PROGRAMME FOR ENGLISH-SPEAKING AUDIENCES

A GOOD PLACE (EIN SCHÖNER ORT)

Director: Katharina Huber / Germany 2023 / 108 min. / German, Italian with English subtitles / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / MOP-Watchlist

The chickens are suspicious, the relationships dubious and the business shady. Margarita and Goodness spend their dreary everyday lives in a stagnant village. They can't decide whether to leave the place or change it. At the same time, people are disappearing, the radio is broadcasting incessant news and the whole world is awaiting the launch of the spaceship Columba, which will take humans to the edge of the solar system for the first time. "But there's nothing out there," says someone over dinner.

Wed 13:30 CS 5

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AN INFINITE PLACE (UNENDLICHER RAUM)

Director: Paul Raatz / Germany 2024 / Documentary / 94 min. / German, English, Spanish  with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

Loitz stands among the towns that faced challenges in the aftermath of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Since 1990, the municipality has lost a third of its population. A project for the future aims to mitigate the downward trend. Central to the project are two Berliners, Annika and Rolando, tasked with creating a space for meaningful interactions within a year. At the same time, a group of music festival organizers are trying to see the vacancy as an opportunity. But how effective and sustainable are such impulses from outside? And what makes living in a dying city worthwhile?

Sat 18:30 CS 5

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ANYWAY: THE ART, THE ART (IMMERHIN: DIE KUNST, DIE KUNST)

Director: Antonia Walther / Germany 2024 / 90 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / age rating: 12 / Feature Film Competition

Renowned director Stan and his theater group are planning a play about the dark side of the pharmaceutical industry. He hires psychotherapist Dr. Franz to provide emotional support during rehearsals. But the mental counselor has a personal agenda. She gives the actors a drug to make them addicted and steer the play in a pharma-friendly direction. And indeed, the ensemble soon finds itself in a state of emergency - as the premiere draws ever closer.

Wed 21:30 CS 5

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AS IN HEAVEN SO ON EARTH (WIE IM HIMMEL SO AUF ERDEN)

Director: Daria Kuschev / Germany 2024 / Documentary / 77 min. / German, Ukrainian, Russian  with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

Buchendorf near Munich is home to the only Russian Orthodox women's monastery in Germany. Together with Abbess Maria, 13 sisters try to escape the worldly and come ever closer to God. Their life follows clear rules and is characterized by spiritual intensity and hard, physical work. The hierarchy is strict, the humor gentle. And each nun brings her own story that has led her to this special place.

Tue 18:30 CS 5

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BERLIN EVICTION (BERLIN UTOPIEKADAVER)

Director: Johannes Blume / Germany 2024 / Documentary / 92 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

A wave of evictions is sweeping through Berlin. The last left-wing autonomous housing projects are to be dissolved and their residents removed from the city. Rigaer Straße, Liebigstraße, the Tuntenhaus, Potse, Drugstore, Syndikat, Meuterei, the Köpi - all targeted by the authorities and under pressure. BERLIN UTOPIEKADAVER shows different generations of a subculture talking about themselves, fighting for their existence, but also dancing and crying together.

Tue 16:00 CS 5

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BEYOND THE BLUE BORDER (JENSEITS DER BLAUEN GRENZE)

Director: Sarah Neumann / Germany 2024 / 102 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / age rating: 12 / Feature Film Competition

Summer 1989: Ambitious Hanna is a passionate swimmer and trains hard to fulfill her lifelong dream: To become an Olympic champion. But her life changes drastically when her best friend Andreas is targeted by the state of East Germany and the only way out is to flee across the Baltic Sea to West Germany. After some hesitation, Hanna decides to go with him. 50 kilometers of water separate them from freedom. And only a thin, connecting cord around their wrists saves them from absolute loneliness.

Fri 16:30 CS 5

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BRUTAL HEAT  (BRUTÁLNÍ VEDRO)

Director: Albert Hospodáršký/Czech Republic 2023  /75 Min. / czech with English subtitles /  no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+

In a world threatened by a solar fragment hurtling towards Earth, an eighteen-year-old boy gets stranded on his way to a cottage in an unfamiliar town. A series of bizarre adventures force him to confront his greatest fears – coming to terms with the reality of a dislocated world, with himself, and with his father.

