Moscovite Zhenya, 19, has been living in Berlin on his own for quite some time. Finally, his older brother Denis pays him a visit. Both brothers had been looking forward to their short reunion. A lot has happened, there’s a lot to tell but face to face words don’t come easy. Still, Zhenya’s intent on demonstrating how independent and mature he has become, his older brother will have to abide by his rules now. Denis’ ego revolts. As soon as the first euphoria of the reunion subsides, by the second day at the latest, everything’s back to normal: Zhenya and Denis hate each other’s guts! Denis explores the city on his own, Zhenya goes out alone at night. Conversation is brief when the two meet in the small apartment: “Shut up!” and “You shut up!”. Denis’ departure approaches and with it the regrets of everything that could have been better. In the end Zhenya takes Denis to the train station. A problem occurs there... and Zhenya does something Denis wouldn’t have expected...

Melilla is a small spanish exclave on the North-African coast. A piece of Europe in Africa, a remnant of colonialism. A huge 12 km long fence here seperates rich Europe from the global South in order to keep away migrants seeking their fortune in Europe. Our films tells the story of three migrants who have made it across the fence. One foot on European soil, they wait for their papers or their final deportation. Opara is from Nigeria. For two years, he lives in the CETI detention camp at the outskirts of the city. He doesn´t want to indemnify with his situation and fights for the respect of the spanish population. He is an active member of the city´s small pentecostal church. Shahbaz from Pakistan lives in the camp for three years. Through his mobile phone, he organises a complex network of relationships to his family at home and to friends who already have reached Europe. The pictures and Hindi-Pop-Songs he has saved on his phone provide him an emotional connection to home. Ilham is from Morocco. Like many other Moroccans, she lives illegally in the city. For years, she fights for a legal status, lives on the street or stays occasionally with friends and does small jobs to survive.

The father of Nora has fallen back into his alcohol addiction. He refuses to be dried out, the hospital sends him home to die. Nora, unwilling to accept the death sentence, makes it her mission to keep him away from alcohol. The young social worker Jenny joins them and with her unearthly and slow nature, she brings the conflict to a boiling point.

The artificial and hermetic world displayed in ’The Swimmer’ is based on the map of the city of Berlin. Its structure and order is literally drawn onto it. In other words a cartographic representation of the world is imagined on an existing cartographic representation of Berlin which is in itself an abstraction. The texture of this world is characterized through sound. There are various creatures that follow different rules, which are rooted in an inner logic, inaccessible to us. Therefore we are only able to witness this logic visually in the behaviour and actions of the inhabitants. This logic, based on personal association, is represented in the image of ’The Swimmer’.

Hope to forget his lonely summer vacations in the deserted residential area, Otto (11) buys a goldfish with his last money. Unfortunately the whole area is waterless and Otto’s fish needs water…