Traute Hoess

We look back at more than half a century of mysterious artistic creation while trying to crack a unique artistic code. Why are people moved to tears when Robert “Bob” Wilson puts minimalistic petrol pumps into a production of Shakespeare’s sonnets? Why does merciless repetition change our understanding of something? Together with Tom Waits, Willem Dafoe or Marina Abramović we trace back our own experience of Bob’s art. Is it true what Philipp Glass the collaborator of the milestone piece “Einstein on the Beach” laughingly and with apparent pleasure exclaims “what does it mean? It doesn’t mean anything!”?

In the Bavaria of the 1980s, a father and his son compare their respective views on a family past heavy with resentment and unsaid.

Luisa works as a couples therapist and has a loveless relationship with her husband Richard, but at the same time she is having an affair with Richard's boss Leopold. As everything slowly threatens to get out of hand, she wakes up one morning to find a second Luisa next to her, who looks just like her but, unlike the original, is somewhat naive and completely relaxed. Luisa christens her doppelganger Ann. At first, everything seems perfect, because while Ann lives out her needs and stays with Richard, Luisa can finally spend more time with Leopold. But as Richard slowly takes a liking to Ann, Luisa realizes that she is not happy with the new situation either. A serious conflict begins to brew between the two halves of her personality...

She was sweet, she was cute. But just before her 14th birthday, Daddy’s little princess mutates into a petulant pubescent nightmare. Journalist Hannes Wenger decides to take a time-out from work to guide his daughter Carla through this difficult phase in her life and, above all, to keep her away from alcohol, boys and other temptations. This is easier said than done, however, and when his wife Sara goes back to work, Hannes proves himself entirely inept at raising a teenager. Whether it’s Carla’s birthday party, her mobile phone contract or her first time, Hannes makes one awkward blunder after another. The fact that other teens have embarrassing fathers provides only faint consolation; Hannes’ best friend is a war reporter named Holger who prefers to be shot at in war zones rather than stay at home and be driven crazy by his own teenage nightmare.

Newlyweds Hedda and Jorgen Tesman are just returning from their honeymoon to a villa by the edge of the forest with a breathtaking view on the city. Restoration work on their home has not yet been completed, and Jorgen will soon be running out of money. That's if he doesn't succeed Dr. Franck Brack as head physician of the city hospital. Jorgen and Hedda prepare dinner for Brack, when two uninvited guests emerge. As the evening progesses the group becomes entangled in a weave of guilt, love and betrayal and when morning comes disaster has struck.

Hotte is a petty criminal on probation. He has two teenage children, but he doesn't want to know anything about them. When their grandmother dies, he is given custody of them, which he is not particularly happy about - but he could do with the child benefit. And gradually he starts to like life as a middle-class family man - but probation officer Benno is convinced that Hotte doesn't have what it takes to be a responsible father and does everything he can to sabotage his new start. But Hotte takes care of that himself by getting involved in a crooked deal with his Albanian buddy Ivic. Benno is also plagued by private worries: he can't father any children, but his girlfriend Tanja is desperate to have offspring...

Berlin, the vibrant life. Only cashier Emma feels really lonely. There is nothing wrong with her, she just goes underground in the big city. Her desire to meet people has brought Emma to a strange idea: she lets go in the supermarket purses of customers and later presents herself as a hospitable finder, who invites you to pick up at the laid table. Unfortunately, the visit remains short. Only the shrewd homeless August who sees through her starts to get interested in Emma.

A day in the life of Berlin cab driver Klaus Grill.

Crying children, changing diapers, baby food - everything around Jan seems to revolve around having children. Not only is his best friend Theo a new father, but his sister-in-law Marion's children also keep the successful engineer on his toes. So it's all the better that Jan's marriage to Hanna is a child-free zone. Until now - because Hanna's family plans are becoming more and more concrete... When she brings up her desire to have children one evening, a heated argument develops that ends in a compromise: To test whether the couple is even ready to take responsibility for a child, they first want to look after a dog for a few weeks. If that goes well, they can start thinking about having a baby. A short time later, bulldog Lucky moves in with them and causes a huge stir in the couple's lives...

Eva lives a happy life with her ​​father, an unsuccessful but always optimistic car salesman, her consumerist mother, and her quirky grandmother. But Eva is a tad different - she suffers from Tourette's syndrome. Her family has long been accustomed to her tics and the accompanying insults and bullying, and Eva has come to grips with her role as an outsider. When her father gets a job offer to work in Berlin, they must suddenly leave their familiar surroundings. But Eva won't have it, this move must be prevented - at any price!