Michael Wittenborn

When the animal keeper Birgit gifts her daughter Sarah a parrot, the joy is great. While Sarah is teased at school because of her speech impediment, the parrot provides her with a sense of security. But when the parrot suddenly begins to constantly spout Nazi slogans, it not only causes problems with Birgit's Jewish in-laws, but also puts her in the crossfire of the media.

Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

Miriam Maertens falls ill with cystic fibrosis and struggles quietly with the disease. Mastering a double life she falls in love and achieves her professional goals. When Miriam gets pregnant, everyone is shocked. When her lungs malfunction, it is a race against time to find a suitable donor.

Luisa, a 20-year-old law student, joins a cell of the Antifa group when she and her friends Alfa and Lenor get to know about an upcoming attack planned by a local neo-Nazi gang. As they try to find out more, the three youngsters delve deeper into the scene linked to right-wing movements and their political connections, to the point where they will understand how much they are willing to go further, in order to defend their own beliefs.

In 1930s Berlin, Dr. Jakob Fabian, who works by day in advertising for a cigarette company and by night wanders the streets of the city, falls in love with an actress. As her career begins to blossom, prospects for his future begin to wane.

Although he already has searched Iraq unsuccessfully for weapons of mass destruction as a member of a UN mission, German bio-weapons expert Arndt Wolf is still obsessed with the idea that Saddam Hussein is hiding something. Nobody around him is interested in this topic any more. This changes abruptly when an Iraqi asylum seeker claims to have been involved in the manufacture of chemical weapons. The German Federal Intelligence Service summons Dr. Wolf to ascertain the legitimacy of the claims made by the informant, who has been given the code name “Curveball”.

The life of Karsten, a mortician, isn’t going that well at the moment. Just in time for Christmas, his parents inform him during the festive dinner that they want to commit suicide together. In five days. Usually used to death, he tries everything to convince the dear mother Marion and the father Theodor, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, not to pursue their plan. But the conflict about the self-determined death opens up old wounds – and as Karsten’s own health deteriorates rapidly, it is no longer clear who needs to be saved.

In a small North German village a drama played out during and shortly after the Second World War about duty versus individual conscience and morality.

Armin, in his fourties, is a freelancer with lots of time and little money. He’s not really happy, but can’t picture living a different life. One morning the world looks the same as always, but mankind has disappeared.

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.

When Eva returns to her house on the day of her divorce, she finds a bouquet of red roses outside the door. Attached is the note: "You are not alone." The sender is anonymous.

For a long time, wealth adviser Elke and car mechanic Wastl were happy together. Until Elke gets involved more and more in dubious financial transactions that bring her success down the line. When her husband wants to stop these windy business, she separates from him. And goes even further - the accusation that her husband has beaten her, brings Wastl for a long time in a psychiatric hospital.

Frida wants a baby. But although she forces her boyfriend to follow a strict fertilization regimen, she’s not getting pregnant. Just when she’s about to resort to artificial means, her boyfriend dumps her. Suddenly, she’s missing the most important pregnancy ingredient – the father. But Frida will stop at nothing to get her baby.

Carlos Benede is in his thirties, single and helps minors cope with the after-effects of crime. Alexander is a strong-willed and precocious eleven-year-old, who witnesses the horrific death of his mother by his own father. Benede mentors Alexander and the two develop a bond. But when the trial of Alexander’s father is over, it’s time for the two to part. Alexander has been placed in the care of his aunt, but when she is no longer able, a new caregiver must be found. An unconventional counselor from the youth welfare office learns of Alexander’s trust in Benede, who himself grew up in a home, and reunites the two. Although not always easy, the relationship grows and deepens into one of father and son.

An unemployed with diagnosed burn-out is getting a therapy in a clinic.

Jean receives in payment for seven years of work with a master craftsman a gold nugget. He then exchanges this nugget for a horse, then the horse for a cow, the cow for a pig, the pig for a goose, the goose for a sharpening stone. Finally, he loses the stone by dropping it in a well. After losing the sharpening stone, he is relieved because it weighed heavy, and continues his happy journey to his mother's house. On his way home, he keeps running into Knudsen the Merchant and his beautiful daughter Elisabeth.

