Katrin Thiemer

Composer and filmmaker Christian von Borries' new film Desert of the real visits these contemporary wastelands. In a rich collage of acted scenes and documentary footage, he extends the metaphor of the wasteland to today's medial reality. At the heart of so many holographic simulations and replicas, in a world custom-made for selfie and instagram tweets, he reveals emptiness and potential violence. (David Riff) The only way to trace the distinction between the semblance and the Real is, precisely, to STAGE it in a fake spectacle.

Romeo and Juliet on the Kiez with Cupid in the form of the attractive sex worker Elisa: the young artist Nikolaus falls in love with the well-behaved law student Sandy. He ends up in prison for an extraordinary declaration of love.