Amy Benkenstein

Berlin in the 1920’s. A dazzling place, but times are not only golden, they are marked by poverty and crime. Vicky arrives in the city, led by promises of a better life, she’s looking for a job. But as soon as she gets there, her hopes and dreams are met with a cold awakening. With no place to stay and nothing to her name, she hires on to work as a saleswoman at a newly-established, glamorous department store. But the founders are also fighting for survival, just like Vicky. Times are tough, and it’s about to get tougher.

"Kruso" tells of the last summer before the Wall came down on the small island of Hiddensee in the Baltic Sea. Beyond state-organized tourism, the isolated island became a kind of artist colony every year and a place of longing for dropouts and alternatives. Due to its proximity to Denmark, Hiddensee was also the starting point for the flight across the Baltic Sea.