Peter Kurth

Micha unwittingly becomes a German hero when a journalist portrays him as the mastermind behind the mass exodus from East Germany.

Conceived as a kaleidoscopic mosaic, the film follows the imprint Franz Kafka left on the world from his birth in 19th-century Prague to his death in post-WW1 Vienna.

Music manager Eric quits his job and decides to become a mortician of all things

It's a hot, dry summer in Klein-Schappleben. Micha, a pretentious video game designer, wants to turn his late parents' dilapidated guesthouse into a luxury hotel with a wellness oasis. The villagers are skeptical, even though Micha loudly promises new jobs and prosperity. But his plans start to falter when the groundwater in the village dries up.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a communist family discovers a bunker full of money soon to be worthless. With the help of their neighbors, they embark on a race against time to enter the capitalist world in style.

Tammi is annoyed. Instead of traveling to Formentera and presenting her followers with dreamy photos, her mother Simone takes her to the middle of nowhere to attend the funeral of her grandfather Jackel, a complete stranger. There she also met her aunt Britta and her children. There isn't even cell phone reception in the boring amusement park, and Tammi has little or nothing to do with her cousin Umbo and Cousin Cookie. But suddenly something incredible happens: During a thunderstorm, three worn-out ghost train characters come to life - the witch, the giant and Rumpelstiltskin. Tammi recognizes them as perfect allies to wreak havoc and finally escape this boring wasteland. But unfortunately she did the math without her own family and the stubbornness of the spirits. Suddenly everyone has claimed the amusement park for themselves and a wild chaos ensues.

When a folk high school is turned into an internment camp for German refugees, the headmaster couple Jakob and Lis and their children are thrust into an impossible situation. Should the family help the refugees — or stand firm in the Danish resistance against the Germans?

Meetings with readers, acquaintances and contemporaries of writer Uwe Johnson at the places where he lived. Volker Koepp, who is also from Pomerania, looks for Johnson’s sophisticated literary voice in the landscapes of the region they both stem from.

A snack bar owner smokes with his Muslim neighbor in the stairwell of their apartment building at night. Her husband is his good friend. They draw closer to one another as the nights go on and look out over the city to the dark satellites, the brutalist concrete buildings on the outskirts of the city - relics of the GDR past. A security guard watches over Objekt 95, a satellite town with a residential complex which many foreigners call home. While on patrol at night, he gets to know a young Ukrainian woman who fled her home country when the war broke out. He wants to protect her, while his friend, the “old security guard”, radios to him from an abandoned Russian barrack night after night. A woman from the train cleaning service drinks in a train station bar after her night shift. There, she meets a hairdresser. The two of them become friends and spend many nights together in the station. Every night, her desire grows even greater for this woman who is exactly as lonely as she is.

Berlin, the Prenzlauer Berg district. Daniel is a movie star accustomed to success. His loft apartment is stylish and so is his wife, and the nanny has the children under control. Everything is tip-top, bilingual and ready for him to jet off to an audition in London where a role in an American superhero film awaits the celebrated German-Spanish actor. Popping into the local bar on the corner, he finds Bruno sitting there. As transpires by the minute, Bruno has been waiting for this moment for a long time. And so this eternally overlooked man – one of reunification's losers and a victim of the gentrification of what was once East Berlin – takes his revenge. With Daniel as his target...

A man foils an attempted murder, then flees the crew of would-be killers along with their intended target as a woman he's just met tries to find him.

The third and final instalment in the Burnout trilogy. This time, the road leads through Norway, to Sweden, Denmark and finally Germany to race on the famous racing track, Nürburgring.

Not everyone deserves a second chance. The experienced investigator Wallat is sure of that - and certainly not the child murderer Hagenow, who is released after 15 years in prison, although he is still considered dangerous. Wallat takes over the management of an LKA team that monitors the potential repeat offender. His "unofficial" assignment does not fit into any service manual: Wallat is supposed to catch Hagenow in the act - in good time, of course - in order to put him behind bars forever. Meanwhile, the ex-convict moves into a room in the house of the idealistic village pastor Berkenbusch and starts a job at the local sawmill. The LKA team serves him around the clock. When Wallat loses sight of him during a night walk, a nightmare begins the next morning: Max, the eight-year-old son of Berkenbusch's housekeeper, has disappeared without a trace

