Judith Hofmann

Angela Merkel's decision in autumn 2015 to open the borders for refugees split the country - some praised the moral stance, others criticized the surrender of sovereignty. Yet what would appear to be well-planned activity is in reality a policy of muddling along, chance, trial and error. The Driven Ones is a chronicle of the refugee crisis which shows that the political actors are being driven along, crushed between self-imposed constraints and events that have spun out of control.

Clara is studying for a Ph.D in philosophy in Berlin. In this middle-class male academic environment, she feels pushed to one side. She returns to her childhood village in former East Germany for her mother's birthday, and becomes aware that a distance has grown between her and her family.

After losing part of her memory, Maret, 44, sets out to find out who she used to be. She learns about the many different life paths she followed, in none of which anything was ever really achieved. A profoundly unhappy person in a never-ending, headlong rush. A doctor on the island of Lanzarote offers to put this restlessness to an end through brain surgery. A promise of peace and satisfaction. Will Maret proceed with the surgery that would take away part of her being - or not?

Renowned German organist Anna discovers her Latvian husband's involvement in a corruption scandal, shaking the foundation of their life together. Can she come to terms with this new reality about her husband?

Housewife Therese Karlen has been suffering from insomnia for some time. Overwhelmed by her husband and children, she sets off with pensioner Liselott on a journey of self-discovery to the Bernese Oberland.

She was a prisoner in the corset of social constraints and conventions – and at the same time she fought for a self-determined life as a woman – Lydia Welti-Escher, the daughter of politician and business leader Alfred Escher. Due to an extramarital liaison, the Swiss authorities had her committed to a psychiatric ward.

A family drama about a German teenager who leaves home totally unexpectedly to join the ranks of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in its armed struggle. When the boy's father and older brother set off on an adventurous journey to the Syrian border, they manage to find him and bring him back to Germany. However, back home, questions start being asked: did he return of his own free will, has he disassociated himself from the IS ideology, or is he in fact a 'sleeper' agent awaiting orders?