Thilo Prothmann

A group of actors are rehearsing an historic escape from Germany of 1939: The Cruise Liner St. Louis is on its way to Cuba, 900 Jewish refugees on board. Cuba denies access. On board: Paul, Elsa and their son. Do they have to return to Germany again and probably die? A group of today refugees from Africa, fleeing from war and death in Syria, enter the theatre. They are supposed to work here as extras. A culture clash begins and becomes a crossover story between escape 79 years ago and today.

What a curious plan of Lya. Putting sleeping pills in the morning tea of her father. Pulling the sleeping wheelchair user to the vegetable store of her brother and attending secretly the acting exam. And all this only because Lya thinks that eight years of caring for her father where enough tribute to the family.

Happily married to Thomas, her daughter just off to college, Katja teaches math and music at the local elementary school. Her life seems perfect. Until a chance encounter turns her world upside down. The very weekend her family is away, she meets Daniel, an attractive, inquisitive fellow, backpacking through Germany. A travel journalist, just passing through, he camps out on her lawn. They connect. She finds his independent, freewheeling lifestyle fascinating. He tells her of his journeys. He makes her feel alive, reawakens her youthful hopes and dreams. Now old regrets come rushing back. After three exciting days, she is faced with the decision: does she go with him, or does she stay in her own, safe little world?

A woman goes through a weekend full of ups and downs after a shocking diagnose, according to which she has less than a year left to live.

Lara was severely traumatised as a child and every day this trauma catches up with her. During a photo session, she falls in love with Conrad, a writer who has just been released from prison. What Conrad doesn't know is that everyone around her knows the burden Lara lives with. Her uncle Markus resorts to drastic means to save Lara and risks losing her forever.

For Johannes and Lydia Klare, their faith in God comes first. Together they lead a small community in Stuttgart, successfully. People listen to them, they are becoming more and more close to them. There are even plans to make the donor-funded community much bigger by the generous contributions of Volker. First of all, the couple have quite different, more urgent points to take care of. When one day they watch the homeless street-boy Simon drifting back and forth in drug-related crises, they take him in for a short while. Together they want to help him again on the right path. But it is not just the drugs that are causing conflicts. Simon's homosexuality also presents the two with great challenge, since it is not so easy to unite with their faith.

At the height of her career, the well-known comedy and TV star Gaby Köster suffers a serious stroke. However, the multi-award winning artist does not give up, fighting back despite many ups and downs.

The Hartmann family is turned upside down when mother Angelika decides to take in the refugee Diallo, against her husband's will. Amidst the typical chaos of our time, hope remains that the family finds its stability, confidence and peace again - just like the whole country.

Is. This. My. Son? No matter how often Tobias Wilke poses this question, there's always only one answer: Yes! Tobias, can't believe his eyes when he comes to the airport to pick up his 17-year-old son Finn – and learns that Finn is now calling herself Helen and wearing girls' clothes. Finn/Helen reveals that she's always was a girl, and that she used her year abroad in San Francisco to pass the "everyday life" test. This is required by law for everyone preparing for the sex reassignment surgery they will undergo upon reaching majority. Reactions from Helen's friends, acquaintances and schoolmates cover the entire gamut from derision to solidarity. Especially Helen's father, a well-known chef, finds it difficult to accept a situation he cannot understand. But Helen nearly always finds the right words - and humor - to counterbalance the ignorance and jeers of those around her. It is the beginning of a long, winding road towards the sexual identity she is convinced is hers.

When his mother dies, unlucky writer Conrad Weitzman wants to film the love story of his parents. It even seems, that editor Stuckradt Halmer is keen on the idea. Years after years of mailing and revisions the original story is hardly to recognize anymore and the production is still not in sight. Without further ado Conrad kidnaps the editor with the help of his father and the obscure world of German television network starts to unravel in front of him.

A German documentary studying concepts of hell developed over time in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, often overlapping -but not in Catholicism- with purgatory. Special attention goes to 'physical' methods of torture in the afterlife, as in Dante's Inferno. Their inspiration stems partially from judicial torments, as used during the Inquisition to redeem 'Satanic' sinners, from witches and heretics to mere gay people. Also treated is hell's theological and 'educational' meaning.