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Fourteen Films, including nine full-length fiction and documentary films, have been invited for the Perspektive Deutsches Kino in 2017.

Strong fiction films by millennials characterise this year’s selection. The directors, who are mostly in their early 30s and were coming of age around the turn of the millennium, were shaped and socialised by this period. With them we take a look back into childhood and adolescence. We see kids affected by their parents’ separation, and encounter endless parties and drugs. We accompany the protagonists on their search for personal freedom and stability.

The fiction film Millennials (dir: Jana Bürgelin, prod: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) uniquely exemplifies this generation. It is a documentary-style big city tale that follows the two protagonists, Anne Zohra Berrached and Leonel Dietsche, on their “éducation sentimentale” around Berlin. Leo is a photographer and would finally like some recognition for his photos. Anne is a successful film director and wants a child, but since she has no partner, she has, in wise foresight, frozen a few of her eggs. In the fiction film Die Tochter (Dark Blue Girl, prod: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) director Mascha Schilinski approaches in an unusual way the problems children have after their parents split up. How must they redefine their positions and attitudes towards their separated parents when it comes to closeness and distance? Seven-year-old Luca (Helena Zengel) - in her desire to remain the only woman in her father’s life and, at the same time, the link between her parents - becomes a master manipulator. Director Adrian Goiginger, who also studied at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, took a year off and during this time found production partners for his fiction film Die beste aller Welten (The Best Of All Worlds) in Lailaps Pictures in Munich and RitzlFilm in Austria. In a love story of a different kind, he re-examines his childhood by following seven-year-old Adrian (Jeremy Miliker) into the extremely exciting and adventurous world of his heroine-addicted mother. In the film Zwischen den Jahren (End of the Season, prod: Radical Movies Production, Cologne) by Lars Henning, the world of Becker (Peter Kurth), the film’s protagonist, is very limited. After having served fifteen years in jail, he just wants to lead a quiet life in self-imposed solitude. But then the man whose life he destroyed eighteen years earlier returns to haunt him. It is Lars Henning’s second full-length fiction film and again he has reversed the victim-offender constellation conventional for this genre.

For the first time ever the Perspektive Deutsches Kino will show a film from the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK). The film Final Stage by Nicolaas Schmidt stands out for the filmic balancing act it conducts between documentary observation and subtle staging. Gabi, produced at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, will open the Perspektive 2017 together with Back for Good (see press release from December 21, 2016). According to director Michael Fetter Nathansky, it is a cinematic attempt to find expression for what has so often been said but has still been unable to change anything.

Christian von Brockhausen and Timo Großpietsch’s Könige der Welt (We were kings) about the music band “PICTURES” completes the programme. First known as “Union Youth”, the band came together at the turn of the millennium. With their mix of grunge and alternative they quickly became the German “Nirvana”. The film revisits a drug-filled past and accompanies their new start.

On February 19, 2017 – Berlinale Publikumstag – the Perspektive will screen the winners of the Max Ophüls Prize 2017 for best fiction feature  and the First Steps Award 2016 for best documentary (Raving Iran, dir: Susanne Regina Meures).

Film list:

Die beste aller Welten (The Best Of All Worlds)

By Adrian Goiginger

With Verena Altenberger, Jeremy Miliker, Lukas Miko, Michael Pink

Feature film

World premiere

Final Stage

By Nicolaas Schmidt

With Aaron Hilmer, Fynn Grossmann

Medium long feature film

World premiere

Gabi

By Michael Fetter Nathansky

With Gisa Flake, Florian Kroop, Britta Steffenhagen, Martin Neuhaus

Medium long feature film

World premiere

Könige der Welt (We were kings)

By Christian von Brockhausen, Timo Großpietsch

Documentary film

World premiere

Millennials

By Jana Bürgelin

With Anne Zohra Berrached, Leonel Dietsche, Jan Koslowski, Anna Herrmann

Feature film

World premiere

Die Tochter (Dark Blue Girl)

By Mascha Schilinski

With Helena Zengel, Karsten Antonio Mielke, Artemis Chalkidou

Feature film

World premiere

Zwischen den Jahren (End of the Season)

By Lars Henning

With Peter Kurth, Karl Markovics, Catrin Striebeck, Leonardo Nigro

Feature film

World premiere

Films announced so far:

Back for Good

By Mia Spengler

With Kim Riedle, Juliane Köhler, Leonie Wesselow

Feature film

World premiere

Eisenkopf (Ironhead)

By Tian Dong

Documentary film

World premiere

Kontener (Container)

By Sebastian Lang

With Joanna Drozda, Anka Graczyk

Medium-long feature film

World premiere

Mikel

By Cavo Kernich

With Jonathan Aikins

Medium-long feature film

World premiere

Selbstkritik eines bürgerlichen Hundes (Self-criticism of a Bourgeois Dog)

By Julian Radlmaier

With Julian Radlmaier, Deragh Campbell, Beniamin Forti, Kyung-Taek Lie

Feature film

German premiere

Tara

By Felicitas Sonvilla

With Sasha Davydova, Leo van Kann, Lena Lauzemis

Medium-long feature film

World premiere

Ein Weg (Paths)

By Chris Miera

With Mike Hoffmann, Mathis Reinhardt

Feature film

World premiere