Films by Benjamin Leers

Germany 2023, 93 min
by André Krummel, Pablo Ben Yakov

A retired gay sex worker wants to get into politics. Leading a cosmopolitan and queer life, he is not the typical 'little man', but an intellectual without a university degree and bon vivant with addiction problems. Born a German Christian, he now lives as a Jewish Israeli in Tel Aviv and Berlin, in a relationship with a young Shanghainese man whose seemingly endless wealth provides for his dissolute lifestyle. GOLDHAMMER looks behind the facade of a millennial on his way to becoming a populist and traces a turbulent biography that could hardly be any more contradictory, but for that very reason seems to suit our times perfectly.

Germany 2014, 225 min
by Andrew Davies, Benjamin Leers, Sebastian Lemke, Michael Schomers, André Schäfer

Amidst the urban jungle, hidden between deep concrete canyons, one can find one of the world’s most exclusive clubs. The Explorers Club in New York is the epicentre of the last heroes – it is the meeting place for the planet’s most distinguished explorers. 105 years ago, at the time when the club was first formed, travelling was arduous. Vast parts of the world were not yet mapped, and the world was full of adventure. The world has become a smaller place, hardly a patch is left that has not yet been mapped and travelled to. The greatest amazements appear to have been harvested. Today, adventure is to be found in the details. The 'how' is more important than the 'where'. The series THE EXPLORERS CLUB accompanies and features five modern explorers on their travels all over the world. Over the course of five episodes we explore the world, and let ourselves drift to all corners of the earth and open our eyes to the great unknown amongst the seemingly ordinary. Via exotic landscapes, sparse deserts and bleak and threatening ice, we follow these women and men on their journey, faraway from classic nature documentaries.

Germany 2014, 88 min
by Oliver Sechting, Andreas Wolter

How I Learned to Love the Numbers is a New York film and at the same time the study of a young man suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).The Berlin filmmaker Oliver Sechting (37) and his co-director Max Taubert (23) travel to New York with the idea of documenting the art scene there. However, the project is quickly overshadowed by Oliver’s OCD, and the two directors fall prey to a conflict that becomes the central theme of their film.Encounters with such artists as film directors Tom Tykwer (Cloud Atlas), Ira Sachs (Keep The Lights On), and Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation) or the transmedia artist Phoebe Legere seem more and more to resemble therapy sessions. At last, Andy Warhol superstar Ultra Violet succeeds in opening a new door for Oliver.

Germany 2014, 70 min
by Benjamin Leers

THE TEACHER’S COUNTRY is the story of a land 50 years after its independence. It is about Tanzania, a country, which was formed by the ideas  of the famous first president 'Mwalimu' Julius Nyerere. The film follows his youngest son on his way to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. On his climb, Madaraka Nyerere reminisces the struggle for independence which his father was deeply involved in. The film is also a story reflecting on the development of Tanzania over the past decades , told by people who seem ordinary at the first glance: One is single mother Bertha who lives in Dar es Salaam. She works all day to earn her living and hardly sees her daughter. Laurent Nestory is a teacher on Kome Island on Lake Victoria - an island without electricity or running water. The film also portrays Thomas Bilingi, a priest who is helping very pragmatically with the development of his area. By doing this, the film provides a genuine insight into the hopes and disappointments, the achievements, and problems of the protagonists in Tanzania on its 50th anniversary.