Frank and Paul are best friends forever and raised Frank's daughter Lilli after a tragic car accident. The two men scrape a living by working as barmen and bouncers in a strip club while Lilly has grown into a lively and self-confident teenager. The disaster unfolds when Lilli seduces Paul and gets...
A young, naive and enthusiastic theater director named Kai comes to a grim provincial town to put on Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Although the lethargic theater company shows no interest in the play, his spirit remains undaunted.Meanwhile, it is fall 1989. The world is changing and somewhere, far...
This elaborate two-part television film features a section from the life of communist worker leader Ernst Thälmann. It begins with the bloody riots on May 1, 1929 in Berlin, in which police officers shot at demonstrating workers, and ends with February 7, 1933, when Thälmann appeared as a speaker...
He could have had women, he could have climbed the ladder of his accountancy career, and he could have stood on the podium next to the highest in the land. If only he had wanted to! But Farssmann, shaken by divorce and unwilling to better himself, wants to remain what he is: an ordinary bookkeeper...
The thirteen year old Janni is depressed, because she's still a little behind in her physical development. This leads to bullying remarks from her classmates. One day, a film crew comes to her school to find a candidate for the role of a Prince in a movie. They choose Janni, who they think is a...
1831. A village schoolteacher Matthias Spitzbart dreams of the ideal school and writes a textbook on the perfect educational institution. When he becomes principal of a grammar school by chance, he puts his ideas into practice. His almost missionary-like zeal blossoms in wondrous ways, but his...
Protected from the intrigues of con-men by the overwhelming blanket of the former regime in East Germany, at first it seems that Ada Fenske, the elderly widow living on a farm near a soon-to-be abandoned Russian island military base is fair game. The (West) German military intelligence services...
Brothers Friedrich and Richard inherit their father’s seaside hotel after reunification. Ambitious Western businessman Friedrich plots a massive development behind Richard’s back, who wants to preserve the family inn. Tensions rise as old grudges and clashing values tear them apart, even as...
Maria tells her former colleague, Hanna, that she has undergone a cancer operation but is now cured. Soon after, she suffers a relapse. The doctors believe that she should be told the truth about her condition, and Hanna is willing to do so. For Maria, it is the beginning of several long, agonizing...
At the beginning of the 50s, two extremely disparate men meet in a private sanatorium for consumptives: an officer in the People's Police, Josef Heiliger; and a young Protestant curate, Hubertus Koschenz. On account of their consumption, they have to share a room. Initially, this is the only thing...
Berlin in the early 1930s. Bello is an unemployed young man who loves the underage Frieda. In order to earn a living for both of them, Frieda goes on the streets. An inspector from the political department takes advantage of this to blackmail Bello into providing informer services. But that's not...
Florist Valerie unwaveringly believes in the great love of her life, even though her friend Bea has just been divorced and tries to convince Valerie that this Prince Charming does not exist. One day an admirer sends Valerie two rare specimens of "Alpinia purpurata". But who is the sender of the...
Marie lives in a small town in Brandenburg, while the love of her life, Thomas, has left her to seek his fortune in the West. She succumbs to the monotony of her assembly line work and caring for her sick mother. But then Thomas suddenly reappears - along with his new family.
Young Elisabeth goes on a country trip with her mother, her friends Reinhard and Erich, their parents and the pastor. While the adults prepare a picnic lunch, the three youngest members of the group are asked to look for berries for dessert. The dutiful Erich eagerly collects them, while Elisabeth...
In a small Saxon town after the Second World War, the former chimney sweep Toni tries to survive on the black market and meets the pusher Ginfizz. Together they initially trade in flour before embarking on a riskier plan: they are to rescue machines from Soviet expropriation for the mill owner...
A young, enigmatic client hires defense attorney Ariane Leonhardt, confessing she intends to kill her lover. Reluctantly, Ariane uses careful questioning to unravel layers of deception and prevent the crime, even as the client’s manipulations begin to infiltrate Ariane’s own life.
