Simon Pfister

The gifted, charismatic artist John Cranko moves to the Swabian province from London, where he is attacked for his homosexuality, and after many crises becomes the great sensation as the new pop star of the arts: the Stuttgart Ballet Miracle.

These five award-winning coming of age short films offer a glimpse of how boys and young men tackle life's difficult desires: confronting one's demons, understanding sexual relationships, gaining the respect of one's father, or simply running away from it all. This is only the start of their complex formative years, where not every question has an answer, and not every answer makes sense. The short films are: Boys [Pojkarna] (2015); Ioana (2015); Kiem Holijanda (2017); Picnic [Piknik] (2015); Tomer & Elias [Tomer en Elias] (2016).

Emma Freese is desperate when her husband Alfred falls ill at the Howaldtswerke in Kiel. How is the family supposed to get by without their wages? The war has scarred this generation, but now things are supposed to be looking up. The workers want their fair share and are fighting for an income that also gives them room to live. In October 1956, 34,000 metalworkers in the shipyards and factories of Schleswig-Holstein walk off the job to fight for justice and their dignity. This strike is still regarded as the toughest and longest in Germany. Employers and politicians stand in the strikers' way.

Young Romanian Adrian works as a hustler in Zurich's underground in order to get his sister Ioana out of Romania and to Zurich, where they can both have a better future.

Love, relationship, pain. An argument with his boyfriend leads a young man into a park after sunset. He's looking for distraction.

Two flat mates, three conversations, and the realisation that sometimes love can be unrequited. Pascal thinks he's found "the one", but during conversations with his flat mate, he learns to accept that sometimes dreams do not come true.

A boy enters an artist's workshop, eager to find out what that encounter might bring him...

A series of attacks terrorize Munich. Max, having survived the first shots fired at the audience in the electro club Beats, hides in a storage room with his new friend Sefi and other party attendees. The immediate danger puts the humanity of all trapped people to the test and Max has to decide whether he wants to save himself or try to save a stranger, as well. Shortly before arriving at home, Alexa hears of the attack on the club she left her brother Max at. She decides to go back, accompanied by her boyfriend Raphik, who joins her in the end despite his misgivings.

Development aid worker Carina Nowak walks into a trap set by the Taliban, together with a squadron of German army soldiers. Only she and young soldier Luca survive and they both have to fight to reach their own goals.