Wed 18:00 CaZ

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ECHOES FROM BORDERLAND

Director: Lara Milena Brose / Germany 2023 / Documentary / 70 min. / Dari, Bosnian, English with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

When the Taliban take power in Afghanistan in 2021, hundreds of thousands flee. Many of them end up stranded in the non-EU state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. One of them is Nahid, who has been stuck in one of the border villages for months. The voice messages from home increasingly sound like a distant echo. The 15-year-old girl finds warmth and encouragement from Ferida, who lives on the border. She observes how people return to their tent shelters humiliated each time after the brutal pushbacks, triggering more and more memories of her own past during the civil war.

Sun 17:30 CS 5

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ELECTRIC FIELDS

Director: Lisa Gertsch / Switzerland 2024 / 80 min. / German, Swiss German, French with English subtitles / world premiere / age rating: 6 / Feature Film Competition

A man disappears in the forest. A season is lost. Lovers transcend time. And when the people wake up one morning, nothing is as it was. Inexplicable things happen and they awaken from their loneliness: a radio that brings the dead back to life, a light bulb that won't stop glowing and a houseplant that can listen beautifully. The shift in the rules of the world permeates all the rooms of society, enticing the characters into strange places where new paths open up for them.

Sat 10:30 CS 5

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EXILE NEVER ENDS

Director: Bahar Bektaşş / Germany 2024 / Documentary / 100 min. / German, Turkish with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

Taner, the director's brother, is in prison in Germany and is facing deportation to Turkey. While waiting, Bahar Bektas turns the camera on her Alevi-Kurdish family and embarks on a disturbing journey into the past. Persecution and flight, racist attacks, depression and excessive demands on the parents - all of this had far-reaching effects on the three siblings. And Bektas realizes that the uncertainty about her brother's fate in Turkey is just a reflection of their life experience as a family in exile.

Wed 18:30 CS 5

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FOREST WITHIN ME (DER WALD IN MIR)

Director: Sebastian Fritzsch / Germany 2024 / 91 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / age rating: 12 / Feature Film Competition

Jan actually prefers to spend his free time at home with his snakes rather than with his fellow human beings, but when he falls in love with his fellow student Alice, his life changes completely. He admires her radical activism as an animal rights activist and she especially appreciates his sensitivity. But Jan is so overwhelmed by the intense feelings, the social life and the closeness to Alice that his perception becomes distorted. And he soon loses himself in an intoxicating maelstrom of love and delusion.

Sun 20:00 CS 5

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GEISTER

Director: Hans Henschel / Germany 2024 / 81 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18 / Feature Film Competition

After his best friend from his youth takes his own life, David travels to the village where they both grew up. What was supposed to be a quick visit to the funeral turns into a journey into the past of a friendship that has long since been torn apart. When his dead friend Andreas appears to him as a ghost, David first tries to get rid of the supernatural. But the ghost is just as hard to shake off as the question of whether he might be partly to blame for the suicide.

Wed 16:00 CS 5

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GOOD NEWS

Director: Hannes Schilling / Germany 2024 / 80 min. / German, English, Thai with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18 / Feature Film Competition

Foreign journalist Leo hopes to achieve his long-awaited international breakthrough with his new report on rebels in southern Thailand. On location, he receives support from his friend Mawar, who works at a nearby market. The research is dangerous and time-consuming, and Leo fears losing contact with his daughter in Berlin. In order to be able to leave earlier, he forges the article without further ado. But when photographer Julian turns up, the hoax is in danger of being exposed.

Fri 14:00 CS 5

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GOTTESKINDER

Director: Frauke Lodders / Germany 2024 / 120 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18 / Feature Film Competition

The siblings Hannah and Timothy grow up in a strict evangelical family and lead a seemingly fulfilled life in their free church community. Hannah in particular lives her faith with passion and has taken a vow of chastity. But when she falls in love with her new classmate Max, things get complicated. And when Timotheus discovers that he is attracted to men, the siblings' feelings clash with their family's values and expectations.

