German films about pretending

13-year-old Sinikka vanishes on a hot summer night. Her bicycle is found in the exact place where a girl was killed 23 years ago. The dramatic present forces those involved in the original case to face their past.

After five failed attempts to go to the United States, 18-year-old Ramón decides to look for a friend’s aunt in Germany, but never finds her. With no papers or money, and without knowing the language, he barely survives living on the street until he meets Ruth, an old retired nurse who doesn’t speak Spanish. Beyond language barriers and prejudices, they discover that solidarity and humanity make life bearable.

A young lawyer stumbles upon a vast conspiracy while investigating a brutal murder case.

"The Crocodiles" are celebrating the birthday of Hannes and the beginning of the best summer vacation they have ever had. Although the boys have grown and developed different interests, the band remains united against all odds. During a wild karts race that ends in a terrible accident, Frank is taken to hospital by ambulance. His life is in danger: he needs a transplant from a close relative to save his life. The only possible donor is his brother, Dennis, who was put behind bars by the Crocodiles with their teammate Kevin. Time is running out, but true friends never give up! With the help of Jenny and Hannes' mother , the band surprises us with a bold plan

Andreas Dresen's adaptation of Clemens Meyer's novel about a group of East German friends right after the fall of the Wall.

Erik has is own motorbike workshop in a sleepy little town. He may have the telling word ‘scoundrel’ tattooed onto his lower arm but he nonetheless creates an impression of a well-behaved average Joe. His relationship with his girlfriend Julia is going well and her daughter Linda is very fond of her new Dad. But then all of a sudden the mysterious Henry appears and begins following him about like a sinister shadow. The more Erik tries to shake off his diabolical guest the more Henry intrudes into his life. But then when a violent gangster named Keitel enters the fray and threatens not only Erik but Julia and Linda, Erik’s seemingly ideal world begins to run off the rails.

The true story of a young woman whose lust for life means she is determined to be so very much more than just another cancer patient.

A pair of Tactical Units Police Officers from different walks of life come together to rescue an ambassador's daughter.

Mr. Müller is not satisfied with his new work at the Goethe-Gesamtschule. The early getting up and correcting exams annoy him. Director Gerster wants to improve the image of the Goethe-Gesamtschule because she wants to be a symbol of the new company. To achieve this, she wants to take away the partnership from the Schillergymnasium with a Thai school. So, Mr. Müller, Mrs. Schnabelstedt and the 10b must go on a school trip to Thailand.

An actor's career takes a "Tootsie"-like turn when he lets himself be cast as a woman in a movie.

It is the summer of 1980 in East Germany and, alone, Barbara is confined to living and working as a doctor in a small provincial town - her punishment for attempting to emigrate to the West. She has only one focus; to escape and for this, she has to wait patiently. Until Andre, her supervisor in the hospital, takes her off course. Are his motives of love or duty to the authorities? The day-to-day pretense, and content supervision slowly take their toll as the tension builds.

Lukas, 20, is a prisoner in his own body. As a pre-op transgendered person, he is constantly finding himself trapped in uncomfortable, compromising positions. His best friend, Ine introduces him to the gay scene in Cologne where he meets the confident and gorgeous, Fabio. The two develop a romantic relationship that tests the boundaries of love. ROMEOS forgoes stereotypes and conventions to offer an honest and humorous examination of the most basic of human conditions: friendship, sex, and love.

Dramatised origin story of one of Germany's most beloved contemporary comedians.

East Germany. Summer, late 70's. Three years after her boyfriend Wassilij's apparent death, Nelly Senff decides to escape from behind the Berlin wall with her son Alexej, leaving her traumatic memories and past behind. Pretending to marry a West German, she crosses the border to start a new life in the West. But soon her past starts to haunt her as the Allied Secret Service begin to question Wassilij's mysterious disappearance. Is he still alive? Was he a spy? Plagued by her past and fraught with paranoia, Nelly is forced to choose between discovering the truth about her former lover and her hopes for a better tomorrow.

Four young Jews survive the Third Reich in the middle of Berlin by living so recklessly that they become "invisible."

An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.

The romantic and coming-of-age misadventures of a 13-year-old American living in Germany.

Parallel love stories of three young women in Berlin: Hannah - an unhappy attorney who sexually demeans herself in order to get at least some love and romance, Leni who runs a coffee shop and has just been ditched by her long term boyfriend, and Vivienne who ends up falling in love with a puppy-eyed pasta designer with 21 dogs.

Two university students gain insight into life and love as they get to know each other during a road trip across Europe.

