Tina Pfurr

Three women stage scenes for a philosophical film they are shooting.

Director Joseph is working through a new idea for a film and the breakup with his ex-boyfriend Marc. At the same time Sonya, the mother of his son Pino, is suffering from a depression that increasingly tears her from her life.

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.

Today is Lara’s 60th birthday, which happens to fall on the same day as her pianist son’s career-defining concert. A failed pianist herself, Lara spends the time before his performance pacing about Berlin—boiling with jealousy, nerves, and pride—trying to get hold of her elusive son.

A lifeguard tries by all means to keep his home, an open-air swimming pool, from being closed.

An African-German author loses his memory and is used by a modern National Socialist Party as a promotion-figure for more political power over Germany.

Seeking the truth in a human grey area. Lawyer Annabelle Martinelli has specialized in sexual offences and represents victims of domestic violence. Shoe salesperson Doreen Markowitz seeks her support after pressing charges against her husband Leon for assault and sexual violence. The opposing lawyer is Annabelle's ex-boss John Quante, a cunning and unscrupulous divorce lawyer. Annabelle is convinced that her client has been systematically intimidated, beaten and forced to have sex. But the evidence is thin. One of several cases she has to deal with which put her professional distance to the test.

Boris and Jonathan have been a couple for many years. But their relationship has reached a point where they might as well spend their evenings together separately: One lies in bed reading, the other works at a desk in the next room. While actor Boris digs deeper into rehearsals for a new film with an ambitious director and begins to mix real and fictional characters, Jonathan tries to redefine his voice as a writer. Ghosting through these days of wrestling with distance, closeness, trust, desire and fear of loss is Jonathans' young niece Josie, who is trying to deal with the approaching end of her childhood in her own idiosyncratic way. BONES AND NAMES, the feature debut of Fabian Stumm, portrays people searching for their place in life in different ways. A sensitive and humorous reflection on the dissonances in relationships that both connect and distance us from each other.