Star Chasers
By Pola Beck
2007 | 14 min | Documentary
What does the night do to people? A documentary with a poetic look at three Berlin night workers and their very own rhythm.
Pola Beck
DirectorPola Beck, born in Berlin in 1982, has made a name for herself as a versatile filmmaker who likes to push boundaries and tackle challenging topics. After studying directing at the Film University Babelsberg and making her feature film debut Am Himmel der Tag (2012), she increasingly focused on series formats, which she shapes with her special sense for complex interpersonal stories. She established herself in the series sector with the successful youth series Druck, followed by productions such as Das letzte Wort (Netflix), Liebe.Jetzt! (ZDFneo) and the sci-fi series Tender Hearts (Sky).
Her stories – often told from a female perspective – are characterized by a clever, sensitive look at topics such as identity, loss and love. In her feature film Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt, based on the novel by Olga Grjasnowa, she remains true to her penchant for strong, multi-layered female characters. Pola Beck moves virtuously between genres and brings topics to the screen that illuminate personal and social crises.
Pola Beck's work is currently being honored in a retrospective in collaboration with interfilm on Sooner. Here we can discover her diverse short films, made both during and after her studies at the Film University Babelsberg, which show the impressive development of this extraordinary filmmaker.
Films
Five to Six
By Pola Beck
2004 | 6 min | Shorts
Erotic fairy tale about sexual fantasies in the hectic atmosphere of a large kitchen.
The Circle in Which She Travels
By Pola Beck
2010 | 25 min | Drama
A young woman's search for her family roots leads her to Mexico and on the trail of a revolutionary.
Teheran Kitchen
By Pola Beck
2009 | 17 min | Documentary
Between oversalted soup and grumbling students, three chefs and a kitchen hand toil in the small university cafeteria in Tehran.
Inside you
By Pola Beck
2008 | 22 min | Drama
In this perceptive coming-of-age drama, 16-year-old Suse feels like a fifth wheel since her mom started dating.
Recommended for you
Teheran Kitchen
2009 | 17 min | Documentary
In the beating heart of Tehran, embedded in the lively atmosphere of a university cafeteria, a fascinating story unfolds from the everyday life of three chefs and a kitchen hand. They face the daily challenges of serving 600 kebabs, soups gone awry, and the critical remarks of students. But between the hustle and bustle of the market and the seething chaos of the kitchen, they find time to philosophize about the essence of cooking and the bigger questions in life. The cafeteria becomes a place of ...
Night Shifts
2010 | 97 min | Documentary
Some people work and live at night by choice, others because fate has compelled them to do so. Still others use darkness to operate in secret. At time when most of the city is asleep, the film accompanies the night active as they go about their business and sheds light on the essence of night in today’s big cities. Director Ivette Löcker's declaration of love for the night. The film looks at the many the different angles of what it means to live and work in darkness.
I should have held on to the chandelier
2020 | 70 min | Documentary
In 1985, Ulrike and Olli's paths cross in the dazzling world of Circus Roncalli. It is the beginning of a great love affair with many obstacles. He is a clown living his childhood dream; she is a former nurse from Berlin who joins the circus. What begins as a romantic adventure gradually turns into a story about the challenges of everyday life, creative crises, and growing older. In his documentary film I SHOULD HAVE HELD ON TO THE CHANDELIER, released in 2020, director Diego Hauenstein sensitively ...
Kleptomami
2017 | 10 min | Shorts
Lucy (Rosalie Thomass) regularly shoplifts at the supermarket with her baby in the stroller. One day she is confronted by the store detective and reveals her secret to him. Lucy is tired of pretending to be the perfect mother. "She is torn between her own aspirations and the reality in which they find themselves after the birth of their child." (Director's comment - Pola Beck). A film about the absurdities of being a mom today. "KLEPTOMAMAMI is nothing more and nothing less than a wonderfully amusing ...
Inside you
2008 | 22 min | Drama
A shimmering summer story in a holiday home on the Baltic Sea. Sixteen-year-old Suse feels like a fifth wheel alongside her young mother and her new boyfriend and withdraws into herself. But then she discovers how she can change things in her favor. She just has to use the right means... Using a mixture of youthful naivety and growing cunning, Suse tries out various strategies to win back her mother's attention and undermine the unwanted presence of her new boyfriend. Each day brings new insights ...
Rest
2016 | 60 min | Documentary
A documentary about people at a rest stop and a camping site. REST is an unvarnished documentary about the people at a rest stop and a camping site on the Danube motorway near Vienna. Whether campers on holiday or truck drivers forced to take breaks on Sundays, the conversation starts when motors go silent. REST visits the folks on the road and their a life of freedom and constant movement as well as loneliness and stasis. Director Iris Blauensteiner (SWEAT; THE_OTHER_IMAGES) dedicates her film ...
Five to Six
2004 | 6 min | Shorts
In the hectic atmosphere of a large kitchen, where time is as sharp as the knives, a sensual story of passion, jealousy and unbridled desire unfolds. Fernanda, the attractive dishwasher, arouses burning desire in the hearts of her colleagues, but who ignites the fire in Fernanda's heart? The kitchen, a place of strict hierarchies and tight deadlines, unexpectedly turns into a battlefield of emotions. While everyone loses themselves in their delicious fantasies with Fernanda, an unforeseen event ...
So bright the night
2019 | 14 min | Documentary
As night advances and the darkness overtakes the light, tranquility reigns. But when most peolpe are drifting off to sleep, others are awaken by the ringing of their alarm clocks. Night workers are on the job from sunset to sunrise. SO BRIGHT THE NIGHT is both a short documentary and a 5-minute piano piece. "A beautiful and lovingly crafted documentary that focuses on various professional groups who work night shifts. The film provides an insight into a strange world in the dark that silently masters ...
I Knew You Were My Kind
2023 | 18 min | Shorts
Set in the deserted off-season on the Italian coast, caregivers Anca and Zoya meet at a bus stop shortly before returning home and decide to visit a client's abandoned beach house. A brief vacation turns into a moment of solidarity and tenderness that challenges the structural norms that govern their daily lives. “The discourse on the inner-European class question has never been more present and at the same time more repressed. As a German-Romanian, I encounter these socio-economic conditions every ...
Rosa
2004 | 2 min | Shorts
Eduard is afraid of the color pink. Sabine likes Robert and the color pink. Will that work out? Malte Wirtz is a German filmmaker and theater director known for his experimental and independent work. With a background in theater studies and directing, Wirtz's works often combine socio-critical topics with unconventional aesthetic approaches. His style is characterized by a clear handwriting that combines minimalism and intense character studies. In addition to feature films, he has also made short ...