Rote Sterne überm Feld

Red flags above the Reichstag, sprinting to the train, let’s go to provincial east Germany! There’s much less to do in the village of Bad Kleinen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, but it never gets boring for leftist performance artist Tine in the midst of village Nazis and East-nostalgia fans. The surprising find of a bod body out everyone in an uproar and forces Tine and her village to face the ghosts of the past. In her feature film debut Rote Sterne überm Feld, which defies all conventions, director Laura Laabs ignites a filmic firework that comments on the medium itself and )east-)German history, present and future.

Der Fleck

A hot summer's day, the air is still. Simon meets a group of young people on the riverbank. They are lying in the sun, talking, smoking, letting the hours pass by. Only when Marie turns up does Simon's dull afternoon appear to take a turn for the better. The two set off together into the wild river valley and gradually find each other far away from reality. Quiet, surreal and full of unspoken words, Der Fleck is completely rooted in the moment, dispensing with a classic dramaturgy. Shot on 16mm, the camera glides through light and shadow, capturing the rustling of leaves, the hesitation of a gaze. A poetic, meditative cinema between lightness, latent unease and youthful aimlessness.

Transamazonia

After a plane crash deep in the Amazon jungle, little Rebecca survives miraculously. Years later, she is known as "Miss Aspirin" - a miracle healer with a divine mission, supported by her missionary father. They bring the Christian message to indigenous people. But when loggers threaten their land, a conflict breaks out that puts Rebecca's loyalty and faith to the test.

With magnificent visuals of nature images and a hypnotic atmosphere, Pia Marais made a gripping drama full of contradictions between tradition, spirituality and exploitation in Transamazonia - impressively embodied by Systemsprenger-star Helena Zengel and the indigenous Assurini tribe.

Der Tod wird kommen (La Mort Viendra)

A murder, a revenge mission, a web of intrigue and violence – elements used by Christoph Hochhäusler to stage an icy neo-noir thriller. At the center of Der Tod wird kommen is Tez, a contract killer with razor-sharp instincts, who is tasked with solving the murder of a courier. Her client is the terminally ill gangster boss Mahr, who is fighting against his own decline - and against rivals who have long been orchestrating their succession. Between dark alleys, empty industrial yards and cool glass facades, Hochhäusler plays a merciless game of confusion while his characters move through the Belgian capital Brussels, as figures on the chessboard of power and betrayal.

Leibniz – Chronik eines verschollenen Bildes

Standing still and looking forward is all it requires for your portrait to be taken - but it seems to be quite a challenge for a thinker like Leibniz. In this film, Edgar Reitz carries out a thought experiment: How can a picture capture a human’s whole being? While the court painter Delalandre sticks to traditional methods, the painter Aaltje van de Meer dares to attempt combining philosophy and painting. Reitz’ chamber drama features a formal rigour that still goes hand in hand with poetical images. Leibniz is a film that visualizes the process of thinking and makes room for the question whether great fortune doesn’t lie within exactly that.

Rote Sterne überm Feld

Red flags above the Reichstag, sprinting to the train, let’s go to provincial east Germany! There’s much less to do in the village of Bad Kleinen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, but it never gets boring for leftist performance artist Tine in the midst of village Nazis and East-nostalgia fans. The surprising find of a bod body out everyone in an uproar and forces Tine and her village to face the ghosts of the past. In her feature film debut Rote Sterne überm Feld, which defies all conventions, director Laura Laabs ignites a filmic firework that comments on the medium itself and )east-)German history, present and future.

September 5

Munich, 1972: A television studio is central to the inception of real-time news coverage. While the Olympic Village is shaken up, a team of sports reporters, cramped inside the ABC studio goes live on air unprepared, under pressure, and watched by the whole world. Producer Geoff grapples with contradictory information and a moral dilemma: When does news coverage become a stage for terrorists? When is a report ready for the public?

Tim Fehlbaum's unsettling contemporary chamber play, September 5, does not only recall the terrible act of Palestinian terrorism against the Israeli competition team, it also pays homage to the craft of television.

Moria Six

We hardly ever hear about the Moria refugee ramp on the Greek island Lesbos anymore. It used to be Europe’s largest refugee camp – until a fire broke out in September 2020, destroying everything. Six teenagers from Afghanistan were accused of arson and arrested, but the only witness for the case never appeared in court. Director Jennifer Mallmann tells of the many contradictions in an almost unknown judicial scandal and addresses illegal pushbacks and new maximum security camps where refugees are locked up like criminals, showing the ongoing practices of European isolation policies.

Kein Tier. So Wild.

Richard III. in underground Berlin: The bloody feud between the Arabian Clans York and Lancaster finally seems resolved. A union is supposed to seal the peace: a marriage between Ali Lancaster and Rashida York. But the youngest daughter in her clan wants to rule, not obey. Behind the treacherous calm, her scrupulous ascent begins. Deceptions, intrigues and murders plaster her way to power - until her childhood and the bombs of another war catch up to her. Burhan Qurbanis adaptation of Shakespeare is great cinema between theatre and thriller, between myth and the Mall of New York. Star actress Kenda Hmeidans moves like a feline predator through this cold, unapproachable world.

Leibniz – Chronik eines verschollenen Bildes

Standing still and looking forward is all it requires for your portrait to be taken - but it seems to be quite a challenge for a thinker like Leibniz. In this film, Edgar Reitz carries out a thought experiment: How can a picture capture a human’s whole being? While the court painter Delalandre sticks to traditional methods, the painter Aaltje van de Meer dares to attempt combining philosophy and painting. Reitz’ chamber
drama features a formal rigour that still goes hand in hand with poetical images. Leibniz is a film that visualizes the
process of thinking and makes room for the question whether great fortune doesn’t lie within exactly that.

Die Möllner Briefe

For years, hundreds of letters filled with hand-drawn pictures and messages of solidarity were withheld from the families of the victims of the racist arson attack in Mölln. These comforting letters, which could have helped the families in their grief, were never delivered to them. Instead, they were sorted, archived, and ultimately forgotten. Only thirty years later do the survivors learn of the letters' existence, and Martina Priessner’s precise camera follows them on their search for the truth. Die Möllner Briefe is a poignant plea for a vibrant culture of remembrance, using visual minimalism to keep the focus on the victims and survivors.