Dicker als Wasser

Full of hope for a normal family life, ELENA, together with her father GUNNAR, moves in with her father’s new girlfriend NELLI. NELLI lives with her son ALEX on a housing estate. There, the burglar alarms and electronic garage doors work properly, everybody knows everybody else’s business and one has a barbecue when the sun sets. Everything is very proper. Apparently. However, the facade crumbles when NELLI makes a grab for the bottle once too often - and ALEX grabs for the contents of his trousers. NELLI’s pushy attempts at mothering ELENA increases ELENA’s aggression, as does ALEX’s adolescent interest. He does nothing to hide his pubescent lust for ELENA. ELENA takes drastic action: she seduces ALEX in the parental bed. ELENA hopes this will provoke a family split, however, just as quickly GUNNAR and NELLI smooth over this with pretend perfect harmony. Finally, ELENA realises that she has lost her father to NELLI and that housing estate life has no place for her. She kills GUNNAR and leaves the estate.

Credits

Cast:

Charlotte Steinweg

Andreas Schulz

Rosvita Schreiner

Axel Pape

Script:

Charlotte Wetzel

Mira Thiel

Camera:

Siri Klug

Producer:

Nils Bökamp

Editing:

Kai Kniepkamp

Sound:

Mathias Steinach

Music:

Natalie Pho Duc

Film info

Direction:

Mira Thiel

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

DFFB, RBB

Production:

2004

Shooting format:

Digital

Screening format:

4:3

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

4:3

Sound format:

Dolby SR

Language:

German

Version:

OV

Runtime:

30

Arrival

How long do we wait to open our hearts? When is it safe to do so? How long does forgiveness take? Is it the right path? Is forgiveness even possible? I was born and raised in Israel to a family with Eastern European roots, I visited Auschwitz as a teenager, served in the Israeli army for three years, and since childhood I have been fascinated with my people’s tortured past and its implications today. I got the idea for this story from my mother, based on an experience we had in Germany when I was a four years old. Since then, and up until I shot the film, my mother has refused to return to Berlin. The reactions of the women in the film, like my mother and many others, are not based on their own memories from the Second World War. Rather, they are inherited collective memories. Arrival deals with two fundamental elements of cinema, and history: Time and space, and the dynamic relationship between them. While I developed the story for this film in Berlin, last year, I was living in the same space: I walked the same streets, I heard the same language, I saw the same buildings, but I was free. On the train, the boy forces an encounter; the same way I did as a child, same as I am doing today with Arrival. I have been told to hold on to the past because it should never happen again… but that doesn’t mean we can’t change. As the generation that shapes the future, it is my responsibility and my true hope that we can remember; yet heal, grow and reconcile.

Credits

Cast:

Keren Shalev

Robins Behnke

Almut Spier-Eggert

Hartmut Schmökel

Guy Band

Bauten:

Eyal Resh

Camera:

Julian Landweer

Producer:

Till Gerstenberger

Editing:

Shiran Carolyn Amir

Sound:

Ben Huff

Film info

Direction:

Eyal Resh

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin GmbH in Koproduktion mit Eyal Resh und Till Gerstenberger

Production:

2013

Shooting format:

RED / Digital

Screening format:

16:9

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

16:9, Letterbox

Language:

Hebrew, German & English

Version:

OV

Runtime:

9

Fracture of Lumen

“A wounded healer inhales her fractures, tirelessly. With grace & defiance. She breathes in the whole world”. (Premise taken from the film, written by the author) The film grants us to be witnesses of becoming, of pain, of sorrow and the child-like curiosity that comes with it. A cinematic rhyme of disobedience & decay.

Credits

Cast:

Hermina Fátyol

Miguel Camarero

Script:

Alexander Palucki

Camera:

Ágnes Pákozdi

Producer:

Myriam Eichler

Editing:

Alexander Palucki

Music:

Adam Byczkowski

Film info

Direction:

Alexander Palucki

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2013

Shooting format:

35mm

Screening format:

1:2,35

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

1:2,35

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

English

Version:

OV

Runtime:

14

Berlin’s Short Film Scene

Eine Stadt. Eine Frage. Keine Antwort. Etwas Selbstreflexion kann eben nie schaden.

Credits

Camera:

Max Preiss

Producer:

Louise von Johnston

Editing:

Florian Dietrich

Robert Bohrer

Music:

Samba Squad

Film info

Direction:

Florian Dietrich

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2013

Shooting format:

16mm

Screening format:

1:1,78

Frame rate:

25 fps

Aspect ratio:

1:1,78

Sound format:

dolby 5.1

Language:

German

Version:

OmU

Runtime:

2

The World Is Your Oyster

When you are 20 and finished school you can do whatever you dreamed of. The world is your oyster. But what happens if you decide not to leave your room. A film is hiding its protagonist in order to show him as good as possible.

