Lena Lessing

An anthology feature of 10 stories of romance set in the German capital.

A young engineer is sent to post-WWII Berlin to help the Americans in spying on the Russians. In a time and place where discretion is still a man’s best friend, he falls in love with a mysterious woman who will take him on the dark side of evil.

Jullo, Edo, and Chiara: three teenagers among thousands. Three teenagers who live for sport. Jullo is his skateboard, Chiara conquers the world on skis, Edo is a graffiti artist. One day, Jullo, Chiara, and Edo suddenly discover their own lives, each in their own way. Fears, dreams, surprises, loneliness, insecurity, expectations, instability, imbalance. Then a moment, a second, a click. A click that leads them to rediscover themselves, that leads them into adulthood, or that relentlessly sweeps them away.

Angelo Roncalli, born in Sotto Il Monte in 1881, is known for his profound spirituality as well as his extraordinary goodness from the young years of his life. When he feels a need to serve God, Angelo goes to study theology in Bergamo, and in Apollinare School (Rome) and becomes a priest. During his studies, he gets to know his two dearest friends, Mattia and Nicola. Very soon, most people see marvelous talents in him, including his wide knowledge and a constant readiness for sacrifice. The Holy See makes him go further to bishop and cardinal, and the Holy Father sends him to various places as a representative of the Church. When Pius XII dies on October, the 9th, 1958, 77 year-old Angelo goes to Rome, to conclave to choose a new pope. However, this time, it is him who hears gentle words of Jesus "Tu es Petrus!" ("You are Peter!") and from October, the 28th leads the church as pope John XXIII

A young woman who is obsessed with Buster Keaton stays in the sanatorium where the actor was once a patient.

Maria finds herself caught between two worlds. At school this 14-year-old girl has all the typical teenage interests, but when she’s at home with her family she follows the teachings of the Society of St. Paul and their traditionalist interpretation of Catholicism. Everything that Maria thinks and does must be examined before God. And since the Lord is a strict shepherd, she lives in constant fear of committing some misconduct...

A story about male hubris, repressed feelings, unconscious depression and the hard struggle for success in a capitalist world where fragility has no place.

Between 1924 and 1934, six children grow up in an apartment building in the Munich suburbs. Among them is the rather inconspicuous and melancholy Leo Knie, who has been in love with the pretty Marilli Kosemund since early childhood. Marilli is not averse to the young man's advances, but she wants to be conquered. But that is exactly what shy Leo finds difficult. So he escapes into harmless dancing with his buddies, pursues other girls - rather unsuccessfully - and resigns himself to his predetermined fate.