Sat 15:30 CS 5

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HAUSNUMMER NULL

Director: Lilith Kugler / Germany 2024 / Documentary / 90 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

When the director came to Berlin to study film, Chris was the first to welcome her. Chris is an addict and lives with his buddy Alex at an train station in the centre of the capital. As he gets worse and worse and narrowly escapes death, he decides that he has to get off the streets, off heroin. But where to? How can a young man find his place in our society, even though he has never fit in anywhere since childhood - or wanted to?

Thu 10:00 CS 5

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KRZYK: LOSING CONTROL

Director: Ewa Wikiel / Germany 2023 / 81 min. / German, English, Polish with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Feature Film Competition

When bacteriologist Lena drives past a burning car on her way home, she hears a woman's death cry. Lena doesn't tell her boyfriend Jakob how shaken she is by the incident, but she can't sleep at night. She throws herself into her work and researches the identity of the victim. She delves deeper and deeper into the life of the deceased - and soon loses control over dreams and reality due to her persistent sleeplessness.

Thu 12:30 CS 5

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LAILA IN HAIFA

Director: Amos Gitai / Israel, France 2021 /97 Min. / Hebr., Arab. with English subtitles / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+

The Israeli port city of Haifa in the present day. Fattoush, a nightclub with an adjoining contemporary art gallery, is a haven for a wide variety of people: Men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals, Jews and Arabs, radicals and moderates. Over the course of one night, the paths of five women who could not be more different cross here. And yet they all find a place here where they can express themselves.

Wed 20:30 CS 5 8½

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LOVE ALONE CAN'T MAKE A CHILD (DER WUNSCH)

Director: Judith Beuth / Germany 2024 / Documentary / 102 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

Maria and Christiane want to fulfill one of their life's wishes: to have a child together. A ten-year odyssey begins, full of hopes and hurdles, with ever new attempts and disappointments. Their intimate and intense relationship comes under increasing stress. Doubts grow, time is running out. What does this do to both women? And how does a love for each other develop over such a long period of time without being lost despite the setbacks?

Wed 10:30 CS 5

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MANCHMAL DENKE ICH PLÖTZLICH AN DICH

Director: Lynn Oona Baur / Germany 2024 / 80 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / age rating: 12 / Feature Film Competition

Lilith and her boyfriend Adam go on vacation to Hallig Hooge. For Lilith, the trip becomes a (nightmarish) dreamlike journey of the mind, on which she has to come to terms with her self-image as a woman and mother, a mysterious woman in a Frisian mink and the girl Lulu.

Wed 11:30 CS 5

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MILK TEETH (MILCHZÄHNE)

Director: Sophia Bösch / Germany, Switzerland 2024 / 97 min. / German with English subtitles / German premiere / age rating: 12 / Feature Film Competition

A village from a time not too distant from ours. As the daughter of an outsider, young Skalde has had to fight hard for her place in the village community and has distanced herself from her mother Edith. One day, Skalde finds a strange child in the forest. In order to save it, Skalde and her mother must stick together after years of estrangement.

Fri 22:00 CS 5

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NIGHTS GONE BY (ANTIER NOCHE)

Director: Alberto Martín Menacho / Switzerland, Germany 2023 / Documentary / 106 min. / Spanish with English subtitles / German premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

The summer heat hangs heavily over Extremadura in the southwest of Spain. Surrounded by thousand-year-old oak trees and countless solar panels, Juan wanders through empty farm buildings and shoots rifles. Santi dreams of a career as a musician and records her first track. Antonio looks after his animals. And Pepa works as a seasonal worker in a slaughterhouse. A portrait of four young lives in a deserted region that repeatedly crosses the border into fiction.

Thu 18:00 CS 5

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TOUCHED

Director: Claudia Rorarius / Germany 2023 / Documentary / 134 min. / German, Greek, Icelandic, English with English subtitles / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / MOP-Watchlist

Maria starts a new job in a care home for people with disabilities and meets Alex, a paraplegic. Driven by emotional attraction and sexual curiosity, she enters into a forbidden love affair with the young man. But the more intense the liaison between the two becomes, the more massive Alex's demands become.

Sat 21:00 CS 5

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THE HEARING (DIE ANHÖRUNG)

Director: Lisa Gerig / Switzerland 2023 / Documentary / 81 min. / German with English subtitles / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / MOP-Watchlist

Four real-life asylum seekers re-enact their asylum interview. They have one thing in common: all four received a negative asylum decision - even though they had to flee their home country under extreme conditions because their lives were in danger. Will they succeed this time in describing their traumatic experiences in such a way that they meet the official criteria?

