Florian Hoffmann

A pain management specialist in a Berlin hospital laments how difficult it is to see if black skin has turned blue. The patient, 15­year­ old Arlette, doesn’t understand German. Her knee was injured in the war, and unknown wealthy Germans have helped pay for her trip to have surgery in Europe. The camera follows Arlette on her journey, from her worried family in Central African Republic to the desolate rooms of the hospital and the rehabilitation centre. The girl’s gaze is captivating but impenetrable, and the easily bored teenager surrounded by adult strangers is only cheered up by an interpreter who knows her mother tongue. The story takes a gloomier turn when it transpires that rebel forces have taken up arms in Arlette’s home country.

When Khalil, a primary school teacher in Berlin, gets hold of images of war from his Kurdish hometown of Cizre, he is forced to question his entire existence in Berlin. His life spirals out of balance as he seems to recognise his long lost sister in the videos – whom he thought long dead. He tries everything to get in contact, to save his sister, to inform the public about this brutal war. And loses himself.

In this documentary, the cleaner Güven Ciftci, the DHL courier Khaleel Al Bodach, and the caretaker Cynthia Würpel take us into their often-invisible daily working lives. From the first ringing of the alarm clock at half past three in the morning to coming home in the evening, the film depicts the physical strain, daily routines, and the dignity of three professions without which our society could not function, but which are hardly noticed in the public consciousness.

A woman fights against right-wing politics.

It’s known as the hotel with 500 rooms—a luxury resort in the Central African Republic owned by Gaddafi. But after the Libyan dictator’s death, the never-used hotel is left in limbo. The gardener still mows the lawn, the guards still patrol and the manager tends to the ghost hotel that may never welcome its first guest.