Thomas Herberth

How are you using my memories? What programs will replace us? Where is my data? At a bank in the year 2051

We’re travelling from luxury kitchen to luxury kitchen with Agnes, from Bergisch Gladbach via Barcelona to the Faroe Islands. The cook’s luggage always includes her backpack containing various knives, cleavers and tweezers. The camera watches over the inquisitive young woman’s shoulder as delicacies are being prepared. Our mouths water. At the same time, we get insights into the different ways of running a restaurant. It’s about team spirit and equality at the stove.

Russian-born director Aleksey Lapin travels back to his relatives’ home village near the Ukrainian border, where he himself used to spend every summer. The film crew introduce themselves at a specially organized musical event, claiming that they have come to cast a historical film that is to be set in the village. What follows is a charming, semi-fictional documentary by and with the village community.

A small indigenous Mexican village is slowly turning into a ghost town as many of its inhabitants emigrate. To survive this, they start simulating an experience they all know: crossing the border to the US illegally. The residents of the village slip into the roles of border guards, human traffickers and drug smugglers to reenact the crossing for paying tourists so they can put themselves into the position of a migrant for one night. A story of empowerment or a village stuck in the loop of their traumatic experiences?

The foundations of Grayson Manor are shaken when an accident leaves Boyd Grayson handless and his mother invests in radical new technology to help him.

Rebels without a cause in a globalized world. Kevin, David and Dominik, three troubled teenagers who were deemed too difficult to be “re-educated” at home, are shipped off to Romania by the German authorities. There, they live with local families while hoping to go back to Germany as soon as possible. Exiled from their previous lives and country, they try to adapt as well as possible to their new environment.

Having become pregnant during a one-night-stand, 22-year-old left-wing activist Mira discovers that the child's father, Mathis, is actually in a relationship with a man, Bernd! After the initial shock, however, the three decide to raise "little Che" together. But then Mira's feelings for Mathis get in the way.

While the armed conflicts on the Ukrainian front have become a traumatizing everyday reality, out of necessity new structures of care have developed among Ukrainian society. As a contemporary document, this film looks at unseen moments of care work - continuous attempts to restore respect and security to people who have been violently deprived of them.