Susann Schimk

At the end of the Cold War, something new arised that should influence an entire generation and express their attitude to life. It started with an idea in the underground subculture of Berlin shortly before the fall of the Wall. With the motto "Peace, Joy, Pancakes", Club DJ Dr. Motte and companions launched the first Love Parade. A procession registered as political demonstration with only 150 colorfully dressed people dancing to house and techno. What started out small developed over the years into the largest party on the planet with visitors from all over the world. In 1999, 1.5 million people took part. With the help of interviews with important organizers and contemporary witnesses, the documentary reflects the history of the Love Parade, but also illuminates the dark side of how commerce and money business increasingly destroyed the real spirit, long before the emigration to other cities and the Love Parade disaster of Duisburg in 2010, which caused an era to end in deep grief.

Their names are René, Sabine and Daniel – three people among thousands of others who go on to the streets of Dresden every Monday as “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West”. They shout “We are the people!” They claim “Merkel must go!” The director Sabine Michel accompanied them for one year – on their demonstrations and in their daily lives. Merkel Must Go is not a film about PEGIDA, it asks for the personal reasons for this patriotic protest, a film about realistic and absurd fears of the present.

Set in the Summer of 1988 and based on real events, the film tells the story of East-German twins Isabel and Doreen, two aspiring oarswomen, whose lives are changed dramatically during a training camp at Lake Balaton in Hungary. There, the girls make the acquaintance of West-German friends Arne and Nico. The holiday flirt soon turns serious when Doreen and Arne fall in love. As the end of their stay approaches, Arne asks the inseparable sisters to flee to the West with him…

Eleven young people live in a city. It is midsummer. This is the starting point of the escalation of seemingly harmonious relationships. A postmodern urban fairy tale about loneliness of dependency. About the question of what is greater, freedom or love.

After her mother's death, 15-year old Mia moves in with her aunt, the actress Cleo, who lives with her son Fritzi in a shared apartment in Berlin. Mia lingers for stability and attention but in between Cleo's rehearsals at the theatre and her relationally disturbed housemate Elisa, she finds herself in a world of adults who themselves seem to be unable to cope with life.

Carla, the runaway with high aims. Lucie, the street girl. Interchanged identities and a shared baby. Collage of a fateful year.

Despite having lived in the East German countryside for several months, teenager Lars and his dad, Henrik, are still treated as unwelcome guests. Henrik is building a “marriage barn,” a proposed bed-and-breakfast for newlywed Berliners.

When a photo model gets replaced by a batch of new younger prettier girls, her life of riches melts in front of her eyes and she's forced to live like a homeless person in a parking lot of a high class hotel she once lived in.

Berlin and Beirut were occupied, destructed, divided, reconstructed and today people still say "East and West" in both cities. Through the whole film Berlin and Beirut become one city. One space. A space where you feel the weight of the past and the lightness of life sharing with Myrna her stories, adventures and memories.

BANDITS (2003) retraces the roots of the escapade of a group of Georgians in their twenties who hijacked an Aeroflot passenger plane on November 18, 1983 from Tbilisi.

A summer trip to Berlin offers a fleeting glimpse into the lives of the country's youth in this vibrant, character-driven drama from director Martin Gypkens. When twentysomething Florian arrives in town to pay a visit to long-lost pal Pit, the duo quickly reminisce before heading out to a party. Soon meeting up with many of Pit's acquaintances, the film follows various intersecting lives as they are woven to create an intricate, microcosmic look at life's ups and downs as seen through the eyes of Germany's youth.