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Tianlin Xu

Director
Tianlin Xu is a Chinese filmmaker based in Germany, with an academic background in German studies and Journalism. Before she found her passion for filmmaking she worked as a coordinator for art and culture projects in Beijing, a position which enabled her to be involved in the organization of a documentary film festival as well as the production of a feature film. Since 2009 she has produced several short documentaries and multimedia stories. After the feature-length documentary COMING AND GOING and the animated short BYE, BYE COMRADE, this is her feature film debut with staging people by Tianlin Xu.

Films

The Thing with Feathers

The Thing with Feathers

By Tianlin Xu

2022 | 20 min | Independent

Between childcare, hope, and routine: the hands of a family tell a story of integration, stagnation, and small steps in exile.

Coming and Going

Coming and Going

By Tianlin Xu

2015 | 89 min | Documentary

The story of four Chinese boys and their hopes, dreams and the challenges they face.

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Living Together

Living Together

2022 | 90 min | Documentary

In the heart of Vienna, a pioneering initiative funded by the EU and spearheaded by the city itself embarked on a mission to foster integration among refugees and newcomers, guiding them through the maze of a new cultural landscape. LIVING TOGETHER, directed by Thomas Fürhapter, delves into this intricate process, portraying the lives intertwined in this communal learning journey. The film, through the lens of Judith Benedikt and Klemens Koscher, captures the essence of adaptation, camaraderie, and ...

Palermo or Wolfsburg

Palermo or Wolfsburg

1980 | 170 min | Drama

Work is scarce in Sicily, so 18-year-old Nicola follows many of his compatriots to cold Germany. He finds a job at VW in Wolfsburg and falls in love with Brigitte, a car mechanic. But she only uses him to make her German friends jealous. In a fight, Nicola kills the two men and is arrested. PALERMO OR WOLFSBURG deliberately shows the Federal Republic in its reconstruction phase, in which life is only administered and bureaucratized, “a country where there is no light, no love, only work.” PALERMO ...

The Most Beautiful Country in the World

The Most Beautiful Country in the World

2018 | 101 min | Documentary

A semi-documentary that follows a group of young migrants in Vienna as they negotiate the maze of administrative procedures. In this clash of two worlds, real refugees who live in Austria, such as the young Afghan Bagher, play themselves. Bagher arrived in Vienna in 2015. Local residents defend the status quo against escalating immigration. The refugees have lost their homes and are refugees for a reason. Forced to flee their own countries, they are trying to adapt to the strange new environment. ...

Nelly

Nelly

2015 | 16 min | Kids & Family

A car drives through the snow. Behind the wheel is thirteen years old Nelly who wants to go home. Separating her from her goal are three questions, two keys, a diving tower and a racing heart. Chris Raiber sends the young NELLY on a surreal journey in this short film drama of the same name. NELLY has run at festivals around the world and has won numerous awards, inclduing the Generation 14 plus Special Mention Award at the 65th Berlinale, as well as the Best Live Action Film at the Interfilm 31th ...

A Black Jesus

A Black Jesus

2020 | 92 min | Documentary

Once a year in the small Sicilian town of Siculiana, a black statue of Jesus is carried in procession through the crowded streets of the town on the shoulders of selected believers. On this occasion, hundreds of Siculianese emigrants come from all parts of Italy and abroad to pay homage to their patron saint. In recent years, however, the city has been divided over the presence of asylum seekers at Villa Sikania, a hotel that was converted into a reception center for refugees in 2014. Few Siculianesi ...

I spy with my little eye

I spy with my little eye

2010 | 20 min | Kids & Family

Eight-year-old Micky is looking forward to an exciting week with her grandfather in the country. She tries in vain to share her fantasies and daydreams with him, but he seems uninterested. A baby frog that has fallen into the sink, a mysterious neighbor with a dangerous dog, and Peter, the bad boy next door, are problems she has to deal with. Sometimes you reach a point where you have to grow up. Or it's time to become a child. I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE is a short film by Kim Münster that captures ...

Café Waldluft

Café Waldluft

2015 | 79 min | Documentary

CAFÉ WALDLUFT is not what it used to be. Once a tourist hot spot nestling in the picturesque mountains of Bavaria, it now offers shelter to refugees from all across the globe. For each one of them it carries the hope of a new beginning, the aspiration of a new home – waiting somewhere behind a multitude of obstacles. So what does it take for them to arrive for good? What does it really take for a place to become home? With only a few remaining guests in their late sixties, they brainstorm together ...

Julian

Julian

2011 | 13 min | Kids & Family

Berlinale Short Film winner JULIAN by Matthew Moore tells of a fourth grader who feels the strong urge to tell the truth and who runs into trouble for doing so. "Life's not fair, Julian. It's messy" (The headmaster) Nine-year-old Julian is an attentive, precise boy who likes to line up his pens neatly on his desk. When a girl complains to him about the other kids’ misbehaviour, he informs the teacher right away. The teacher sends him off to the headmaster, but Julian doesn’t find that fair at ...

Matadoras

Matadoras

2021 | 26 min | Drama

Caught between German stuffiness and Argentinian religiosity, Madi discovers her own sexuality. Madi and her sister Lucia grow up with their Catholic Argentinian mother and their pragmatic German father. The matriarch Dolores loses herself in clichés while their father August pursues his stereotypical role as breadwinner. When Dolores has to spend a long time in hospital for inexplicable reasons, her father takes over the running of the household and is not only overwhelmed with the two adolescent ...