Torsten Büttner

After an argument with his mother, 12-year-old Dan, who suffers from scoliosis, seeks love and intimacy from 17-year-old Anna, who is supposed to look after him. While his mother, who works for a security company, is on the night shift, Dan and Anna cross set boundaries.

Paul, a young man from a wealthy but broken family, has something to hide. With 10,000€ in 500€ notes, a cryptic letter, and a street-smart prostitute tasked with delivering his secret, he’s about to make a deal that could change everything. View it at: https://vimeo.com/522786103

Finistère. Two young deaf free divers on vacation have been wandering the region for a few days. They don't have much and travel light. They spend the nights mainly on beaches. The hoped-for adventure has so far failed to materialize and connecting with other people is also proving more difficult than expected. They can’t seem to find access. When, during the daily underwater hunt, deep in a kelp forest, the sky over Zinédine suddenly darkens, he emerges, driven by curiosity. There he discovers a drifting sailing ship. The two guide the boat back to shore and shortly thereafter meet Jade, the owner of the boat. She invites them to continue their journey by ship. At last the boys seem to be able to experience what they could not before, but the sudden death of the sailor replaces the newly gained feeling of ease with fear of being accused of murder, and of having been betrayed by fate.

In this live recording for 2009, Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila - a story of doomed love set against the backdrop of cultural conflict between Hebrews and Philistines - is reinterpreted to relate with the conflicts in today's Middle East. "In our approach to this opera we tried to move away fromthe quasi-biblical interpretation, and to place the story in a contemporary context to explain its political meaning in today's world," say the two directors, Israeli Omri Nitzan and Palestinian Amir Nizar Zuabi. In this production by Vlaamse Opera, the dramatic story of Saint-Saëns' greatest opera is unfolded in all its tragic beauty.

In a cramped New York pension room in 1942, a young man must summon the courage to say goodbye to his family before his draft sends him to war, where an honorable death could be his only legacy. View it at: https://vimeo.com/522828370

Climate justice! OHNE KEROSIN NACH BERLIN is a campaign by the Students for Future, which is part of the Fridays for Future movement. In 2020, 60 people loudly carried the climate protest by bicycle from Cologne to Berlin. This film emerged from the movement and shows the activists' experiences up close.