Bettina Stucky

When the pictures from Bergamo in Italy go around the world in spring 2020, even non-medical people know what the word pandemic means. The previously unknown Coronavirus is spreading rapidly across the planet. Four days later, exit and contact restrictions also apply in Germany. Since then, the life of the Konstanz intensive care physician Dr. Carolin Mellau and her family on their heads. The female doctor becomes a member of the crisis team and is on duty around the clock to prepare the clinic for the impending emergency. As an anesthesiologist intubating those infected with COVID-19, she herself carries a high risk of infection. Meanwhile, her husband Stefan has to cancel his concerts as a musician, is no longer allowed to teach his music students and is suddenly sitting at home without an income. Teenage daughter Luzy is not allowed to see her Swiss boyfriend because the border is closed. She and brother Tim cannot go to school. But the worst case for the family is yet to come.

Detective Chief Inspector Sörensen is anxious. More precisely, he suffers from a chronic anxiety disorder that makes life difficult for him. That is why he is moving from Hamburg to the Frisian village of Katenbüll, where he hopes for a more peaceful working life. But that is not how the cookie crumbles. The place is grey and bleak, it rains continuously, and the locals are not very enthusiastic in welcoming him. He also finds his new colleagues, Jenni Holstenbeck and Malte Schuster, somewhat suspect. And then things go from bad to worse. Mayor Hinrichs is found dead in his stables. Sörensen quickly realises that there is a lot of bad blood hidden behind the small town's tranquil facade and some well-founded reasons for anxiety...

In Hamburg's Elbtunnel, a man is shot in the middle of a traffic jam in his car. The murder victim obviously belonged to a group trying to discover abandoned places first. The investigators suspect an act of revenge by a competitor.

Lena is in love with her brother Noah. In the desperate attempt to conquer her feelings, she retreats into a world of her own.

François is a literary scholar and drinker. His relationships with women are limited to one year, his life is sufficiently happy. Until the day when charismatic Muslim politician Mohamed Ben Abbes becomes president in France, introduces patriarchy and polygamy and loses his job. In his growing loneliness, Rector Rediger's offer to resume his teaching at the Sorbonne reaches him on one condition: he must convert to Islam.

David's and Jessy's love is put to the test when Jessy unintentionally gets pregnant. The thought of becoming a father causes David to panic. Later, when they are attacked in the train and David is unable to protect his girlfriend, David's fear of not being man enough is confirmed. In desperation, he starts to inject steroids. David develops aggressive traits and becomes a threat to his girlfriend and the unborn child.

Nora is a young housewife and mother, living in a quaint little village with her husband and their two sons. The Swiss countryside is untouched by the major social upheavals the movement of 1968 has brought about. Nora’s life is not affected either; she is a quiet person who is liked by everybody – until she starts to publicly fight for women’s suffrage, which the men are due to vote on in a ballot on February 7, 1971.

Nama, a teenager from Mali, has crossed desert and sea for his freedom. When Nama is injured in a fight, an old man named Willi lets him move into the house that he used to share with his son Stefan. The father and son have not spoken for years and the three men may have little in common, yet what binds them together is their search for a home where their wounds from present and past can heal.

By-the-book logopaedist Matthias Pretschke, failed husband and father, is the very embodiment of order, who doesn't know what hit him when his wife Petra demands a divorce. Admittedly, he hasn't paid much attention to Petra, nor to their daughter, who's in full puberty, nor to their son, who craves his dad's attention. Petra agrees to give him one week to show them if he can change. And he's in luck: he meets himself, only cooler. Tom Senger is the name of the twin he never knew he had. Though Matthias and Tom look alike, they're completely different. Tom, for example, is a typical actor: arrogant, macho and broke. Matthias decides to switch roles in the hope that Tom can be a worthy replacement for a week. "I'm playing you. Only better," says Tom, who sees right away what's missing in the Pretschke home. As the days go by, it gets more and more difficult to distinguish which one is which. And this may not be bad at all.

The two 15-year-old girls Zoe and Asal are best friends. They are spending their last summer holidays together before the earnestness of life begins. But this summer their friendship is put to the test by the arrival of a backpacker whose name is Kai.

Nick Gutlicht lives of illegally selling valuable books, owes money to a bunch of other crooks and has to hide from them. By chance he ends up in the mansion of the famous, now very old philosopher Curt Ledig, who despite the age related forgetfulness and pathological kitchen phobia resists to move to his daughter. Nick is hired by the family as watchdog. Now Curt can work on a presentation for the upcoming symposium, which anybody thinks he's capable of anymore. Nick thinks he has an excellent hiding place. This partnership of convenience of the two individuals quickly develops its own momentum. Curt regards Nick as an exciting research object and subjects him to an absurd therapy. For Nick it's a unique opportunity to fund his finances with Curt's phenomenal library. The strange couple is going through turmoil of incalculable proportions.

The Little Ghost lives in the castle over looking a small town and awakens for precisely one hour after the clock strikes midnight. Follow him on this adventure to see his first sunrise ever!

An affluent city is covered in snow, all seems perfect – on the surface. Divorcé Rolf is doing his best to rebuild his relationship with his daughter. Pregnant Lena appears to be living a faultless family life with her husband and son. Social worker Judith has a tough job and escapes it through her fantasies, whilst widowed Maria has finally built up the courage to invite her male acquaintance to a romantic dinner. In the course of one day, all of them will cross paths with the Bulgarian Mia, who works in the red-light trade and their seemingly perfect lives will never be the same…

In this acutely observed and sharply written debut feature from director Sylvie Michel, the contrasting parenting philosophies of a well-to-do divorcee and his immigrant cleaning lady becomes an angry debate over deeper issues of social class and cultural values when their teenage children disappear after a night on the town. (TIFF)

Investment banker HP has allegedly ridden out the crash of the stock exchange. One evening, on a barbecue event with his banker friends and their wives, HP's Danish au pair girl threatens to blow the whistle on her love affair with HP's married boss. HP wants to please everybody but what was set out to be a gathering amongst friends spins out of control into a night of blackmail and intrigue.