Franz Rogowski
The film opens on a set of lights, arranged on a table, that throw colored shapes across the wall of a darkened room. This is followed by a range of subjects, mostly shot with an unmoving camera: hermit crabs on a beach, strips of paper arranged on the bed of a scanning photocopier, bare feet moving among metal rods on roughly poured concrete, the city of Los Angeles at different times of day, someone playfully maneuvering a power washer, a disco ball casting confettilike reflections, bodies touching, a worker at a construction site, and light on the surface of water, abstracted by darkness. [Overview Courtesy of MoMA]
Matilde, Cencio, Fulvio and Mario are like siblings when the tragedy of the Second World War hits Rome. In 1943 they work in a circus in the Eternal City. Israel, the circus owner and their putative father, disappears in the attempt to find a getaway overseas for them all. Our four friends are in disarray. Without anybody looking after them and without a circus, the four protagonists have no place in society. They feel only as freaks, lost in a war-torn city.
A young woman is searching for her roots and discovers an idiosyncratic, radical sensuality that not only transgresses Mongolian conventions but also those of the supposedly more liberal West.
After a 13-year-old student disappears without a trace for a week and suddenly reappears, his mother and teachers are confronted with existential questions that change their whole view of life.
Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter faces the threat of execution for refusing to fight for the Nazis during World War II.
After losing his brick laying job, Christian begins to work at a supermarket.
The shy late twenties Torsten tile lives with his mother in a bleak Berlin slab. In the guise of his alter ego "Lux - Warrior of Light" he tries to make the world a little bit better. He distributes food to the homeless and helps out on his forays through the city wherever he can. A film crew accompanies him to make a documentary about the social engagement of the self-appointed real-life superhero. Jan, the director, is still looking for a donor. The resourceful producer Brandt shows interest, but on condition that he sees something spectacular.
The suffering of a beautiful woman changes a lonely outsiders life forever.
Having failed to get into the police force, Margarete takes up training as a security guard. One night she runs into a sexually agressive ex-colleague who insists on hailing a taxi to take her home to his place. Enter Tiger: short brown hair, a tough girl and a fighter, the cab driver. Realising that the situation is far from consensual, Tiger speeds off with Margarete, leaving her companion standing in the street. It won’t be the last time she rushes to Margarete’s aid. Tiger lives in an attic flat with two men. She knows how to wield a baseball bat. Stealing a uniform from security and renaming Margarete ‘Vanilla’, she begins to steer her life in a completely different direction.
"Frontalwatte" is like running against a hard wall and falling down softly. Franz, Adrian and Anastasia stumble through a pointless world. They kill time by viewing apartments, jaw operations, incest and poetry slams. Their search for identity becomes a search for the best fitting role.
The Ballade of Tubbie, Tim, Jojo, Birdie and Marie, tells in seven chapters the story of five teenagers, who have found a substitute family in each other.
Berlin, the vibrant life. Only cashier Emma feels really lonely. There is nothing wrong with her, she just goes underground in the big city. Her desire to meet people has brought Emma to a strange idea: she lets go in the supermarket purses of customers and later presents herself as a hospitable finder, who invites you to pick up at the laid table. Unfortunately, the visit remains short. Only the shrewd homeless August who sees through her starts to get interested in Emma.
A luxury hotel. Steaks frizzle, muffintops getting massaged. Clemens (rare) joins the wellness area as a rookie. Lara (well-done) needs to assert herself in the kitchen pack. The elevator brings the two of them together. They encounter each other, until they clash.
After a painful journey through Europe, Alex, the Belarusian, joins the Foreign Legion in France and clings to a confused hope of a European identity. Jomo, the Nigerian, fights for the survival and durability of his people in the Niger Delta and is ready to die to defend his ideas. These two young people who are sacrificed and smashed together will, against all odds, meet and their destinies will merge to continue across borders, bodies, life and death...
A son tries to save his mother's eyesight by drinking beer and playing darts.
Hans Hoffmann is gay during a time when homosexuality was still illegal in Germany and Austria. Nevertheless he continues his quest for freedom and love, even if he finds it in the most unusual places.
