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color, Germany, Asli Özarslan, 25 Min, 2011 Germany-based Turkish filmmaker Asli Özarslan’s documentary introduces us to the performers at the Berlin theater Ballhaus Naunynstraße, which features mostly actors and directors with immigrant backgrounds. Genre(s): Documentary

With actors Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, and Jasna Fritzi Bauer. Christian Petzold’s critically acclaimed historical drama follows Barbara Wolff (Nina Hoss), a physician in East Germany who is imprisoned and relocated for requesting permission to the leave the country. Though … Continue reading →

Directors Gülseren Suzan and Jochen Menzel’s documentary about Anatolian folk music pays tribute to the poet and singer Aşık Veysel. Links: YouTube (Clip) Genre(s): Documentary

With Pegah Ferydoni, Christoph Maria Herbst, Vedat Erincin, Christoph Letkowski. Shot and set in Cologne, Aladağ’s comedy of culture shock and integration follows the efforts of the leader of a Turkish diaspora communit,y, Cengiz Demirkan (Vedat Erincin), to find Turkish brides … Continue reading →

With actors Hülya Koçyiğit, Rahmi Saltuk, Mine Tokgöz, and Suavi Eren. Serif Gören’s pioneering production is the first major attempt by a Turkish filmmaker to address the theme of migration to Germany. Mostly shot in Berlin, the film follows Güldane (Hülya … Continue reading →

With actors Ronald Zehrfeld and Mohamad Mohsen. Ronald Zehrfeld and Mohamad Mohsen star as Jesper, a German soldier in Afghanistan, and his interpreter Tarik, whose friendship is tested by the bitter realities of the conflict in Afghanistan and by the demands … Continue reading →

color, Germany, Simon Verhoeven, 116 Min, 2016 With actors Erik Kabongo and Elyas M’Barek. A wealthy Munich family decides to take in a Nigerian refugee, Diallo (Erik Kabongo), but their open hearts have not prepared them for the reality of Germany’s … Continue reading →

With actors Devid Striesow and Jonas Nay. Director Burhan Qurbani’s drama presents a fictionalized version of the events of the 1992 Rostock-Lichtenhagen riots, in which xenophobic mobs attacked migrant living quarters while thousands of onlookers cheered them. The film’s nuanced characterizations … Continue reading →

With actors Laia Costa and Frederick Lau. Shot in a single take, Victoria follows the title character, an adventurous young Spanish woman who moves to Berlin after failing in her career aspirations as a concert pianist. There, she becomes entangled … Continue reading →

With actors Alexander Scheer and Uwe Bohm. Director Fatih Akin’s film is an adaptation of Wolfgang Herrndorf’s 2010 novel Tschick (Why We Took the Car), widely considered unfilmable. The film follows two teenagers (Alexander Scheer, Uwe Bohm) who steal a car and take a … Continue reading →

With actors Josef Hader and Barbara Sukowa. This European coproduction chronicles the exile of Stefan Zweig, the Austrian Jewish author who fled Austria to Brazil in 1936. In South America, Zweig (Josef Hader) struggles to carve out his own nuanced perspective on … Continue reading →

color, Germany, Sigrid Klausmann-Sittler, 87 Min, 2017 Documentary filmmaker Sigrid Klausmann travels around the world to tell the different stories of children seeking education. Spanning five continents, the film takes us through the disparate, arduous, and sometimes perilous routes young people … Continue reading →

With actors Craig Robinson and Markees Christmas. When his father (Craig Robinson), a widower and soccer coach, moves to Germany for a job, 13-year-old Morris (Markees Christmas) must adapt to life in a totally new environment. He tries to fit … Continue reading →

With actors Ernst Lubitsch and Ossi Oswalda. This early silent classic stars director Ernst Lubitsch as Sally Meyer, a young Jewish playboy in Berlin who devises a ruse to convince his wife that he is ill while he pursues erotic adventures in the … Continue reading →

With actors Karoline Herfurth and Elyas M’Barek. In the blockbuster romantic comedy Fack ju Göhte, Karoline Herfurth and Elyas M’Barek play Lisi Schnabelstedt and Zeki Müller, polar opposites whose paths cross when small-time crook Zeki, just released from prison, takes a job at the … Continue reading →