A wellness hotel in a small German castle specializes in well-off couples, offering a wide range of services, including one some partners feel trapped into : relational therapy. It's truth time, for some liberating, forcing others to face their secrets of dysfunctional relationship.

Philipp and Anna live in the Berlin Babyboom-Kiez Kreuzberg. They also like to go to the playground, but with their little niece Nele. Anna does not want to know anything about Philipp's sudden desire to have a baby. She is on the verge of a professorship and insists on the old agreement: kK - no children! The more intently he makes his baby application to his wife, the more obvious is her rebuff.

Without warning a father comes to visit his daughter abroad. He believes that she lost her humor and therefore surprises her with a rampage of jokes.

Franziska Dreyer and Sebastian Pauli are a happy couple. When one day the police arrest her boyfriend on suspicion of murder, Franziska assumes it's a mistake. But in a trial marked by circumstantial evidence, Sebastian is tried, convicted and sentenced to life. Franziska believes he's innocent and fights to get him released. This puzzles her parents and friends who advise her to cut all ties to him. Her reaction is to marry Sebastian in prison. Then Franziska discovers completely unknown sides to her husband and now doesn't know who or what to believe any more.

A peaceful island will do anything to ward off the reputation of 'vacation paradise.'

A love triangle forms between post-Enlightenment writer Friedrich Schiller and two sisters -- one who became his wife, and the other, his biographer.

Three old friends from college move back in together in an apartment in Munich for financial reasons

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of “Capitol-Insurance” is due – that's what the bosses thought. All employees are invited to join the party in a hotel. However, rumors say the company's not doing very well. To avoid unemployment due to the possible shutdown of the smaller branch office the only option is to move to the headquarters. Now that's the ultimate challange for Stromberg, who is notoriously trying to be the example of a department manager, gathering all of his employees behind him.

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.

At the centre of the comedy ‘Halbe Hundert’ (‘half of hundred’) stand three strong women at fifty. As with so many women of their generation, the number on their birth certificate seemingly doesn’t fit to their sense of life at all. But all three of them stand before decisive changes. Anne is successful in her professional life as a hand surgeon who is acclaimed all across Germany. The victim of her flawless career is her marriage to Klaus, who had her back with regards to children and household for years and now has left her unexpectedly. Anne reacts with wounded vanity and books a young, attractive male escort for a congress. But the relationship, considered to be professional, throws Anne out of the loop emotionally. Charlotte has worn down herself for the family for years as she is diagnosed with breast cancer. With the illness in front of her eyes, Charlotte finds the courage to break out of old confinements…

In the early 60s, Bernward Vesper and fellow university student Gudrun Ensslin begin a passionate love in the stifling atmosphere of provincial West Germany. Dedicated to the power of the written word, Bernward and Gudrun found a publishing house whose first publication is, paradoxically to many, a controversial past work of Bernward's ostracized father, an infamous Nazi author. Bernward defends his father's writing ability, even if he is haunted by his father's suspicious past.

A young East German woman leaves her husband and business partner and relocates to a West German city to start anew as an accountant, but he soon catches up with her.

An introverted insurance executive at a car rental service is annoyed by his hyperactive, garrulous coworker, but the two end up becoming friends.

Nine secretaries dream of life and love musically while typing around.

A young woman who works in a bookstore has been terrified by nightmares about having committed suicide in a past lifetime, combined with a sense of déjà vu regarding a specific apartment building. When she meets a young man who works in an optical company, whether she knows it or not, she is that much closer to the truth about her visions.

Born in the wrong body? A child rebels. 8-year old Nina is confident and fun-loving. She’s convinced that a mistake was made at her birth: she was born a Niklas. Nina plucks up her courage and informs her family that she has always felt like a girl and would like to live as one. Her grandpa Thilo supports her. But her parents Simone and Martin cannot agree and with her brother Ben need time to deal with the new situation. Old conflicts flare up. There are problems in Nina’s social environment and at school. Can the family stick together despite the problems? A fictional contribution to a very topical subject.