Volker Tittel

At the beginning of 2000, the young commissioner Yvonne Weber moved from Frankfurt am Main to Eisenach. Together with the local colleague Frank Wolf, she is to review an unresolved murder case from the GDR era. The investigation team encounters inconsistencies in the file and it becomes clear that there is no interest in truth-clarifying the Eisenach department and the prosecutor's office in Gotha.

Writing, reading, arithmetic. Building a house, ploughing a field. English, French. Filmmaker Maria Knilli shoots inconspicuously among the children. The small and large learning steps become visible, the relationships between each other and the atmosphere in which learning takes place: the tender seriousness, the intimate curiosity, the communal enthusiasm.

For ten years Lena Drömer has been traveling to Tuscany alone for four weeks every November - at least that's what her husband, the Protestant pastor Hermann, and her daughter believe. But this time it will be a journey without return. Shortly after her departure Lena is killed in a bus accident near Bremen. Her death gives up Hermann Rätsel. Why did she die in the north, when she wanted to go to the south? When, as every year in November, a postcard from Lena arrives from Italy, Hermann sets off in search of the truth.

This story concerns a hapless civil servant who gets more than he bargains for when he moves into an apartment in Limerick with a gay fashion student and becomes a star on the catwalk. A contemporary story embracing the essence of what it is to be young in today's Ireland.

Observations at Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal, which is one of the most fascinating stations for insiders. The documentary takes the completed renovation of the building as an occasion to bring the magnificent architecture to life; at the same time, it focuses on the countless momentary encounters when the paths of commuters and flâneurs cross.

In the Brazilian megacity São Paulo athletes from around the world run the traditional New Year's marathon. At the same time in an Amazonian jungle backwater 19-year-old Jô is running like a world champion. He has skipped town with the generous New Year's collection from the church and is being followed by the out-of-breath town sheriff Rui, a fan of the marathon. By pure luck he manages to capture Jô. Rui may have missed the race on TV, but not talented runner Jô. In the cell sit Jô and a dream. He trains Jô for a year until he is at his peak performance. They then make the long journey to São Paulo. Sheriff Rui sends his prisoner and marathon man Jô into the big race, the legendary New Year's marathon of 1999, the race into the year 2000. Surprises await.

The true story of Otomo, a black man seeking work and asylum in the German city of Stuttgart. However, all he finds is racism, police trouble and his final destiny.

Three short films based on short stories by expatriate American novelist Paul Bowles capture the sense of loss and alienation so common in his works. "Merkala Beach" follows the dissolution of a friendship after a pretty face enters the picture; "Call at Corazon" traces a newlywed couple's challenges while cruising up the Amazon River; and "Allal" chronicles the extraordinary transformation of an Indian boy who befriends a cobra.

As an architect Robert Cortin is self-confident, but his private life is shaky. His wife Vera, a gynecologist, cannot have children. They have tried to get adopt a child for some time. Now Robert learns that his lover Stefanie is pregnant.

This dark and intense drama follows the slow and painful destruction of a young, passive woman as she watches her family fall apart. Maria is the shy and dutiful daughter upon whose shoulders the family traumas have fallen. In addition to a regular job she cooks, cleans, and studies. Her parents offer no assistance as her father is blind, with a tendency towards violence when drinking. His wife, the focus of his violence is terribly unhappy. After a particularly brutal beating, Maria's brothers rise up against the father and end up leaving the home. It is up to Maria to try to bring the factions together. Maria's pressures increase after she calmly stabs her boss during an attempted rape, and then copes with her mother's suicide.

Brother Howie is a Jamaican Rastifari who dreams of the land of his ancestors: Africa. On a journey in search of his roots and his identity he travels through three continents and (with great humor and sensitivity) discovers the world and Africa.

The main characters of the story are Pauli, a teacher's son, and Sepp, the son of a sawmill owner. They get to know each other while serving as altar boys, become friends and decide to form their own gang with themselves as leaders. Their first major objective will be a battle against a notorious gang from the neighboring village . . .

Philip, Max, and Julia Rossmann are brothers and sister. Out of their own life, they try to continue childhood bonds. Through their entanglement in a mysterious event, the three are torn apart. For each, a new beginning. The film begins a year later. Quite impulsively, Philip Rossmann leaves his hide-out to go and look for his lost brother. He meets former friends with whose help he tries to reconstruct his brother's trail. Despite the setbacks his research brings, he is able to track down his brother. They meet.