JIP Film und Verleih GbR

Germany 2022, 97 min
by Annette Ernst

This unusual rainbow family chronicle was filmed over a period of 12 years. In 2009, the documentary journey begins with two mothers and their three sons and a man. From diapers to soccer, babies mature into teenagers with their own opinions. Old family secrets are revealed, love comes and goes. An unexpected letter arrives from a girl to her half-brothers. Surprisingly, this constellation develops into a family universe by 2021.

Germany 2017, 87 min
by Veronika Glasunowa, Lukasz Lakomy

LONG ECHO – does it refer to the explosion not far from the town? Or to the time when people searched for a new idea for their country? Or is it rather the long echo of Soviet mentality that led to this bloody conflict?The film portrays the town Dobropolye, in Eastern Ukraine – 70 km from the border with the breakaway republics – and some of its people against the backdrop of the war. The characters are inventive and gripping despite their many hardships: they set up a singles club, build a zoo with chameleons, play in a heavy metal band and drive a taxi.The film shows a region that was on our minds for many months, not only in Europe. It shows people on the periphery of the war, how it changed their daily lives and how people react to both their new and old needs. Their struggle for survival is sometimes marked by quirky moments that give the film an unexpected lightness.The two directors Veronika Glasunowa and Lukasz Lakomy started with the preparations for the movie long before the war. This enabled them to build a relationship of trust which endured in wartime, and it helped them obtain extraordinary insights.Director´s statementIs it possible to survive in an atmosphere of total powerlessness? What opportunities offers a life in which you are completely disenfranchised? How important then become imagination and faith?

Germany 2017, 79 min
by Melanie Gärtner

Frustrated by a corrupt system, Yves leaves his home in Cameroon to try his fortune in Europe. But to get there is more difficult than expected. Yves has been on the road for eight years – and is close to failing. Back home are the people who mean the most to him: his sister Annie, who has been holding the family together since Yves left, his little brother, waiting for Yves to take him to Europe, and his father, who expects him to lead the family to a better life. A film about family, the dream of Europe and the impossibility of giving up.

Germany 2021, 96 min
by Christoph Eder

Christoph Eder draws a personal portrait of the inhabitants of his home village on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen and describes the conflict between the interests of individuals and the common good in times of modern tourism.

Germany 2020, 92 min
by Yulia Lokshina

A small town in Western Germany is the last stop for 26,000 pigs per day and a brief home for masses of Eastern European temporary workers.The workers of the largest slaughterhouse in the country are fighting for survival, while German activists who stand up for their rights are fighting against the local authorities. At the same time, Munich high school students are working on the play "Saint Joan of the Stockyards" and trying to grasp the old text and German capitalism of our days. Interwoven with the young people's examination of the text in the rehearsals, the film deals in various fragments with conditions and facets of temporary work and labour migration in Germany.

Germany 2019, 90 min
by Stephan Hilpert

In crisis-ridden eastern Congo, one of the poorest regions on earth, three Europeans are forced to question what it means to help. Raul, a French-Spanish economist, realizes that his project funds are leading his Congolese colleagues into great temptation. Peter, from Germany, is fighting a losing battle to preserve his identity as an aid worker when he reaches retirement age after 30 years in Africa. And the relationship of the young Belgian Anne-Laure is put to the test when her Congolese boyfriend, after a stay in prison, becomes a high-profile regime critic. Deeply personal insights into coexistence and cooperation between Europe and Africa – and the question: how helpful is the help of the West?

Germany, France 2022, 81 min
by Lena Karbe

The Black Mambas are South Africa‘s first all-female anti-poaching unit, chosen by the white and male-dominated conservation authorities. Their fight against poaching challenges the role of women (and men) in their communities and South African society at large. The three women could not be more different. For Nkateko, the ranger job is only a start. She has grander career goals within conservation. Qolile trains anti-poaching dogs to support her children while her husband is looking for a job. Naledi is an idealist who sees the Black Mambas as the epitome of female empowerment.

Germany 2021, 92 min
by Antonia Kilian

In order to avoid a forced marriage, 19-year-old Hala finds shelter across the Euphrates, at the Kurdish Female Military. While learning how to fight, she gets inspired by the promise of freeing more women. When the Kurdish military liberates her hometown from ISIS, she returns there as a policewoman authorised to protect other vulnerable women. Hala finds herself ready to fulfil her greatest dream: to free her younger sisters from her father's hand.Τhe threat of a marriage and the brutal stories of female oppression lead women to the other side of the river. They are trained in a strict military style, taught that men are the enemy. But is there freedom to be found between holding a gun against the patriarchic society or be deprived of the possibility to love?

Germany 2024, 100 min
by Bahar Bektas

Bahar's brother Taner is serving in prison in Germany and is about to be deported to Turkey. Bahar uses the time of waiting for her brother's deportation to hold the camera on her family members.In calm and sensitive imagery, she explores the family's emotional and geographical worlds of uprooting and new beginnings between Germany and Turkey. With this film, Bahar claims a territory for her family while being squeezed between two countries and a state of in-between.

2024, 99 min
by Enrique Sánchez Lansch

A star dancer at the Cambodian royal court lovingly raises her husband's little brother as her own son. Decades later, as a forced labourer under the Khmer Rouge, she discovers that her foster son is Pol Pot.Chea Samy was an outstanding soloist in the royal dance ensemble at the Cambodian Royal Palace in the 1930s. But she was also Pol Pot’s foster mother. After marrying Pol’s older brother, a low-level official at the royal court, she looked after the boy as if he were her own. They lost contact when he disappeared into the underground after his graduation. In 1975, like millions of other Cambodians, she was driven to the rice fields. Only after three years of forced labour did she learn that Pol Pot was the boy she had raised decades before. As one of only few dancers, she managed to survive his reign and returned to Phnom Penh as a dance teacher, thus preserving knowledge of the traditional dance. One of her first pupils was Sophiline Cheam, now a successful choreographer. Her ensemble incorporates events from Cambodia’s past in its dance routines. The starting point is a curious fact about Pol Pot’s career, which few Cambodians know about: the connection between Pol Pot and classical Cambodian dance. Artists and intellectuals, in particular, fell victim to the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge, whose leader ironically spent a crucial part of his childhood in the royal palace and gained access to higher education thanks to this dance.

Germany 2023, 90 min
by Sabine Michel

Petry, Schwesig, Magwas and Domscheit-Berg: four female politicians with their roots in the East on the reunification of Germany and the role of women.Symbolic: on the election campaign stand in front of the Mäc Geiz discount store, the left-wing politician Anke Domscheit-Berg discusses the differences in pay between East and West Germany with passers-by – more than thirty years after reunification. She is one of four female politicians with East German backgrounds portrayed in the film. Alongside her, Manuela Schwesig, Yvonne Magwas and Frauke Petry analyse German history – and their own life stories. [38 DOK.fest München, Anka Klauck]

Germany 2023, 92 min
by Lisa Wagner

Who says that women can't break dance? Frieda, Viola and Jilou are three of the most successful women in the male-dominated breaking world. At different points in their sports careers, the three friends are facing new challenges and life-changing decisions. DANCING HEARTBEATS accompanies the dancers during their hard training, international battles and their fight for recognition and equal rights. WithB-Girl Jilou – Jilou RasulB-Girl Frost – Frieda FrostB-Girl Viola – Viola Luise Barner