Bulldog

For as long as 21-year-old Bruno (Julius Nitschkoff) can remember, it has just been him and his mother Toni (Lana Cooper), who is just 15 years older than him. Nothing and no one else has a place in their chaotic life; they even work together at a holiday resort in Spain. When Hannah (Karin Hanczewski), Toni's new partner, moves into their shared bungalow, Bruno has to share his mother's attention with another person for the first time. Displaced from their shared bed, he realizes that his previous sense of responsibility for Toni is a greater burden than he thought – and that his mother's suffocating love is preventing him from living his own life. BULLDOG celebrated its world premiere at the 2022 Munich Film Festival, where it was nominated for the New German Cinema Award. At the Achtung Berlin Film Festival, the film won the award for Best Director and also received the First Steps Award in the feature film category. Critics particularly praised the impressive interplay between Julius Nitschkoff and Lana Cooper, as well as the calm, observant camera work that reveals the emotional core of the story. Produced by the Film University Babelsberg and MissingFILMs, BULLDOG marks a new, bold contribution to young German auteur cinema – a film that dares to be intimate and resonates with quiet power.