Detective Chief Inspector Sörensen is anxious. More precisely, he suffers from a chronic anxiety disorder that makes life difficult for him. That is why he is moving from Hamburg to the Frisian village of Katenbüll, where he hopes for a more peaceful working life. But that is not how the cookie crumbles. The place is grey and bleak, it rains continuously, and the locals are not very enthusiastic in welcoming him. He also finds his new colleagues, Jenni Holstenbeck and Malte Schuster, somewhat suspect. And then things go from bad to worse. Mayor Hinrichs is found dead in his stables. Sörensen quickly realises that there is a lot of bad blood hidden behind the small town's tranquil facade and some well-founded reasons for anxiety...

Set in South Africa's rural Great-Karoo region in the 1950s, this epic existential-adventure film chronicles the exploits of the outlaw John Kepe and the various individuals his escapades affected. This Robin-Hoodesque figure would steal primarily livestock from the white settler farmers, terrorizing them for over a decade. Led by the hardliner General Botha, a mammoth manhunt ensues in the very mountain where Kepe was rumored to occupy a Noah's Ark like cave. This spectacle ingratiated Kepe in the hearts of the marginalized indigenous-population, who turn Kepe's miscreant deeds into the stuff of legend, making him a threat to the very fabric of the colonial society. Sew the Winter to my Skin is a thrilling, operatic ride into the heart of Pre-Apartheid South Africa and is a visceral exploration of the effects of the colonial displacement that sewed the seeds for one of the most viciously racist, political regimes in history.

A German communist wrongly accused and sent to a labour camp has to keep her past life hidden for the sake of her and her family’s freedom.

After the second world war two brothers, Theo and Karl Albrecht take over their mother's company and change it into a highly profitable ALDI self service basic groceries store expanding over many countries.

A year of decisions. The country and the city are on the brink, the future is open, no one knows where the journey will take us. The First World War has been over for a good ten years, the defeat not understood, the republic a permanent state of emergency. History has only granted it four golden years. The splendor is based on credit and is already threatening to fade. There are 15 parties in the Reichstag, from the far left to the extreme right, and every government is an impossible coalition.

Christian, a reclusive young man from Leipzig, gets a job working the night shift at a big-box store. He's trained to stocks goods and operate a forklift by Bruno, a wistful former truck driver, who introduces Christian to a colorful group of overnight workers, including Marion, with whom Christian develops a troubled infatuation.

Becker is a German ex-con trying to hold down a job as a night watchman, but a chance encounter with the man whose family Becker killed 18 years earlier sends his new life spiraling out of control.

The historical drama set during the Second World War centres on three people whose paths cross: a Russian aristocratic emigrant and member of the French resistance, a French collaborator and a high-ranking German SS officer.

Generosity, weakness for expensive pleasures and ruin is a combination that does not bode well. Johann Friedrich von Allmen was a man with a taste for women and the expensive pleasures of life. Unfortunately, his luck has run out, but now a new opportunity presents itself.

Anja Altmann disappears after a birthday party. When the police ask husband Thomas about her , family attorney and friend Lavinia Bertok manage to dispel any suspicions about him. But soon Thomas is arrested. While the Altmann family start hurling accusations and recriminations at each other, Anja allegedly surfaces in Spain, raising a strange suspicion against Lavinia.

A former East German boxing champion reduced to working as a bouncer and debt collector is forced to reflect on his life when he is diagnosed with a fatal disease.

Young journalist Sebastian Zöllner is writing an article on artist Manuel Kaminski. Zöllner hopes that Kaminski dies soon, so that he can cash in on his article.

Hotte is a petty criminal on probation. He has two teenage children, but he doesn't want to know anything about them. When their grandmother dies, he is given custody of them, which he is not particularly happy about - but he could do with the child benefit. And gradually he starts to like life as a middle-class family man - but probation officer Benno is convinced that Hotte doesn't have what it takes to be a responsible father and does everything he can to sabotage his new start. But Hotte takes care of that himself by getting involved in a crooked deal with his Albanian buddy Ivic. Benno is also plagued by private worries: he can't father any children, but his girlfriend Tanja is desperate to have offspring...