David Berman and his friends, all Holocaust survivors, have only one purpose: to go to America as soon as possible. For this they need money. Close to his aim, David is not only deprived of his savings but also overtaken by his shady past.

A disfigured concentration-camp survivor, unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches ravaged postwar Berlin for the husband who might have betrayed her to the Nazis.

An adaptation of Doblin's text to 2015 Berlin to tell the story of 30-year-old refugee Francis, the sole survivor of a boat which crossed the Mediterranean illegally. Without citizenship papers, Francis is drawn into the underbelly of the city.

Jack Taylor is an Irish television drama based on a series of novels by Ken Bruen. Set in Galway, the series stars Iain Glen in the eponymous role of Jack Taylor, a former officer with the Garda Síochána who becomes a "finder" after leaving the service. Taylor is a man who goes looking for clues where others have not bothered to. He also knows the streets of his hometown like the back of his hand.

María, a girl from Colonia Dignidad, in Chile —a kind of sectarian community, tyrannically mastered by the ruthless Paul Schäfer, a German madman, religious fanatic and child predator, who would end up turning the place into a torture center at the service of the military dictatorship ruled by Augusto Pinochet—, is punished for having lost three pigs, so she decides to run away and take refuge in an abandoned house hidden in the forest.

Henry is a playboy who has no idea that he is the father of a beautiful, cute girl out of a One-night-Stand. Her mother left the daughter in front of Henry door after her husband realized after 8 years of marriage that he is not the father so their relationship now is breaking up... By the way: Kokowääh, is how a German (in this case an 8 Year old child) that has never heard the dish before - would pronounce "Coq Au Vin" (chicken in a wine sauce).

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Every year, on the 9th of May, people gather in Treptower Park in Berlin. They come dressed in their best outfits or in Soviet military uniform. They carry flags, banners and posters. They lay flowers at the monument to the Soviet soldier; they sing, dance and drink. They celebrate the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.The film is a direct reportage from Treptower Park 72 years after the victory.

The ambitious punk rocker Max and the eco-activist Inge cannot stand each other, ever since Max publicly exposed her by singing the offensive song "When Inge is Dancing" in front of the whole school. But for Max and his classmates Fabio, Joscha and Lukas this song in particular has become a real hit at school as well as in the regional music scene: Their band called Systemfehler is on the verge of a breakthrough. But just before the important gig, which could get them a record deal, guitarist Josha is injured and can't play. Inge happens to be an excellent guitarist, and the only person who can fill in at such short notice. But when Max asks for her help, she imposes one non-negotiable condition: If she decides to play with the band, they will not perform the song "Wenn Inge tanzt".

Confirmed bachelor Paul falls for Iris, who’s unfortunately as good as married. Although his friends have women problems of their own, and all end up moving into Paul’s apartment, they concoct a daring plan to help Paul save Iris from marrying the wrong man.

Sonia breaks the perhaps most exciting time of her life, because the 20-year-old moves to Berlin for a mathematics study. Once there, she soon began to build up a new circle of friends, and then she fell in love with the kind, but irresponsible Ladja. There is only one big catch: the dear money is a bit scarce and therefore Sonia one day, financially, but also from curiosity, the path to prostitution. From now on, it leads a brisk double flight, which can fly at any time. Her experiences are ambivalent, as part-time she often gets into difficult situations, but also gets to know nice people, while she enjoys life just as a student. But how long can it maintain the double game?

A young Spanish woman who has newly moved to Berlin finds her flirtation with a local guy turn potentially deadly as their night out with his friends reveals a dangerous secret.

On the request of his mother Gitte, Marko, who has been living in Berlin for years, drives off to the countryside to visit his parents. His hopes of spending a quiet and relaxing time with his family fall short when Gitte surprises everyone by revealing that she has recovered after a long mental illness. Marko is the only one who respects her wish from now on to be treated as a full member of this family and, as a result, ends up tipping more than just the delicate balance of his parent’s seemingly harmonious relationship.

Two misfit males, one man-child, one boy, find each other, building a small cabin in the woods to create a new life. Their daily struggle for survival creates a strong bond between them until the hut is destroyed and one of the boys carted off. The former psychiatric patient is told that his friend was just a figment of his imagination, but this provokes him to fight back and prove the boy's existence.

A former Olympic champion wants to compete in the Berlin Marathon one last time.

