Willkommen in Lüsgraf (2006)

Moni is raising her son Sammy alone in the (fictional) small Brandenburg town of Lüsgraf. She works as a photographer for the local newspaper. There are naturally no big stories to report from her town, so she struggles along photographing the local rabbit breeders’ club at its competitions, as well as the minor traffic accidents that occur from time to time at the local driving school, whose owner is Moni’s ex-husband, Rüdiger. But one day, Moni really does catch wind of a big story: the town’s largest employer, Plötzwerke, a manufacturer of electric shavers, is on the verge of insolvency and is to be sold. The owner apparently feels compelled to sell his production facilities to a foreign investor. Rumors quickly spread around town that this is only being done so the business can be shut down completely shortly afterward, which would result in high unemployment in the region. A protest follows, with the workforce going on strike at the factory under the leadership of Manfred, the works council chairman. Moni takes a different approach: together with other women, she considers how they could make the factory competitive again. The hum of an electric shaver finally gives them the idea of trying sex toys, since a vibrator hums in much the same way. A marketing idea is soon developed, too: the slogan could be, “Developed by women, for women.” The idea takes off: the group of women finds an influential investor in Naoki, a Japanese businessman.