Films

B for Boy
by Chika Anadu

Nigeria 2013, 118 min., feature film, OV, English subtitles

Amaka seems to have it all: a high-ranking job, a loving husband, an adorable daughter, and she‘s expecting her second child. But when her mother-in-law wants her husband to take a second wife if the baby is not a boy, Amaka realizes that the traditional, intensely patriarchal attitudes are still a powerful force in her life. When the child dies in utero, she desperately sets a plan in motion to have a male heir ­ at any cost.
Two Awards.

Be My Baby
by Christina Schiewe

Germany 2014, 109 min., feature film, German version

Lively, Loving, and above all stubborn – that is Nicole. She is 18 years old and has Down syndrome. Like all teenagers at her age she is preoccupied with issues of love and sexuality. And she passionately wants to get pregnant and be a mother – a desire that forces a lot of uncomfortable questions into the open. Tabu­breaking, awarded comedy.
Two awards. Director present.

Bobô
by Inês Oliveira

Portugal 2013, 80 min., feature film, OV, English subtitles

Sofia lives alone and isolated in the house she grew up in, until Mariama from Guinea Bissau enters her life. She is there to help Sofia with the housekeeping and her son. But where is the son? When Mariama's younger sister Bobô appears, things begin to change. Sofia sets off to fight her demons and Mariama revolts against old traditions in the form of Bobôs own grandmother, who wants to circumcise the young girl.

Difret
by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari

Ethiopia 2014, 99 min., feature film, OV, German Subtitles

Hirut, a 14­year­old girl, is kidnapped by a group of men. In self­defense she shoots her rapist ­ now she faces the death penalty. Her only hope is Meaza Ashenafi, a strong and tenacious young lawyer, who wants to represent Hirut. She risks the significant work of her women’s legal­aid practice to save Hirut’s life. Based on a true story.
Awards Sundance, Berlinale a.o.
Meaza Ashenafi present.

In grazia di dio – Ein neues Leben
by Edogardo Winspeare

Italy 2014, 127 min., feature film, OV, German Subtitles

A three­generation household has a crisis after their family business goes bankrupt. They have to sell their house and move to a farm. Adele fights for the survival of the family, while her sister and daughter have extravagant plans on their minds, and her tender grandmother, the anchor of the family, falls in love again. When a new disaster arises, the family learns just how much they depend upon each other.
10 Nominations, Italian Golden Globe Award.

Kertu. Love is Blind
by Illmar Raag

Estonia 2013, 97 min., feature film, OV, English subtitles

Kertu doesn’t speak much. Because of her silent and withdrawn character, people think of her as simple-minded and slow, and her life is dominated by her father’s authority. When she disappears one evening after the midsummer party, last seen with the notorious alcoholic Villu, people start to worry: Did he rape her? But in fact, she was the one looking for a closer contact to him, trying to escape from her overbearing father.
Audience Award Lübeck.

Monsoon Baby
by Andreas Kleinert

Germany 2014, 89 min., feature film, German version

A German couple, Nina and Mark, have tried for years to have a child – in vain. Adoption is out of the question for them, so their last chance to have a baby is through a surrogate mother in India. Arriving at the fertilisation clinic and choosing their surrogate mother, they start to have doubts about their choice. Back in Germany, their crisis of conscience grows and leads them back to India for a fascinating but disturbing search...
Director present.

Obvious Child
by Gillian Robespierre

USA 2014, 84 min., feature film, OV, English subtitles

Up to now Donna has taken life easy: working by day in a bookshop, at night performing a stand-up comedy show in Brooklyn. When she gets dumped by her boyfriend and loses her job all on the same day, her life threatens to sink into chaos . As if that were not enough, she realizes that after a one-night-stand she is pregnant. She is confronted with an existential decision, of all days on Valentine’s Day!
Awarded at Sundance.

Refugiado
by Diego Lerman

Argentina 2014, 90 min., feature film, OV, English subtitles

The eight-year-old boy Mati and his pregnant mother Laura are on the run, trying to escape from Fabian, Laura’s husband and Mati’s father who had beaten his wife again. Laura decides to find a secure place to live. During her odyssey through Buenos Aires into the forests of Argentina, Laura has to learn to let go of parts of her former life, while Mati matures immensely in his attempt to help her.
Seven awards.

Schweizer Helden – Unlikely Heroes
by Peter Luisi

Swiss 2014, 94 min., feature film, OV, English subtitles

Sabine is having a tough time at Christmas: her husband has left her, her kids are away and her friends went on holiday without her. Spontaneously she decides to volunteer at a refugee camp. In order to win the respect of her friends and family she plans to perform Wilhelm Tell with a group of asylum seekers. But existential problems bother the refugees as well as Sabine... A heartwarming tragicomedy.
Audience Award Locarno.

The Gardener
by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Israel/South Korea/Iran/UK 2012, 87 min., docu-fiktion, OV, English subtitles

Iranian film maker Mohsen Makhmalbaf and his son discuss the necessity of religions and raise many questions – are they a help for peaceful societies? Or are they mostly used for the oppression of women? They travel to Israel to investigate the world religion Baha'i, originated in Iran about 170 years ago, and confront their ideas from the perspective of two cameras and two generations.
Two awards. Mohsen Makhmalbaf present.

Traumland - Dreamland
by Petra Volpe

Swiss/Germany/Belgium 2013, 98 min., feature film, German Version

It’s Christmas time in Zurich. Everybody is dreaming about harmony, love and security, while Mia, an 18-year-old Bulgarian girl, who has to work as a prostitute, connects four people’s destinies. Each of them reflects a different perspective on the forced street prostitution of eastern European girls and reveals an immense lack of empathy in the „dreamland“...
German Camera Award.
Lead actress and director present

Women’s Day
by Maria Sadowska

Poland 2012, 90 min., feature film, OV, German subtitles

Halina, a cashier in a discount store, has to face a problem when she becomes the store manager. She soon discovers that the price for a higher salary means manipulation, betrayal and deceit of her collegues. Threatened with getting fired, she has to decide whether to turn against her old friends or to stand up and fight against the profit-orientated company.
Awarded in Cottbus.

Zerre – The Particle
by Erdem Tepegöz

Turkey 2012, 80 min., feature film, OV, English subtitles

In a city full of unemployment, Zeyneb, a single mother in Istanbul, is desperately looking for a job. While she’s fighting not to get kicked out of her flat and taking care of her ill daughter, she gets a job in a textile factory. The conditions of heaviest physical labor, unhygienic living quarters and sexual harrassment are unbearable. But if she quits – how will she survive and look after her beloved family?
Twelve awards.