Seven Winters in Tehran
2023 | 97 min | Documentary
A harrowing drama about patriarchal justice in Iran – awarded the German Film Prize in Gold.
Steffi Niederzoll
DirectorSteffi Niederzoll is a German director whose empathetic and powerful work addresses socially relevant topics. Her documentary SEVEN WINTERS IN TEHRAN (2023) tells the harrowing story of a young woman who became a symbol of resistance against injustice in Iran. In this work, Niederzoll combines intimate narratives with political messages, creating a deeply moving portrait of courage and humanity. With her extraordinary ability to tell complex stories in a visually and emotionally powerful way, Steffi Niederzoll has established herself as an important voice in international documentary film.
Films
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Disappearing
2022 | 98 min | Documentary
In the heart of Southern Carinthia, a story unfolds that is deeply rooted in a century-old decision. In 1920, like many in the Slovenian community of Carinthia, filmmaker Andrina Mracnikar's grandfather voted for Carinthia to remain within the Republic of Austria, an act of self-determination expected to herald a new era of coexistence for the Slovenian minority. However, the reality that unfolded was starkly different, marking the beginning of a century-long struggle against discrimination. Andrina ...
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2019 | 85 min | Documentary
This documentary tells the story of same-sex parenting in France by looking at the first French association that campaigns for the rights of same-sex parents. The film centers on the APGL (Association of Gay and Lesbian Parents and Future Parents), which has been fighting for equal legal treatment for queer parents for over 30 years. Director Émilie Jouvet gives voice to numerous people involved, such as children and their families, researchers, doctors, lawyers, who have written or are still writing ...
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2023 | 91 min | Documentary
Three women in Jordan live in isolation – not by choice, but out of fear of further violence. Their home is their refuge, but it is also a prison that separates them from the outside world. What does it mean to live a life in the shadows? How do you find strength in the midst of pain? Helin Çelik's documentary addresses a reality that often remains hidden. ANQA is an intimate exploration of the survival strategies of these women, whose stories are told not in words but in images. The camera focuses ...
Yarê
2024 | 19 min | Shorts
The sun is already high in the sky when Yarê's mother wakes her up. Her stomach ache has gone, but the cause remains. The water she drank was stale, a consequence of the ubiquitous scarcity in her homeland. In the barren landscape between northern Syria and Turkey, water is a luxury item. The main water pipe has been broken for months, but no one repairs it. While others resign themselves to their fate, Yarê makes a decision: she sets out to get fresh water. YARÊ by Sallar Othman tells the story ...
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Breakthrough Stage
2023 | 80 min | Documentary
Lucy and Yulia are two talented and determined actresses with disabilities who have made it into the professional theater world despite numerous obstacles. Lucy and Yulia's determination, energy and courage radiate on stage and screen and have an impact on many levels of social perception. Their successful entry into professional German theater is a profound statement against the accepted norms of a world in which fashion, profit and sexism dictate the aesthetics of the female body. Lucy, who already ...
Raju
2010 | 23 min | Drama
In this Oscar nominated short, a German couple, played by Wotan Wilke Möhring and Julia Richter, adopts an Indian orphan in Kolkata. On their way to the hotel, the boy disappears. The German officials have recommended a local Indian orphanage to them. There the four-year-old boy Raju, who comes from a slum, is introduced to them and handed over. When the boy suddenly disappears and the Indian police cannot get any further with their investigations, Jan himself starts an intensive search.
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 ...
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2024 | 75 min | Documentary
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Ella
2014 | 15 min | Shorts
Ella is a Polish migrant worker who works in Germany to finance her daughter's studies in Poland. Due to illness, her job seems to be in jeopardy. When her daughter decides to come to Germany and faces the same fate as Ella, the mother decides to blackmail her boss for severance pay. The film ELLA deals with social tensions and dependencies that recur in many European migration biographies. The short film focuses on family responsibility, structural exploitation, and the tension between origin and ...