Paul Auster: What If

A portrait of casting director Bonnie Timmermann.

Inspector Jo Held loves clear words. Ever since he was shot at during an operation, he too has had to take to the couch. Police psychologist Judith Müller immediately analyzes his potency problems and would like to cure them herself. But an intimate relationship between patient and therapist is of course strictly forbidden - isn't it?

Author Gregor writes successful romance novels under a female pseudonym and makes his readers' hearts beat faster. When a woman suddenly has to appear on stage at an awards ceremony to protect his secret identity, his publisher comes under pressure. Without further ado, she hires the quick-witted cab driver Elke, who has clear ideas about how this literary double role should be played.

Sabine Lidl presents Siri Hustvedt’s journey from her first novel to being a leading voice in contemporary literature – a film about feminist perspectives, Hustvedt’s soulmate Paul Auster, and the power of thought.

Based on the childhood memories of actor Michael Degen, the movie deals with the everyday struggle to survive as a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany. As his father had died in 1940 after being released from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Michael and his mother fear to be deported themselves. They manage to live in Berlin with false names and faked papers, hidden by several, often broken, people...

The Scandinavian countries are consistently at the top of the World Happiness Report, which is published each year by the UN. In the last 100 years, Scandinavia has managed to create a society based on solidarity, peace, tolerance and democracy. What is the secret of Scandinavian happiness?

Explores the history and mystery of Migraine, and its remarkable place in the human condition. Migraine is a devastating but fascinating neurological condition with a compelling story to tell. Alice in Wonderland, Thomas Jefferson, Sigmund Freud, and Joan Didion all figure into its colorful history.

Claire Weygand, a thirty-year-old young woman who is about to defend her anthropology thesis, unfortunately not only feels bad but even worse and worse with each passing day. The migraine attacks she suffers from indeed keep her from working as hard as she should and in despair she decides to consult Doctor Fish. When the medicine the physician prescribes for her fails, Claire, who can't take it any more, asks him to hospitalize her. In hospital, Claire shares her room with Odette, a young woman who has lost the use of her legs and Eléonore, a frightening old woman. The third episode from "The Blindfold" by Siri Hustvedt.

Siri Hustvedt reveals unusually intimate things in My Life. Openly and directly she talks about her childhood, her life with three sisters and the everyday life as a writer with Paul Auster and daughter Sophie Auster in Brooklyn. A life without writing would be unthinkable for Siri Hustvedt.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.

The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.

An introverted man receives an anonymous letter from an ex-lover informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him. A freelance sleuth neighbor motivates the man to embark on a cross-country search for his past flames, seeking answers.

20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor at Auschwitz, escapes to South America to rebuild his life in hiding. Through the eyes of his son who finds him again, Mengele is confronted with a past he can no longer ignore. From Buenos Aires to Paraguay via Brazil, the man who became known as “The Angel of Death” will organize his methodical disappearance to avoid any form of trial.

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.

An aged tailor recalls his life as the schoolteacher of a small village in Northern Germany that was struck by a series of strange events in the year leading up to WWI.

Raimund Gregorius, having saved a beautiful Portuguese woman from leaping to her death, stumbles upon a mesmerizing book by a Portuguese author, which compels him to suddenly abandon the boring life he has led for years and to embark on an enthralling adventure. In search of the author, Gregorius acts as detective, pulling together pieces of a puzzle that involves political and emotional intrigue and the highest possible stakes. His voyage is one that transcends time and space, delving into the realms of history, medicine and love, all in search of true meaning to his life.

Michaela, an epileptic, enrolls in college to study education. She goes off her medication and soon begins hearing voices and seeing apparitions that tell her to avoid religious objects, although she is devoutly Roman Catholic. One priest scoffs at the idea that Michaela could be possessed by demons, but a younger pastor arranges an exorcism for the young woman.

The breathtaking story of a man who nearly would have changed the world. In 1939, when Hitler tricked millions of people at the height of his power, radical Georg Elser — disparaged as an assassin — is one of the greatest resistance fighters.

Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.

The Blood Countess and her maid embark on a quest for the red elixir of life and a book that threatens the vampire realm. Hot on their heels are a police inspector, two vampirologists, a vegetarian nephew and his therapist.

A wacky group of locals visit the neighborhood cigar shop, looking for good times and finding plenty of hilarious fun. But when the greedy owner threatens to close the shop for good and turn it into a trendy vegetarian restaurant, the neighborhood proves they'll do just about anything to save their favorite hangout.

