Neighbour to distant Lights

In an abandoned prison, three women seek refuge from an unknown disaster. The catastrophe remains unknown, its presence represented through the sounds coming from outside. As the film begins, one of the women leaves the building, leaving us to follow the life of the remaining two as they grapple with the persistent terror in their shelter. Throughout, we witness their attempts to come to terms with their precarious lives in this detached space. Amidst their struggle the woman, who left, returns with a fatal wound. Her death compels one of the women to confront the intolerable state of uncertainty. She decides to leave, and we alongside her, leave the building for the very first time.

Credits

Cast:

Hazel Basköy – Sarv

Kinda Zaour – Nakhl

Paria Khazaeli – Bied

Script:

Soheil Aghazadeh

Camera:

Dorothea Pilz

Editing:

Nazgol Kashani

Producer:

Noa Seraphina Schmidt

Sound:

Jeremias Bazata

Film info

Direction:

Soheil Aghazadeh

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2024

Shooting format:

16mm

Screening format:

2:1

Frame rate:

25 fps

Aspect ratio:

2:1

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

no dialog

Version:

OV

Runtime:

20 min

Woman In a Bottle

Alpha fails to connect with her new co-workers and secretly masturbates at work to find distraction. After almost being caught by her colleague Beta, she asks him over to dinner. The conversation is awkward and he leaves abruptly. Being disappointed, she masturbates again. Later, while smoking on the balcony, Alpha discovers her neighbor, Gamma, on the balcony across the street. She feels immediately drawn to her. The next day, she inserts a remote-controlled vibrator before going to work. She bumps into Gamma outside of her house and they have a short talk. Over the day she keeps thinking about her while wearing the vibrator. In the evening, she goes back out on her balcony to see Gamma. She starts to masturbate in front of her but stops after a while. They stare into each other’s eyes. For the first time she feels truly seen by another person.

Credits

Cast:

Dai Meng – Alpha

Hermann Müller – Beta

Rahel Tzegai – Gamma

Script:

Baonan Wang

Djuna Delker

Camera:

Pavlina Komonova

Editing:

Shadi Farid

Producer:

Lisa-Marie Lutz

Sound:

Lydia Leerstelle

Music:

George Farid

Film info

Direction:

Baonan Wang

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2024

Shooting format:

16mm

Screening format:

1:1,85

Frame rate:

25 fps

Aspect ratio:

1:1,85

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

English with German subtitles

Version:

OmU

Runtime:

13 min

Slackers

A slingshot is loaded, the stone flies and the neighbor's window breaks. Ramona and Nico are friends, lazy slackers and fresh out of school. But instead of worrying about their future, they prefer to be carried away by the Berlin summer. When they release a beloved neighbor's bird, they have to flee - into the politically charged world they don't really want to be in. A road trip through Berlin begins - but on foot. On their aimless and half-hearted search for the escaped bird and Ramona’s little brother, they struggle for their friendship, their belief in themselves and unexpectedly stumble into hope giving life stories.

Credits

Cast:

Bella Lochmann – Ramona

Pola Geiger – Nico

Rio Kirchner – Noah

Script:

Sorina Gajewski

Camera:

Hannes Schulze

Producer:

Sabrina Holzapfel

Sound:

Nils Plambeck

Andre Goetters

Artem Funk

Malte Audick

Elisabeth Hoscheck

Tondesign:

Nils Plambeck

Kostüm (Credit):

Berenike Vogt

Szenenbild:

Roberto Andrés

Josua Hesse

Franziska Asch

Phuong Anh Dao Thu

Alexandra Block

Editing:

Raffaello Lupperger

Music:

Lucas Castillo

Film info

Direction:

Sorina Gajewski

Genre:

fictional

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2025

Shooting format:

Digital

Screening format:

1:1,85

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

1:1,85

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

German with English subtitles

Version:

OmU

Runtime:

81 min

NIGHT ENCHANTMENTS

Somewhere in the future and at an unknown time, an older woman finishes her workday at a bar and is now ready to go to rest. The manager, a controlling younger boss, finds a tricky way for the humanoid waitress, to stay late for services until now never discussed or arranged. Once again, the spell turns against the sorcerer and the law of the power and strength will be applied in a battle between the old and the new, the conservative and the transgressor.

Credits

Cast:

Eva Medusa Gühne – Robot

Frederik von Lüttichau – Bar Manager

Amelie Henning – AI Voice

Script:

Paulo Menezes

Rafael Sousa

Camera:

Hannes Schulze

Editing:

Lorenzo Petracchi

Producer:

Marina Ghersinich

Paulo Menezes

Sound:

Lejan Samuelson

Music:

Nico Pavlovic

Film info

Direction:

Paulo Menezes

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2024

Shooting format:

Digital

Screening format:

2:1

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

2:1

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

German with English subtitles

Version:

OmU

Runtime:

15 min

Garnelius

2007: Karl (17) lives with his single father Werner (62) in a cramped flat in an East Berlin apartment block. His little brother David (8) is in a sheltered housing group. Karl feels overwhelmed in his contact with him, because David looks to Karl for what Werner can no longer provide as a father. What "Ossi" Werner has achieved and what Karl plans to achieve is discussed heatedly by the guests on Werner's birthday. Shortly afterwards, something unexpected happens: Karl lays an egg. He tries with all his might to keep the hatching creature alive.

