Torsten Michaelis
Cold War, the seventies. Lars is a Romeo agent from East Germany: he must go to the West side and seduce and spy on Western women who work in government or defense institutions.
Marc Deville is an acclaimed author of erotic literature. In his personal life, however, physical closeness with the opposite sex eludes him. Being a porn addict, his sexuality is narrowly defined by the framed images he can masturbate to. One day he meets Justine, a nurse with a fetish of her own: her love for erotic asphyxiaton has estranged her from her husband Eric, a theatre director...
KAFKA'S THE BURROW tells the story of a man's "metamorphosis" (as Kafka would put it) in a rapidly changing and increasingly isolated world. A man (Axel Prahl), who has seemingly achieved everything, ensconces himself in his burrow, a fortress-like apartment complex. But no matter how hard he tries to keep the outside world at a distance, he gets more and more entangled in his own web of fear and paranoia: those outside know he is there, they want him, they want his wealth, and they are inevitably going to get him ...
Mid-fifties Anne Marie Fuchs lives modestly and withdrawn in Düsseldorf. When a murder happens, it becomes clear that the inconspicuous lady, who is always in short supply, seems to be an absolute investigator with a razor-sharp mind. No wonder, because Anne Marie Fuchs is a former East German spy, especially one who still has a bill from her active time open.
Taking place at the Concentration camp Buchenwald at the end of March 1945, prisoner Hans Pippig discovers in a carrying case of an incoming prisoner a Jewish child. If reported the three-year-old is sure to die. On the other hand, a violation of the rules of the camp would threaten the long prepared uprising of the concentration camp prisoners against the SS.
A lifeguard at Lake Müggel has his hand bitten off and the marks indicate a shark attack. The lake is closed to the public by extending a local festival indefinitely while the city council thinks of what can be done to remove the shark. The public becomes restless having their lake closed for so long and come up with a plan to drive the shark from the lake with large quantities of beer.
How Murat Kurnaz ended up in Guantanamo Bay is a mysterious story. 5 YEARS investigates the psychological aspect of this endless and unjustified "imprisonment" where Kurnaz had to endure never ending physical and psychological torture.
In this vivid historical drama set in 1980s East Germany, two dockworkers and best friends who dream of escaping the repressive regime are forced to choose their loyalties when the state police promise them safe passage out of the country — if they inform on their co-workers and union leader.
In 1938 Hans Zeisig, an apolitical comedian, impersonator and cabaret actor, flees with a Russian passport (instead of American, which he would have preferred) from Nazi-Berlin, and finds himself in the legendary Hotel Lux, the 'lost paradise' of the Comintern, in Moscow. Everyone believes that Zeisig is a man named Hansen, Hitler's personal astrologer. But Zeisig quickly realizes that he's gone from the frying pan into the fire. In the Hotel Lux he meets his friends Frida and later Meyer again, still passionate communists. For the three idealists an adventure between love and death begins to run his course.
Based on one of the most spectacular series of bank robberies in Germany, Zwölf Winter tells the story of Klaus and Mike, two criminals who became friends in prison. When they happen to meet each other again after they have been released they begin to plan the perfect bank robbery, and it seems to work. For twelve years the two keep on robbing banks, always in winter. The police are in the dark for years. But they won't stick to their guns...
David, a waiter, finds an unpublished manuscript in a dresser drawer. To impress a girl, he claims to be the author. When the novel becomes a best-seller the real author introduces himself in his life and begins to take-over David's life.
An eleven-year-old Turkish boy, two young men from a small town, and a cuckolded policeman from the sticks all find their way to Berlin on May Day, where, in the district of Kreuzberg, emotions come to the boil every year.
On a winter morning, a mother goes to waken her son Heinrich; his bed is empty. She leaves her flat to find him. The neighbors' door, with a Star of David painted on it, is ajar, the furnishings in disarray, the family gone. She asks passersby, runs to the police then on to the rail yard. Flashbacks show that Heinrich and the neighbors' son Paul are six years old and best friends. Paul's family's deportation is expected soon; Heinrich's mother tells her son that they're going to Toyland. Heinrich wants to go with them, has a bag packed, and listens for their departure. His mother realizes he's joined them, and her resolve becomes more urgent. Will she arrive in time to save Heinrich?
Hitler no longer believes in himself, and can barely see himself as an equal to even his sheep dog. But to seize the helm of the war he would have to create one of his famous fiery speeches to mobilize the masses. Goebbels therefore brings a Jewish acting teacher Grünbaum and his family from the camps in order to train the leader in rhetoric. Grünbaum is torn, but starts Hitler in his therapy ...
Ferdinand's father, the president of the residence, can not tolerate a serious relationship between his son and a commoner, and moreover intends to marry him to Lady Milford, the prince's mistress, to increase his own influence at court.
Jost roams through the streets of Berlin. He opposes the world enraged, aggressively and furiously in a self-destructive way. He continuously provokes situations proving to himself that everybody hates him. He is convinced he does not need anybody and does not let anyone get close to him. Anna is walled in by her fear and unable to leave her apartment. She manages to keep this situation from all the others in a system of lies. Her reserves draw to a close. She heads for a catastrophe. One day, Jost shows up at her door.