It is a Saturday in autumn, and Karin and Simon are visiting their parents and youngest sister Clara. This family gathering provides the occasion for a dinner together, at which other relatives appear over the course of the day. While the family members animate the apartment’s space with their conversations, everyday activities and cooking preparations, the cat and dog range through the various rooms. they too become a central element in this quotidian familial dance that repeatedly manifests stylized elements, disrupting any naturalistic mode of presentation. In this way, adjoining spaces open up between family drama, fairy tale and the psychological study of a mother.

Two girls from very different social backgrounds discover, at the age of 25, that they had been switched at birth.

Master filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) transforms a portrait of the world-renowned museum into a magisterial, centuries-spanning reflection on the relation between art, culture and power.

Adolf Hitler wakes up in a vacant lot in Berlin, with no knowledge of anything that happened after 1945. Homeless and destitute. Although everyone recognizes him, nobody believes that he is Hitler; instead, they think he is either a comedian, or a method actor.

A dramatic retelling of the life of Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, one of the most fascinating monarchs of modern times. From his accession to the throne at the age of 18 to his passionate support of Richard Wagner and his music. From his ingenuous political commitment to his obsessive construction of extravagant palaces and to his gradual withdrawal into a lonely dream world, an epic narrative of breathtaking grandeur.

A luxury hotel. Steaks frizzle, muffintops getting massaged. Clemens (rare) joins the wellness area as a rookie. Lara (well-done) needs to assert herself in the kitchen pack. The elevator brings the two of them together. They encounter each other, until they clash.

Best friends Toni and Paul decide to relinquish all of their belongings for 100 days, whereby they receive one of their items back on each day. During this challenge the two realize, that the only thing they cannot be without is their friendship. A story about contemporary materialism and the quest for the truely important things in life.

Successful businesswoman Maria has achieved everything except what she wants the most - a baby of her own. She decides to deal with the matter by herself and embarks on a desperate and dangerous journey in order to make her dream come true.

Berlin in June of 1940. While Nazi propaganda celebrates the regime’s victory over France, a kitchen-cum-living room in Prenzlauer Berg is filled with grief. Anna and Otto Quangel’s son has been killed at the front. This working class couple had long believed in the ‘Führer’ and followed him willingly, but now they realise that his promises are nothing but lies and deceit. They begin writing postcards as a form of resistance and in a bid to raise awareness: Stop the war machine! Kill Hitler! Putting their lives at risk, they distribute these cards in the entrances of tenement buildings and in stairwells. But the SS and the Gestapo are soon onto them, and even their neighbours pose a threat.

Inexperienced guardian angel, Buddy (Michael Herbig) arrives to assist Eddie (Alexander Fehling) with getting his life back on track, but instead only causes more chaos.

After living 45 years in Germany, the Turkish Hüseyin Yilmaz, seventy, announces to his family that he has bought a house in Turkey and they should return to make the necessary reforms. The idea is unwelcome and causes very heated discussions. In addition, Canan, a granddaughter of Hüseyin, announces she is pregnant and the father is her English boyfriend, and no one knew anything. To comfort his cousin Cenk, a child of six years, who was humiliated at school and labeled as "foreign", Canan tells a fantastic story about how they left Turkey and went to Germany.

Germany, 1945. Soldier Willi Herold, a deserter of the German army, stumbles into a uniform of Nazi captain abandoned during the last and desperate weeks of the Third Reich. Newly emboldened by the allure of a suit that he has stolen only to stay warm, Willi discovers that many Germans will follow the leader, whoever he is.

You left your home to move far away. You were struck by a wind of change and were unfaithful to yourself. You reinvented yourself and you are now feeling free. But suddenly pressure arises in you.

Using unpublished and newly digitalised archive footage and film material, Bettina Böhler has brilliantly assembled this film about the life and work of the exceptional artist Christoph Schlingensief, who died in 2010.

Pia's life, a girl from a small German town, changes when surprisingly, finds in her garden a huge black monster. She soon discovers that the mysterious creature, which called Yoko, is actually a kind yeti spiritually protecting animals and children worldwide. Yoko is constantly showing his friends Pia and their unique qualities, but children are not the only ones who want the Yeti. Its great value calls attention to two hunters who want to take advantage of the yeti.

In 1938 Hans Zeisig, an apolitical comedian, impersonator and cabaret actor, flees with a Russian passport (instead of American, which he would have preferred) from Nazi-Berlin, and finds himself in the legendary Hotel Lux, the 'lost paradise' of the Comintern, in Moscow. Everyone believes that Zeisig is a man named Hansen, Hitler's personal astrologer. But Zeisig quickly realizes that he's gone from the frying pan into the fire. In the Hotel Lux he meets his friends Frida and later Meyer again, still passionate communists. For the three idealists an adventure between love and death begins to run his course.