Schmitke is an old German wind turbine engineer. One day, he is dispatched to the Czech side of the Ore Mountains to fix an old squeaking wind turbine. His colleague disappears and mysterious things begin to happen in the forest.

Arne comes into the family of an old friend of his father as a foster child. He hopes to find closeness and security with Harald, his wife Elsa and their children Hans, Wiebke and Lars. But he finds it difficult to integrate - his trust in the community has been shaken by his great misfortune. However, he feels attracted to Wiebke, even though she keeps distancing herself from him. After Arne's clumsiness causes the sailing boat that the young people had restored together to be wrecked during the launch and he is supposedly a traitor after a joint theft, a rift occurs with Wiebke and her brothers. Harald is also deeply disappointed in his foster son.

Canada, the summer of 1898. A group of German settlers travel towards the far north in covered wagons with packhorses and their few possessions in tow. The seven travellers set off from Ashcroft, the final railway station. Along with their leader, flamboyant businessman Wilhelm Laser, they are hoping to find their fortune in the recently discovered goldfields of Dawson, but they have no idea of the stresses and dangers which lie ahead on their 2,500 kilometre journey. Before long uncertainty, cold weather and exhaustion begin to take their toll and conflicts escalate. The journey leads these men and women deeper and deeper into a menacing wilderness. (Berlinale.de)

The unthinkable has happened at a school in a medium-sized town: 16-year-old Luca Reich has shot and killed two people. A year later, the trial against the schoolgirl begins. But she remains silent.

13-year-old Radost lives alone with her father Bruno. But he is not like other fathers; he suffers from oligophrenia: he has roughly the mental capacity of a ten-year-old. However, this intellectual disability has not prevented Bruno from being a great father to his daughter all these years. With Radost's awakening puberty, however, the first serious problems are now becoming apparent. Radost is becoming increasingly aware of how much she is mentally superior to her father. Her responsibility, which until now has been a part of their relationship, is becoming a great burden for the young girl, who actually wants to lead the normal life of a 13-year-old.

Twenty-three-year-old Lena lands a lead in Sartre’s “No Exit” while endlessly seeking love. Her call‐girl friend Becky convinces her to try prostitution, plunging Lena into a bizarre free‐love world of surreal encounters. Complicating matters, she falls for her director, Dex White, and cares for her grieving, balloon‐making father.

Trojan is a professional with a knack for robberies. After his release from prison, he picks up where he left off. But then, while preparing for his next job, he finds himself in the crosshairs of a corrupt police officer.

Ex-policeman Eddie is a dedicated private detective blessed with a healthy dose of audacity. His scruffy appearance and unconventional investigative methods are garnished with curiosity and clever remarks that lead him into unusual situations. At the airport, for example, he stumbles unsuspectingly into a staged bomb attack and becomes the only witness to an alleged murder. But the victim has disappeared. Eddie sets out to follow the trail of the crime. He ends up with Katharina, a smart fashion entrepreneur and wife of the missing victim. When she learns that her husband Heinz has obviously been deceiving her for a long time, she starts her own investigation with Eddie's help.

Once upon a time there was a miller who had three sons. When the miller died, the three sons shared the inheritance. The oldest, Hermann, got the mill, the second, Hubert, the donkey, the third, Hans, the tomcat Minkus.

The era of the feared sea pirates Klaus Störtebeker and Gödeke Michels is coming to an end. After a long period with no booty at last a bulging ship appears on the horizon. However, Störtebeker is badly wounded in the attempted capture and the pirates suffer ignominious defeat. Not only their ship is down the drain - Störtebeker himself is suddenly plagued by anxiety and doubt about his very existence as a pirate. He is drawn to the beautiful country girl Bille, while Michels gets rebuffed by the friesian princess Okka. In the very moment that the crew have mutinied and co-captain Michels is literally at the end of his tether, they discover on board their ramshackle old tub a most unique wonder weapon. Glory days are quickly revived - until the mighty Hanse consolidate their power and weaponry and go to war against the pirates. Störtebeker and Michels are forced to decide: To live as a farmer or to die as a pirate.

A renowned actor named Otto is the epitome of the problematic but beloved ladies man. Even when drunk he still knows more about filmmaking than does the amateur who is directing him in his latest movie. But what should the unreliable star do when a local actor joins the crew as his understudy? Comic situations arise not only because of the well-known environment, but also from an inclination to authentically capture the various relationships.

