
Fraulein
By Andrea Štaka
2006 | 77 min | Drama
An intimate look at three headstrong women who come from different parts of a country that no longer exists.


By Andrea Štaka
2006 | 77 min | Drama
An intimate look at three headstrong women who come from different parts of a country that no longer exists.

2014 | 83 min | Drama
After playing a sexually charged game with her best friend, below the cliffs of Dubrovnik, a teenage girl doesn't return home. Dubrovnik, 1993, after the end of the Balkan War: Linda returns to Croatia with her father. Her new best friend Eta takes her to a forest above the city. Linda and Eta, two 14-year-old girls and best friends, retreat to a beach below the cliffs of Dubrovnik; the next morning, only one of them returns. They become obsessed with a sexually charged game of identity swapping. ...

2017 | 82 min | Documentary
In Russia they were "the fascists", in Germany they are "the Russians". In 2001, the filmmaker's family emigrated from Omsk, Siberia to Germany. In this film she portrays her family, who are colloquially referred to as "Russian Germans" and in official parlance as "ethnic German repatriates". Heckmann expresses a feeling of foreignness in long shots that show the feeling of loss and embitterment from people who are at home neither here nor there. "It's an uneasiness that makes FAMILY LIFE a winning ...

2015 | 42 min | Documentary
Hans Scheugl could have started a new life with his friend John in the USA 50 years ago - but he didn't. He imagines a life that never happened. The letter A, blurred against a pink background. This is the first letter on a journey that does not go alphabetically to Z, even though many letters appear - not just alphabetical, but written correspondence. These letters connect two worlds: a life in the USA and one in Vienna. The sign with the A marks a house somewhere in America, which the filmmaker ...

2013 | 52 min | Drama
Based on a true story, NIRWANA tells of a modern odyssey that also "symbolizes the inattention to those on whose backs our prosperity is carried out". (Director's commentary) Din Islam lives with his family in a small village near Chittagong, the largest port city in Bangladesh. To feed his family, Din and his close friend Amin head off to the city to look for work. After a long and disappointing day, they stroll around the darker parts of the city, looking for a place to sleep. Their decision to ...

2018 | 30 min | Documentary
Anja and Serjoscha, young adults, live in Mariupol, a city in southeastern Ukraine, which was conquered by separatists in April 2014. Framed by thick reeds, Anja and Serjoscha sit on a jetty. In front of them, at the other end of the shore, chimneys of rusty brown factory buildings tower up. Anja's orange hair glows in the evening sun, she happily shows Serjoscha a few new sketches from her drawing book and then asks him if he would come along if she were to move away. "In unobtrusive closeness ...

2022 | 89 min | Documentary
EUROPA PASSAGE is a profound documentary film by Andrei Schwartz that follows the lives of a group of Romanian Roma over five years. These families commute between their home village of Namaiesti in Romania and Hamburg to earn a living by begging, as there are no job opportunities available to them at home. The film shows the constant challenges and difficulties they face, from discrimination and exclusion from urban emergency programs to the simple living conditions in their village. The story ...

2015 | 3 min | Shorts
Look away or intervene? When a man is victim of unfounded abuse in a packed bus, there is only one passenger who doesn't ignore the situation like everyone else. How do you best confront xenophobia? Is it right to stand up for the one abused or is it too great a risk of becoming a victim too? When a black man is abused by a stranger for no reason in a packed bus, there is only one passenger who doesn't ignore the situation like everyone else. He has the courage to step up and intervene. This doesn’t ...

2019 | 20 min | Drama
Romanian truck driver Stancu has given his nephew Dragan a second driving permit for their truck - a common practice in their company to extend legal driving times. But when Dragan is almost killed by microsleep at the wheel, Stancu suddenly realizes he has to take over. Torn between the pressure to deliver and his concern for Dragan, he becomes entangled in a web of white lies. "The director's clever and accomplished staging creates an almost documentary-like tone that suits the film exceedingly ...

2019 | 77 min | Drama
Elena is a student in Minsk making illegal deals in the Chernobyl death zone to save her father from going to prison. She is in an intense but increasingly destructive love affair with Viktor. When her father is arrested for illegal metal trading and tax evasion, in order to continue his business, she has to keep traveling to the Chernobyl restricted zone. She is fascinated by the deceptive beauty, but soon her life seems contaminated by a destructive force. "A very potent film, both dramaturgically ...

2017 | 15 min | Shorts
Bosnia and Herzegowina 20 years after the war: Priest Mihailo and Imam Hamdia see each other during a bus trip through their home region. Neither wants to be the first to speak. Finally, when a young woman gets harassed by one of her relatives, both speak up in unison. The short BON VOYAGE won the jury award at the European Shortfilm Festival Brest.