Ripe Cherries

Berlin, 1948: Paralyzed and robbed of her memory, Fleur regains consciousness after a serious fall. The doctor treating her recognizes that her problem is of a psychological nature and encourages her to face up to her past. The daughter of a brothel owner is reluctant to look back: on a hapless childhood, her relationships with bon vivant Dr. Goldner and the politically committed locksmith Philipp (Hilmar Thate) as well as the difficult period of fascism... This exciting journey into the German past is based on Dinah Nelken's novel "Das angstvolle Heldenleben einer gewissen Fleur Lafontaine".

In a small village in West Prussia in the 1870s, Germans, Poles, Gypsies and Jews live together as neighbors. One night Johann, a German mill-owner, secretly opens the dam gates and floods the mill of his Jewish rival Levin. After his business is ruined and his calls for justice go unanswered, Levin leaves town.

In Scotland in 1751, young David Balfour is shanghaied aboard a ship where he meets Jacobite rebel Alan Breck Stewart with whom he escapes to the Scottish Highlands, dodging the redcoats.

Suse works as a truck driver on a major construction site. The young woman has a hard life behind her. She was foundling, was raised by farmers. Manne, the father of her child, wanted to escape from the GDR and is in prison. After he is released, Manne wants to live again with Suse and their child together. But she rejects him as well as another worshiper. Suse is more interested in the Soviet engineer Boris, but apparently not for her, since he can never remember her at their chance encounters. But a much bigger problem - and a difficult one - is Suse, when she is offered to go to the Soviet Union for six months.

In 1950s Berlin, eleven-year-old Susanne spends her time alternately in eastern Pankow with her mother and sister and in western Zehlendorf, where her wealthy grandmother enables the piano student to attend a music school. What she sees as a well-established everyday life comes to an end when her father Emil returns traumatized from captivity as a prisoner of war and begins to reorganize the family's life.

The communist and resistance fighter Lorenz Reger, who after the war put all his efforts in the creation of a socialist German state, learns that he has only a short time left to live. Nevertheless, he wants to take on one last difficult new task: He wants to restructure a large firm which has run deep into the red numbers. In a short amount of time, Reger manages to establish mutual trust between the employees and the new management. Furthermore, he motivates the employees with his personal interest for their concerns.

This comedic musical tells the story of Gabi, a young hairdresser from the Baltic coast who desperately wants to be a jockey. One day, she packs her bags, drives to Hoppegarten, and is soundly rejected by the head coach. Gabi doesn't want to give up, and in order to at least have a roof over her head, she rushes into a marriage with the seemingly nice Freddie. However, this marriage soon proves to be her second rejection, as Freddie openly dislikes the fact that she wants to be a jockey.

Vienna, 1813-1819: Beethoven (played by Donatas Banionis) is at the peak of his fame. Orchestras all over the world play his music, but he lives modestly and is dependent upon private patrons. Nagged by his patronizing brothers, spied upon by officials for his republican beliefs and faced by his progressive hearing loss, the composer becomes more and more isolated. Seeman’s poetic film explores the joys, heartbreak and artistic spirit of the great composer as he works on his Ninth Symphony.

Dr. Gisa Tonius, a physicist in her thirties who has a nearly adult stepdaughter, cherishes the desire to have her own child. Suddenly, a big interdisciplinary research project threatens to significantly change Gisa′s life. Uncertain whether to look for professional or private fulfillment she asks her family and friends for their opinions. They all have different views on the point at issue. While her husband is afraid of losing her to her profession, her professor thinks that because of her talent she has an obligation towards science. In the end, Gisa reaches a decision: She wants to have a baby as well as take on the research project.

In the 22nd Century, antiquities command huge prices. A woman uses a time machine to travel back the the 19th Century in order to buy paintings from Vincent Van Gogh before he was famous. Will she be wealthy upon her return?

Vera is Secretary at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. During a business trip to the USA, she learns that US nuclear missiles are to be stationed in Western Europe.