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Ben Verbong

Directing

Known For

Honey Girls
6.8

The summer of 1986 begins on a promising note for Erfurt sisters Catrin and Maja Streesemann – they’ve finally received a travel permit for their first holiday at Lake Balaton. The only thing is, they have no idea that they’re being watched by the Stasi as the spies in swimming trunks of the Balaton Brigade have been watching out for East Germans attempting to escape to the West, with the holiday resort as a starting point. Catrin is quick to make new friends at the campsite, especially winsome Rudi from Mühlhausen, whose overtures clearly aim for more than just friendship; younger Maja is magically attracted to the glamour of the elegant Balaton-Residenz luxury hotel where only Western tourists are allowed to stay. Fate leads them not only into the Balaton-Residenz, but also to Tamás, the Hungarian hotel boss. Catrin immediately falls for the charming Hungarian, but Maja is the one to steal a kiss from him at the first opportunity, casting a shadow on the sisters’ otherwise close relationship. And the next disaster comes along, as their mother Kirsten has every reason to believe that her daughters’ trip to Hungary could wreak havoc on the family after an ominous phone call from Hungary. Using a pretext, she persuades her husband Karl to start the Trabant and drive after Maja and Catrin.

Honey Girls

2017Series
Ob ihr wollt oder nicht
4.3

The film starts with the main character Laura, a young woman with advanced cancer, entering quite upset the home of her parents and claiming to have stopped chemo therapy and having left her husband. The worried parents call the other three adult daughters into the house and they arrive one by one. For the first time in 6 years the entire family is united again. The characters are drawn as tensions rise from old conflicts and as the situation sinks in that Laura might be terminally ill. The movie eventually shifts from a lively sometimes comical beginning into the serious theme of dying and does handle this quite tactfully and moving. While the film touches on many areas surrounding death (including religion, graveyard, care, eutanasia) the main focus is on the transformation of the characters that are thrown out of their busy lifes into this situation, eventually accepting it and dealing with it.

Ob ihr wollt oder nicht

2009Movie
Herr Bello
4.5

After his mother’s death, the 12-year-old Max, son of pharmacist Sternheim, wishes for a pet. One day a dog appears in Max’s life. By his power of persuasion he is allowed to keep this dog and names him “Bello”. In the meantime a new tenant, Verena Lichtblau, moves into Sternheim’s house, and Max is not happy. But further Sternheim has got a present, that’s a special mixture. After he has ruined Edgar’s harvest with the mixture, the next accident happened: Bello drinks from the mixture, and so he transforms to a human. With Max’s help, “Mr. Bello” continues a human-life. And Mr. Bello returns Max’s enjoying of life again. But outside of Sternheim’s house Mr. Bello gets in trouble, and there the story begins.

Herr Bello

2007Movie