Antonella Sarubbi

In the Brandenburg province Markus Hawemann is torn between his love for his grandmothers in need of care - one of them suffering from dementia - and his longing for urban self- determination in Berlin. Most of the time Markus is pretty alone with his worries. In his daydreams a crowd of dazzling demons are visiting him more and more often. They are harbingers of an urban elective family. When Duc enters his life, things become more complicated, as packed boxes in his apartment are already waiting for move to the big city.

Being mother is the most natural thing in the world. Or so it seems. Yet the demands on women with children have rarely been as overloaded and contradictory as they are in today’s Western world. Promises of happiness are often followed by disadvantages, excessive demands and feelings of guilt. The mother has become an artificially glorified ideal, which nevertheless is often legitimized by the „nature of the woman“. We live in a time when three people could claim to be the same child’s mother: egg donors give their genes to beget children, surrogate mothers deliver babies which they give away immediately after birth, and men raise children by themselves – without a woman at their side. Hence the question arises: What makes a human being a real mother?

An ordinary day in Romania. Under a highway exit close to Bucharest, Lidia and Denisa are changing their clothes; warm pullovers and sneakers are exchanged for tight tops and heels. The two are then waiting for clients, an icy wind gusting around their ears.

1000 Smiles Per Hour. 1000 Smiles on a stage in front of an audience that uses you as a mirror, as a chance to look at themselves, into themselves. Into their deepest desires and fears. Into their humanity. But what about yourself? Who are you? You walk the streets towards a destination we do not know. You meet a woman whose relationship to you is unclear. You remain a ghost, who needs to wash off make-up, a mask, a second personality which you squeeze yourself into for a couple of hours every day. You're the one who smiles for us, who shows us who we are and who disappears in the shadow of ourselves.

Documentary about poet Sascha Anderson.