Sat 13:00 CS 5

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THE SILENCE BETWEEN US (ZWISCHEN UNS GOTT)

Director: Rebecca Hirneise / Austria 2024 / Documentary / 90 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Documentary Film Competition

After years of distance, the filmmaker approaches her family again. A convinced agnostic in a circle of devout Christians. The conversation with the uncles and aunts leads into a world of biblical faithfulness and fear of God and soon takes on an explosive dynamic. Deep-seated conflicts break out. The faith faction disagrees on questions of interpretation. And some family members find the strength of the role of religion in their environment anything but wholesome - and speak out openly about it.

Thu 21:00 CS 5

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SHORT FILM COMPETITION PROGRAMME 2:

Tue 21:00 CS 5

BY MY SIDE (À MES CÔTÈS)

Director: Eric M. Weglehner / Austria 2024 / 24 min. / English, French with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Short Film Competition

Since her abortion, Jana, who is paraplegic, has been trying to reorganize her life. Aaron distances himself from her while she searches for answers in their undefined relationship. On their last day together in Paris, the search for Aaron's lost wallet leads them through the city of love as time passes relentlessly.

 

IN THE END WE'RE ALL MUSIC (AM ENDE SIND WIR ALLE GESANG)

Director: Katharina Schnekenbühl / Germany 2024 / 13 min. / German with English subtitles / world premiere / age rating: 0  / Short Film Competition

Lilo, Kira and Frida meet casually in the indoor pool. Eight-year-old Lilo wants to finally swim without water wings, amateur swimmer Kira has to be the fastest and pensioner Frida wants to jump from the ten-meter tower. In the microcosm of the swimming pool, the three learn in their own way what being strong actually means.

 

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY (IL COMPLEANNO DI ENRICO)

Director: Francesco Sossai / Germany 2023 / 17 min. / Italian with English subtitles / German premiere / age rating: 12 / Short Film Competition

I remember being invited to the birthday of Enrico, a boy who lived with his family in an old, remote farmhouse, in the midst of the fear of the millennium bug.

 

GOD´S ANUS

Director: Jan-David Bolt / Switzerland 2024 / 12 min. / German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Swiss German with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Short Film Competition

A dry, gaping hole. Those who are unlucky enough to see it will find happiness.

 

SYNCOPE

Director: Linus von Stumberg / Switzerland 2023 / 21 min. / English / German premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Short Film Competition

After Whim passes the unusual audition for the dance piece "Syncope", the choreographer feels that her commitment is not enough. But what she and the other dancers experience in rehearsals is just a foretaste of what the dark work will demand of them.

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SHORT FILM COMPETITION PROGRAMME 4:

Sun 11:30 CS 5

BITTE.DANKE.GENAU

Director:  Polina Kundirenko / Germany 2024 / 17 min. / Ukrainian, English with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Short Film Competition

Four Ukrainian students are trying to settle in Berlin, make connections, work and create a sense of home. But the constant flood of news and calls from friends and families who have stayed behind in their home country make it difficult for them to lead a more "normal" life and settle in.

 

THE ROBBERS (DIE RÄUBERINNEN)

Director:  Isa Schieche / Austria 2023 / 15 min. / German with English subtitles / German premiere / age rating: 12 / Short Film Competition

Three trans women meet in a country house to plan a robbery. A notable moment in the heist occurs when they disguise themselves as men in order to lay a false trail. While they share their everyday lives as a well-rehearsed team and lovers, they practise speaking low, walking masculine and appearing masculine. In the process, they reach their emotional and physical limits

 

INSOMNIA

Director:  Su-Jin Song / Germany 2024 / 15 min. / English / world premiere / age rating: 12 / Short Film Competition

The young actress A-RA is a superstar and constantly on the road all over the world. However, she spends her days alone in hotel rooms, her only source of communication and solace is her phone - a blessing and a curse at the same time. At night, the images and sounds of the day turn into nightmares - and A-RA's existence becomes an eternal cycle of sleeplessness in which the boundaries between reality and madness become increasingly blurred.