Credits

Cast:

Anka Baier

Klaus Schreiber

Tino Hillebrand

Script:

Knut Mierswe

Camera:

Carola Rodríguez Sánchez

Editing:

Anna Kappelmann

Producer:

Susanne Mann

Sound:

Immo Trümpelmann

Film info

Direction:

Sabine Neumann

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

ARTE

Production:

2008

Shooting format:

HDV

Screening format:

16:9

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

16:9

Sound format:

Dolby Stereo

Language:

German

Version:

OV

Runtime:

6

New Snow

A silent and introverted 12 year old girl lives in a dysfunctional family on the outskirts of a village. Her father is physically violent and her mother is seriously ill, and, like the girl herself: she is defenseless. At home, the girl carries out the roles of both nurse and housekeeper. On the day, on which we tell her story, the girl decides to break through the circle of fear, violence and oppression of her daily life. Secretly, she makes the serious decision to step through the gate of her parents' land, into life and into her own personal responsibility. The film is about unquenchable thirst for life, which, despite all duties and burdens that we loyally carry with us, swells up inside us and makes us act. On another level, the film examines the price that the girl has to pay to throw off these chains of slavery; to free herself from oppressive duties.

Credits

Cast:

Dalina Schambach

Thomas Warneke

Ewa Mostowiec

Ludger Bökelmann

Script:

Aleksandra Odić

Camera:

Paul Rohlfs

Producer:

Aleksandra Odić

Editing:

Aleksandra Odić

Sound:

Frank Behnke

Aleksandra Odić

Film info

Direction:

Aleksandra Odić

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2013

Shooting format:

4perf 35mm ORWO 1,33:1

Screening format:

1:1,85

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

1.85:1

Sound format:

5.1

Language:

German

Version:

OV

Runtime:

10

Once There Was A King

„Once There Was A King“ tells the paradoxical story of a young man who sets out from province and leaves friends, he hasn’t even found yet, because he’s shy and timid. Its his last night in the small town. He wants to bid farewell and for the first time, a couple of young people seem to notice him, they even seem to know him. There is a careful tenderness in the contact, and the promise of friendship shines out. This doesn’t change his decision to leave the small town, but we feel the play of his thoughts. A sadness, that is joined by hope.

Credits

Cast:

Jakob Grebert

Djellil Badaoui

Jette Netzband

René Lange

Inga-Lisa Nuck

Mathias Nebel

Script:

Katharina Wyss

Camera:

Tom Akinleminu

Editing:

Wolfgang Gessat

Katharina Wyss

Producer:

Anna de Paoli

Sound:

Magnus Pflüger

Music:

Conrad Oleak

Film info

Direction:

Katharina Wyss

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

ARTE

Production:

2008

Shooting format:

HDV

Screening format:

4:3

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

4:3

Sound format:

Stereo

Language:

German

Version:

OV

Runtime:

6

If I was a tree

After many years a woman travels with her parents to Israel to face her past and memories. Having a jewish father who is denying to be a jew and a mother who always has suffered from being not enough accepted as a jew she´s questioning herself where she actually belongs to.

Credits

Script:

Simona Feldman

Camera:

Patrick Jasim

2nd Unit Kamera:

Simona Feldman

Editing:

Tami Liberman

Simona Feldman

Producer:

Simona Feldman

Sound:

Sebastian Morsch

Film info

Direction:

Simona Feldman

Genre:

documentary

Country of production:

Israel

Production Company:

Tel Aviv University, Film & Television Dep

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2014

Shooting format:

HD

Screening format:

16:9

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

16:9

Sound format:

5.1

Language:

German, Russian, Hebrew with engl. subtitles

Version:

OV

Runtime:

26

Asta Upset

The film is set in a modern day ‘Berlin Republic’ liberated from all irrelevancies. It’s about artistic production, the creative industries and above all film and cinema – a political manifesto in feature film format. It centres on Asta, tough, hardened by theory and immaculately styled right down to the emblems on her leather jacket, with current art scene jargon flowing elegantly from her lips. She’s no hippie broad, but rather a modern-day warrior, verbally sparring with legendary actress Hannelore Hoger, her ‘film mother’, about her hobby of urban gardening. After the relentless competition between curators over the funding for her exhibition ‘The Cinema! The Art’, for which Hannelore Hoger even whispers inaudible recommendations into the ear of the German President, Asta ultimately plumps for international backing from an Indian friend. He luckily happens to be with her out in the country when she bumps into her arch-enemy Ms Top Cultural Department Brass, a meeting with farreaching consequences. The film is an entertaining dissection of the current state of the cultural industry, for which ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’ are relevant, yet oddly obsolete categories. (Text: Dorothee Wenner, Berlinale Forum)

Credits

Cast:

Sarah Ralfs

Pushpendra Singh

Hannelore Hoger

Barbara Heynen

Franz Friedrich

Kerstin Grassmann

Script:

Max Linz

Camera:

Carlos Andrés López

Producer:

Maximilian Haslberger

Editing:

Max Linz

René Frölke

Sound:

Jaime Bustamante

Music:

Tamer Fahri Özgönenc

Film info

Direction:

Max Linz

Genre:

fictional

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Amerika Film

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

RBB

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg

Production:

2014

Shooting format:

HD

Screening format:

1:1,85

Frame rate:

25 fps

Aspect ratio:

1:1,85

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

German and English

Version:

OV

Runtime:

84