A famous jazz saxophonist's life is forever changed after he is accidentally shot. After discovering a mysterious package, he meets and falls in love with a beautiful aspiring actress, but their happiness is cut short by a series of strange, dreamlike events.

Felix's school is haunted again, only this time it's not the benevolent spirit of school founder Otto Leonhard and the nuisance he caused, but the once hated and long-since dead Director Hulda Stingbeard. A coincidence causes the former shrunken and skeletonized school principle to rise again, leading to chaos...

On the night of August 24, 1944, the fate of Paris rests with General von Choltitz, who plans to destroy the city on Hitler's orders. As the general prepares to detonate explosives throughout the capital, Swedish consul Raoul Nordling uses diplomacy in a desperate bid to convince him to defy the orders and save Paris.

Mario is a promising young footballer in Switzerland on his way to the top, closing in on the success he and his father always dreamed of. But when the talented striker Leon joins the team, they'll get caught up between the politics of the game and the politics of love, as rumours and prejudice threaten their careers and everything they've managed to build.

A couple checks into a suite in Las Vegas. In flashbacks we see that he's a computer whiz on the verge of becoming a dot.com millionaire, she's a lap dancer at a club. He's depressed, withdrawing from work, missing meetings with investors. He wants a connection, so he offers her $10,000 to spend three nights with him in Vegas, and she accepts with conditions. Is mutual attraction stirring?

So far he has earned his living as deputy editor-in-chief at the Grevenbroicher Tagblatt, but actually Horst Schlämmer had always guessed: he was destined for something bigger - too much bigger. Without further ado, he therefore quits his old job, founds his very own party and thus starts his rush to the chancellor's office. While the election machinery is quickly started and soon picks up speed, only two questions remain unanswered: Is Horst Schlämmer ready for Germany? And is Germany ready for him?

Melanie is a new pupil at the Otto Leonhard High School, and Felix takes a real shine to this newbie, much to the annoyance of Ella and Felix’s gang. They believe that Melanie is responsible for a number of small thefts that have been happening at the school since she arrived. Events take a drastic turn when the class goes on a school trip...

Flo is not quite a normal teenager: While all his friends only think about sex he can't even pronounce the word "S - E - X". But everything changes completely when one morning Flo wakes up from a strange call. His penis, excited for the first time, begins to talk to him. He claims that Flo severely neglected him for 15 years and it's time to release him.

A deep dive into Berlin’s club scene, following a musician over one night in a legendary techno club, which turns into a rave odyssey.

Four young Jews survive the Third Reich in the middle of Berlin by living so recklessly that they become "invisible."

Two men face the consequences of gambling after playing with men beyond their league.

Eleven-year-old Thabo wants to become a private detective like in the movies. If only his home, the small African village of Hlatikulu, was not the most peaceful savannah paradise. But things take a sudden turn when a rhino is murdered in the neighboring safari park because of its precious horn.

Radio presenter Karla's biological clock is ticking, and it's now very loud and clear. But no matter what she does, she simply cannot find a suitable man with whom she could imagine a family.

On Bastille Day in 1937, pioneering German-Jewish photojournalist Gerda Taro spends her final day in Paris confronting her past, her complex partnership with Robert Capa, and her absolute commitment to anti-fascist resistance before returning to the front lines of the Spanish Civil War.

A boys first weekend with the father after the divorce of his parents. Together with his friends, he makes a plan to turn that weekend into a horror trip, to punish his father. But then everything changes

A writer awakens one day to find a strange but beautiful woman in bed with him. He quickly falls in love with her, thinking he has found his muse, but as time passes she becomes more and more unattainable.

Iris, a 28-year-old studentin a big city, recently left by her boyfriend and too poor to pay her rent, begins to work for a strange old man. He wants Iris to precisely describe the trivial belongings of a dead woman, packed in white boxes, to keep the memory of the woman alive. Iris is disgusted and fascinated at the same time; reflecting on an invisible person's traces, she slowly becomes aware of her own wounds.

“9 Days Awake”, the film adaptation of the eponymous novel by Eric Stehfest. Jannik Schümann plays Eric, a junkie who lives to party. He is addicted to the one drug that makes him feel invincible- "like Jesus and the terminator at the same time." When he is accepted to an acting school in Berlin, he tries to reconnect with his great love Anja (Peri Baumeister), change his life, and strive to be better. But numerous conflicts and issues follow him, leaving him to retreat back to his old ways as other situations escalate.