A weekend in the Bavarian Alps. 25-year-old Hannes meets his father after 8 years of separation in a little mountain hut. By the influence of their very different girlfriends Ann and Lavinia, the stage-director-father and his actor-son cautiously try to make a new start. A bold venture, leading all of them to an abyss of unforeseen cruelty.

Rodolpho Aranda, head of an Argentinian chemical company, is found murdered in a Berlin bookshop: An elderly librarian named Valerie Steinfeld poisoned him with cyanide and then took her own life. As the LKA was unable to establish any connection between the victim and the perpetrator, the motive for the crime remains unclear. When Aranda's son Manuel arrives to transfer his father's body to Argentina, the case is officially closed. Instead of an explanation, the young doctor only receives a sealed zinc coffin - the search for the truth is left to him.

An eleven-year-old Turkish boy, two young men from a small town, and a cuckolded policeman from the sticks all find their way to Berlin on May Day, where, in the district of Kreuzberg, emotions come to the boil every year.

Ina, just released from prison, returns to the place of her childhood in search of life and meets the occasional desperado Domühl in her mother's house, which has been empty for thirty years. Hagen, a mentally handicapped resident, also ends up in this unusual landscape somewhere in the middle of nowhere south of Berlin in search of his uncle.

In the unworldly village of Dunkelhäuser in Saxony, the clocks tick a little differently than in the rest of the country: the nature-loving farmer goes about his daily work in his Adam costume, while the cow eats comfortably from the gutter and dog and master help themselves to lunch from the same plate in splendid harmony.

An introverted insurance executive at a car rental service is annoyed by his hyperactive, garrulous coworker, but the two end up becoming friends.

A security guard catches a young woman stealing in a supermarket, but something about her makes him do something he has never done before.

Jan Hinrichs is an experienced ship and salvage inspector. After the bankruptcy of his last employer, however, he is not above working as a simple diver. The widower has two children to support and soon a third eater is on board, as his daughter Lena is pregnant. The only problem is that Hinrichs is 55 and, in the eyes of the shipowners, too old for this job that requires bones and fitness. And so he pretends to be 10 years younger at a job interview. He falsifies his diving book and gets himself a fake passport. The world wants to be deceived. Now things are suddenly working out: Hinrichs does his job, he does it well and his boss is happy with him - for the time being.

Ben lives with his father in a dreary highrise housing estate, earning a bit of money delivering leaflets. The young man′s big dream is to one day write travel logs as a journalist. His unemployed father has been thrown hopelessly off balance with the death of his wife. Ben has since then been carrying all responsibility, taking care of the household, and making sure that all ends meet on his own. The financial pressures he increasingly stands under finally lead him to become criminal.

The brightest comet in 400 years is racing across Europe's firmament - and amateur astronomer Kranich has discovered it. "Comets" is his story - and that of a few other people in a small town somewhere in Europe: a lonely teenage girl who puts her young life in danger on her birthday... Her father, whose fear of unemployment triggers a drastic reaction... An elderly gentleman with Alzheimer's who courts the same elegant lady every day.

Nina, a mentally ill teenage orphan, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fall in love but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. Meanwhile, Francoise is picked up at a Berlin psychiatric hospital by her husband, Pierre. After spotting Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but no one believes her.

Malte, who is almost 18, lives with his alcoholic father in a dilapidated house on the island of Usedom. His mother died a few years ago and his sister has moved away. The household budget is empty, but Malte has a dream: to get his driver's license and then run away. Malte tries to fulfill his dream with various jobs and cigarette smuggling, and just when the teenager has got used to his living situation, his missing sister and son Lukas turn up on Usedom again. From now on, Malte is also supposed to look after his little nephew, although he would much rather spend his free time with pretty Annika, who is on vacation on the Baltic island.

A calm, balanced subway driver witnesses a woman throwing herself in front of his train. The memory of the event haunts him. The film depicts the effects of the trauma on the man, his psyche, his family and friends, and his own life. An intense drama about confronting death and questioning the meaning of life.

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.

The story of the stubborn and aggressive teenager Anke, who after the suicide of her father many years ago lives alone with her mother in a small town in northern Germany.