Andreas Schmidbauer

Across generations, a single instrument connects people from different eras - from an emigrating zither player in the Bavarian Forest in 1881, to the persecuted and the lovers of the 20th century, to a deaf young woman in present-day Munich - weaving them into a polyphonic, musical hymn to memory, loss, and solidarity.

Knittlingen, 1789: To escape her father's clutches, Cornelia decides to run away and buy herself a marriage that will take her to Paris, where she hopes to lead a free life. When a stranger turns up with his pregnant wife at the meeting with her future husband and invites everyone to a picnic, everything turns out differently than planned and Cornelia has to fight for her freedom once again.

Whenever Rosa (11) is left alone by her mother Nicole (27), she gets haunted by an ominous, shadowlike creature. One day, Rosa's friend Sophie (11) stays over and Nicole sneaks out to spend the night with her lover. The next day her mother is still nowhere to be seen. Now faced with her biggest fear, Rosa begins to realize that the creature is far more than a harmless childhood fantasy.

Jeanie, who is homeless, works from her car in a dubious network marketing job. When she is invited to her old school friends' bachelorette party, she senses an opportunity to sell them her products. But she has underestimated how much she wants to finally be part of the group again.

When Fiete spends a weekend with his girlfriend Amiri at his family’s seaside cottage, he runs into his former best buddy Luca, whom he hasn’t seen for 10 years. Amiri soon realizes that Fiete is torn between his past and present life. She is not yet aware that Luca and Fiete, who were once like brothers, are haunted by a tragic event that shattered their friendship. In Luca’s presence, Amiri sees her boyfriend in a new light as they fall into old toxic patterns. When Amiri discovers Luca’s involvement with a right-wing political party, tensions rise. Not even Luca’s girlfriend Katja who arrives unexpectedly, can prevent the situation from escalating. BUBBLES explores how a polarized and divided society mixes personal and political conflicts, so even lifelong relationships can tare apart.

The villages of Greisendorf and Neubrunn are competing for the grave of the former silent film star Gaby Gruber. But even at 114 years old, Gemany's oldest woman still has a lot of life left in her. When Greisendorf's undertaker suddenly passes away, the gardener and the garbage woman are quickly assigned to replace him.

31-year old Ilja Felder works in crisis intervention. When assessing a bereaved mother after her son committed suicide, Ilja struggles, but refuses to admit his weakness to himself and his supervisor Nadia. Soon he drives out to his first unaccompanied assignment - a road accident during a stormy night. When the accident perpetrator turns out to be suicidal, Ilja completely loses his nerves and almost makes a fatal mistake. As a result, he finally has to acknowledge that he can no longer ignore his past.

At a press conference, Bavarian Minister President Reitmayer makes an unclear and ill-considered statement about Bavaria's possible withdrawal from the Federal Republic of Germany, sparking a discussion of unimagined proportions in the press and media. The excitement surrounding his words quickly becomes too much for Reitmayer and so he withdraws from the public eye and flees to a remote area in the Bavarian countryside. In doing so, however, he offends his family, to whom he has not revealed his whereabouts: Without further ado, his children Kathi and Martl set off in search of him. In the process, they not only learn a lot about their family, but also about their native Bavaria and its various regions. Meanwhile, the Minister President who has gone into hiding has found happiness, but for better or worse he must return to the public eye in order to calm the still raging debate...