 

THE RED SEA MAKES ME WANNA CRY

Director: Faris Alrjoob / Germany, Jordan 2023 / 21 min. / English, German, Arabic with English subtitles / German premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Short Film Competition

Ida Fehrmann from Cologne flies to the Jordanian city of Petra, where her partner Ismael has disappeared without a trace. Her despair over his disappearance becomes even greater when a previously hidden part of his life is revealed to her in Jordan.

DON´T LET GO (LASS NICHT LOS)

Director: Antonia Lindner / Germany 2024 / 13 min. / German, Arabic with English subtitles / world premiere / no age rating, therefore recommended for 18+ / Short Film Competition

Amir and Anouk return home after their first vacation together. In the throes of love, they believe that nothing can destroy their happiness. But then they are stopped by the police - and nothing is as it was before.

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Overview
Tuesday (Jan 23), 16:00 CS 5: BERLIN UTOPIEKADAVER
Tuesday (Jan 23), 18:30 CS 5: WIE IM HIMMEL SO AUF ERDEN
Tuesday (Jan 23), 21:00 CS 5: Wettbewerb Kurzfilm Programm 2: Resilienz in Zerbrechlichkeiten

Wednesday (Jan 24), 10:30 CS 5: DER WUNSCH
Wednesday (Jan 24), 11:30 CS 5: MANCHMAL DENKE ICH PLÖTZLICH AN DICH
Wednesday (Jan 24), 13:30 CS 5: EIN SCHÖNER ORT
Wednesday (Jan 24), 16:00 CS 5: GEISTER
Wednesday (Jan 24), 18:30 CS 5: EXILE NEVER ENDS
Wednesday (Jan 24), 21:30 CS 5: IMMERHIN: DIE KUNST, DIE KUNST

Thursday (Jan 25), 10:00 CS 5: HAUSNUMMER NULL
Thursday (Jan 25), 12:30 CS 5: KRZYK: LOSING CONTROL

Thursday (Jan 25), 18:00 CS 5: ANTIER NOCHE
Thursday (Jan 25), 21:00 CS 5: THE SILENCE BETWEEN US (ZWISCHEN UNS GOTT)

Friday (Jan 26), 14:00 CS 5: GOOD NEWS
Friday (Jan 26), 16:30 CS 5: JENSEITS DER BLAUEN GRENZE
Friday (Jan 26), 22:30 CS 5: MILCHZÄHNE

Saturday (Jan 27), 10:30 CS 5: ELECTRIC FIELDS
Saturday (Jan 27), 13:00 CS 5: DIE ANHÖRUNG
Saturday (Jan 27), 15:30 CS 5: GOTTESKINDER
Saturday (Jan 27), 18:30 CS 5: UNENDLICHER RAUM
Saturday (Jan 27), 21:00 CS 5: TOUCHED

Sunday (Jan 28), 11:30 CS 5: Wettbewerb Kurzfilm Programm 4: Unträumbarkeiten
Sunday (Jan 28), 17:30 CS 5: ECHOES FROM BORDERLAND
Sunday (Jan 28), 20:00 CS 5: DER WALD IN MIR

Anatomy of a Short. Discover audiences & monetization magic.

Thursday, Jan 25, 10:00, Co:Hub66
This Panel will be held in English.
Open to accredited guests. Tickets via the online store for accredited guest at ffmop-akkreditierung.reservix.de

If you have ever made a short film you must have asked yourself: How can you make any money from this? Perhaps even your partner or parents have asked you too. And while many dabble with the art of short filmmaking as a learning experience or stepping stone, some argue the main reasons to make short to be greater artistic freedom, less pressure, more friendly environment. This is all true, but can short films also be monetized? What are the best practices to do that and when is it simply not worth it?

Case Study Mental Health
A Beautiful Mind: Mental Health and the film industry

Wednesday, Jan 24, 14:00, Co:Hub66
This Panel will be held in English.
Open to accredited guests. Tickets via the online store for accredited guest at ffmop-akkreditierung.reservix.de

Films are made out of passion. But this passion often causes people to go beyond their own limits. And young filmmakers in particular are increasingly influenced by competition, pressure to perform, lack of time and financial insecurity in the film industry. We want to address these problems openly and honestly: With a case study and a workshop on the topic of "mental health", we want to raise awareness and remove taboos.