Brigitta Tauchner

Zeynap Altin is at the end of her tether: she works far too much and is not valued at all by her husband, daughter and father. To make matters worse, the funeral home dressed her beloved late mother in a man's suit instead of her favorite dress. Enough is enough: Zeynep flees from Munich to the previously unknown holiday home on a Croatian island that her mother secretly bought years ago - with the hope of finding quiet, peace and herself there. If only the previous owner Josip, a rough islander, didn't still live on the same property and annoy her with his views and wisdom.

An almost romantic comedy on the edge: Holocaust researcher Toto is having a major life crisis. Just when things at home and work could not get worse, he unwantedly gets a new assistent assigned to himself. Zazie is french, jewish, slightly germanophobe and supposed to help Toto to prepare a major congress. As the star of the congress suddenly wants to pull out, the problems are piling up and the two have to fix it.

Six intertwined people struggle with their own sincerity, and, in so doing, unravel their secrets and the lies they live.

Nana Benz is the story of the legendary queens of the West African mercer, self-made women, coming out of nowhere, building empires. These women were heroes to the people, Mercedes driver at the West African coast. They influenced the history of Togo and were witnesses of the fights for independence, the dictatorship till the globalization nowadays. Thomas Böltken manages to establish closure to the protagonists by letting their heirs - grandchildren, widows, lovers - speak.

A holiday celebration with the extended family gets stretched to the breaking point in this comedy from Germany. Sara is happily married to Jan, though this wasn't always the case -- Sara is Jan's second wife, while Sara has three ex-husbands, Gunnar, Andi and Erich, and she and Jan are raising children from each of their previous marriages. Jan is less than thrilled with the prospect of spending the holidays with Sara's mother, but things get worse when he learns his wife has planned a surprise for Christmas eve -- they'll be joined by Gunnar, Andi and Erich, as well as Erich's new wife Pauline, Andi's current spouse Rita and his own ex-wife, Eva. To call the atmosphere uncomfortable is an understatement, and things only get worse when Sara announces she's pregnant, which is quite troubling for Jan since he's been waiting for the right time to tell her he had a vasectomy several months before.

The story opens with Bica, a solvent abusing waif, trying in vain to evade the Romanian police with her infant brother in tow. Separated from her sibling she is taken to Germany, concealed in the trunk of a car. There she is trained as a thief, picking the pockets of strangers to fill those of her patron. One of her victims is the separated father of Milka, a brat with razor sharp tongue. From this unlikely start a friendship forms and Bica gets a glimpse into a world of material security, if not emotional closeness...

Judith is a maverick reporter who is also seeking a satisfying relationship with various men. She finds corruption and power-games everywhere.