Deutschland 09 - 13 kurze Filme zur Lage der Nation (2009)

The film contains 13 contributions by different directors on the subject of Germany in 2009. Each director presents their own cinematic view of Germany today. 1. Episode: First Day by Angela Schanelec A short film at dawn. 2. Episode: Joshua by Dani Levy Levy asks people on the street what comes to mind when they think of Germany. The mood is gloomy, and it weighs on Levy. Then a psychiatrist gives him an herbal remedy. When its effects wear off, he simply takes another pill. 3. Episode: The Name Murat Kurnaz by Fatih Akin Tells the story of Murat Kurnaz, who was held without charge at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp from January 2002 to August 2006. 4. Episode: The Unfinished by Nicolette Krebitz Helene Hegemann plays a 16-year-old girl with an interest in filmmaking. In a strange turn of events, she passes through a deep shaft into an apartment where it is suddenly 1969. Ulrike Meinhof and Susan Sontag then appear. Both women are about 36 years old and work as filmmakers and writers. They strike up a conversation with the girl. 5. Episode: Tilt by Sylke Enders Snapshots from the lives of three people whose paths cross at a soup kitchen for children. 6. Episode: The Path We Don’t Take Together by Dominik Graf and Martin Gressmann A series of images of the country’s architecture, shot on old Super 8 film. 7. Episode: Fraktur by Hans Steinbichler Riesch Beintl is a freight hauler in the Berchtesgaden Alps who loves Mozart and modern art. When the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung changes its layout and removes its Fraktur headlines, he decides to take action. Because, as Beintl puts it: “Anyone who can’t read Fraktur can’t read the German character itself.” 8. Episode: A Democratic Discussion Circle at Set Times by Isabelle Stever A young teacher is trying out new teaching methods with a fourth-grade class at a primary school in Hasenbergl, a troubled district of Munich. She wants to give the children as much responsibility as possible so they can learn to take responsibility for their social lives. 9. Episode: Suspect by Hans Weingartner Tells the story of sociology lecturer Andrej Holm, who was arrested on flimsy grounds on suspicion of involvement in terrorist crimes. 10. Episode: Feierlich Travels by Tom Tykwer Feierlich, 40, is head of sales for a fashion label that is in the black. Several times a year, he sets off and flies around the company’s global network in just under a week, planning the coming season with business partners. From Düsseldorf to Paris, on to San Diego and Hong Kong. From there to Cairo, and from Cairo back to Düsseldorf. What he doesn’t see are the people he encounters. 11. Episode: Ramses by Romuald Karmakar An Iranian bar owner who has run a small hostess bar near Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm for many years is having a hard time. The business and its clientele have changed. A portrait of a mysterious place from a bygone era. 12. Episode: Sick House by Wolfgang Becker It’s all hands on deck at the Germany Clinic: suboptimal human capital, defects in the moral flexibility center, and a burst subsidy bubble make life difficult for Dr. Katelbach. 13. Episode: Séance by Christoph Hochhäusler People live in a lunar colony. The Ministry of Reconstruction wants to erase the residents’ memories of Earth, which make survival in their new environment more difficult. But one woman evades control and writes “Germany” in the moon dust.