Credits

Cast:

Emil von Schönfels – Karl

Peter Koburg – Werner

Otto Karl Herzog – David

Script:

Julia Ketelhut

Camera:

Rocío Díaz Freire

Editing:

Iva Puljar-Matic

Producer:

Melvyn Zeyns

Jonas Nemela

Sound:

Andre Goeters

Tondesign:

Vadim Mühlberg

Music:

Ralf Schwieters

Gustav Tier

Film info

Direction:

Julia Ketelhut

Genre:

fictional

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2024

Shooting format:

Digital

Screening format:

16:9

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

16:9

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

German with English subtitles

Version:

OmU

Runtime:

49 min

Abode of Dawn

Where do you go when the world feels overwhelming and just plain wrong? Can you escape and start anew? The documentary "Abode of Dawn" focuses on a group of people trying to build a utopian society in the Siberian Taiga. Since the 1990s, they have been following a man who sees himself as Christ reborn: Vissarion. You can find his portrait in every house in the Abode of Dawn and yet he seems to be more of a means for channelling the longings of many of the residents. Their lives rotate around Vissarion like planets around the sun, though they hardly ever meet him. The film does not ask: Is Vissarion truly the Son of God? Instead, it poses the question: Are the people here happier than they were before?

Credits

Producer:

Kristina Shtubert

Camera:

Hanna Mayser

Ekaterina Smolina

Anton Petrov

Sound:

Ekaterina Smolina

Anton Petrov

Editing:

Dietmar Kraus

Calle Overweg

Adrienne Hudson

Tonmeister:

Sasha Valent

Tondesign:

Sasha Valent

Tonmischung:

Alex Leser

Grading:

Dirk Meier

Film info

Direction:

Kristina Shtubert

Genre:

documentary

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin GmbH in Ko-Produktion mit Kristina Shtubert und dem Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg

Shooting format:

Digital

Screening format:

1:1,85

Frame rate:

25 fps

Aspect ratio:

1:1,85

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

Russian, German and English with German and English subtitles

Version:

OmU

Runtime:

105 min

Center

A day at the Sony Center complex in Berlin. Two people meet in a chiropractor’s waiting room. They are both tired. Meanwhile the building is under permanent construction.

Credits

Cast:

Asia Skupinska

Huub Kooijman

Jonathan Baer

Becket Mingwen

Producer:

Dmitry Kochetov

Script:

Niklas Buescher

Freya de l'Isle

Camera:

Mascha Biller

Editing:

Niklas Buescher

Production Design:

Niklas Buescher

Tondesign:

Christian Obermaier

Film info

Direction:

Niklas Buescher

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Shooting format:

16mm

Screening format:

16:9

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

16:9

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

German, English

Version:

OV

Runtime:

20 min

Sentimental Stories

A girl waits for her boyfriend, a worker in the harbour. In the locker room a worker confides in his colleague about his unhappy marriage. But there's more to their relationship than advice giving. At the end of his shift a young man takes a shower in the washroom of the port and hurries to meet his girlfriend in the cantine. It's his last day on the job. One moment they seem hopeful and in love, the next she’s being ghosted. Baffled, she goes looking for him in the port. Violetta, the owner of the cantine is a hard worker nostalgic of a life she never had. She employs her niece, a radical pacifist whose life strategy is to lay low. Intersecting, their stories create a parallax view of heartbreak and desire, disappointment and hope.

Credits

Cast:

Artemis Chalkidou

Estelle Widmaier

Jesus Fernandez de Castro

Grego Belau

Leo Da Silva

Ezra Luke

Marie Tragousti

Script:

Xandra Popescu

Camera:

Jonathan Steil

Editing:

Xandra Popescu

Lorna Höffler Steffen

Producer:

Janna Fodor

Sabrina Holzapfel

Grading:

Meg Tomeo

Film info

Direction:

Xandra Popescu

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Deutschland

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Production:

2023

Shooting format:

Digital

Screening format:

1:1,85

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

1:1,85

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

Spanish, French, German and Greek

Version:

OmU

Runtime:

20 min

Ms. Lunaris Krx xxiii

A lonely ghost cruise ship circling in the Mediterranean Sea. Its German flag flaps tired in the wind. No one knows how long it has been out there. Or doesn’t want to tell? Filmmaker Karla seems to be the only passenger on board amongst a small crew. Armed with a tiny camcorder she strolls around and visits the entertainment program. In the endless night she meets Cesare, a performer of the show of Mr. Caligari. „The man that has slept for 23 years. Today we awaken him from the dark night of his soul.“

Credits

Cast:

Anne Kulbatzki

Benjamin Radjaipour

Richard Manualpillai

Anton Weil

Script:

Juno Meinecke

Sebastian Ladwig

Camera:

Alexander Brack

Schnittassistenz:

Juno Meinecke

Robert Sieg

Producer:

Daria Wichmann

Juno Meinecke

Sound:

Hans-Christian Paul

Music:

Lukas Darnstädt

Film info

Direction:

Juno Meinecke

Genre:

Kurzfilm

Country of production:

Germany

Production Company:

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Shooting format:

Digital

Screening format:

16:9

Frame rate:

24 fps

Aspect ratio:

16:9

Sound format:

Dolby 5.1

Language:

German with English subtitles

Version:

OmU

Runtime:

30 min