Last Year in Utopia documents an experimental set-up: a staged group media experiment, isolated from the outside world, is reconstructed on the site where the original events unfolded. The boundaries between autonomy and heteronomy dissolve in new role assignments as the film makes the power structure behind the artificially created utopia visible.
This film follows its two protagonists Anne and Leo like a wandering companion. Both in their early thirties, they are close friends but not a couple. What connects them is their urban background and their cosmopolitan attitude. Where they differ is their completely diverging approach to the little things in life. Their days and nights are full of possibility and yet nothing presents itself as inevitable. Anne is a successful director pursuing her career with singleminded determination. But she doesn’t have much of a social life. Leo’s head is in the clouds. He wants to be a photographer and is yearning to love and be loved. Their personal encounters and inspirational adventures cause them to realise the limitations of their varying approaches to life.
The Congolese Sikumoya faces prejudice and racism on a regular basis. He's accused of not adapting enough to the "German culture" and tries harder. A Neo-Nazi group and his mother-in-law push him to the breaking point. While in a coma, his metamorphosis completes.
