Also Directed by Hans-Christian Schmid
Anna, 17 years old, is happy to throw her first big birthday party without her parents, but some of her guests are so stoned that they leave a big chaos and, even worse, destroy the favorite record of Anna's father. After the return of her shocked and angry parents, Anna runs away to Munich with her admirer Simon. They discover the nightlife jungle and get to know some typical urban guys. Meanwhile, Anna's parents get in touch with Simon's and try to find their children. On the way across Munich, they remember their own wild and restless youth…
Hannah Maynard, a prosecutor of Hague's Tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia, charges a Serbian commander for killing Bosniaks. However, her main witness might be lying, so the court sends a team to Bosnia to investigate
Benjamin is a 16 year old half-side spastic with lousy grades in math, who switches to a boarding school to reach grammar school. Acclimatization to the new environment is difficult in the first place and he has to struggle with the various problems of coming of age, when he falls in love to the school's dream girl Malen.
Lichter is an episodic tale from Hans-Christian Schmid about the life on the boarder between Germany and Poland. The film sheds light on the everyday stories of escape and desperateness.
11-year-old Nina and her mother Birgit move to the countryside. But while Birgit seems to cope very well with the upheaval, the shy young girl only feels accepted when she joins a girl guide group. Nina's new teacher for Religious Education, the organizer of the group, and the parson belong to the fanatically pious "Legion Of The Holy Angels", a sect preparing its members for the final battle between demons and angels. As Birgi's behaviour doesn't conform to her daughter's ideas, Nina sacrifices a black kitten which allegedly has a bad influence on Birgit. But this only makes things worse, for Birgit eventually forbids her daughter to go to the scouts' sessions and thereby loses her trust. Nina's friend Miriam is having a hard time being accepted by the scouts and leaves them when she isn't allowed to participate in an important ceremony. Nina is faced with a difficult decision...
Behind the fluffy towels and crisp white sheets of Berlin's finest hotels is a tale of seemingly brilliant entrepreneurship: A company takes the dirty laundry of German hotels to Poland - and brings it back clean the very next day. Outside of Germany, labor is cheaper and regulations are less constricting. But over and beyond this fascinating capital venture there remains the harsh reality of the everyday life of the hard-working Polish laundrywomen, through whose hands the white sheets pass. While Beata struggles to raise her three children on her meager salary, Monika reminisces about her unrealized childhood dreams of becoming a doctor, and is compelled to watch her teenage daughter Marta gradually follow in her footsteps.
Michaela, an epileptic, enrolls in college to study education. She goes off her medication and soon begins hearing voices and seeing apparitions that tell her to avoid religious objects, although she is devoutly Roman Catholic. One priest scoffs at the idea that Michaela could be possessed by demons, but a younger pastor arranges an exorcism for the young woman.
On the request of his mother Gitte, Marko, who has been living in Berlin for years, drives off to the countryside to visit his parents. His hopes of spending a quiet and relaxing time with his family fall short when Gitte surprises everyone by revealing that she has recovered after a long mental illness. Marko is the only one who respects her wish from now on to be treated as a full member of this family and, as a result, ends up tipping more than just the delicate balance of his parent’s seemingly harmonious relationship.
