. He meets a handsome man who, though he gives Robert perspective for a moment, alienates him even further.

Acquired in July 1909 by art collector Wilhelm von Bode (1845-1929), director general of the Prussian Art Collections and founding director of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, now the Bode-Museum, the Bust of Flora, Roman goddess of flowers, has been the subject of controversy for more than a century.