Films by Carina Mergens

2023, 118 min
by Regina Schilling

At 34, Igor Levit is an exceptional artist in the world of classical music. A young rebel, who - at the piano - transforms into a mature musician. At age nine he arrived in Germany, a Jewish immigrant of Russian descent. Having an opinion and publicly expressing it, is not a choice, it is a survival strategy. The film follows the artist over two years as Levit explores his “life after Beethoven“, as he searches for his next challenge, his identity as an artist. We observe him recording new piece

2023, 83 min
by Philipp Jedicke

Vienna, the former music capital of Europe, has become increasingly relevant again. With the wry approach that is typical of this city, the young underground music scene there romanticizes the raw and rabid. Hedonist and nihilist at the same time, the young Viennese artists embody the opposite of self-optimization. They are unadjusted, eccentric characters – and they are filling concert halls not only in Austria, but also in Germany and Switzerland. VIENNA CALLING starts with the aim of being a

2021, 89 min
by Laurentia Genske, Robin Humboldt

Two Syrian sisters, on the verge of adulthood and trans *, are looking to find their way in their new home-country Germany. This film not only tells the moving story of a family that sticks together despite all hardships, but also poses the question of one's own identity. A coming-of-age documentary about the search for one's individual place in society.

Germany, Austria 2019, 83 min
by Gesa Hollerbach

The last school has shut its doors, every other house is empty, there are only rapeseed fields as far as the eye can see. The last holdovers in the country are faced with the decision: stay or go?  "All for the Countryside" traces a host of societal phenomena that are caused by changing dynamics in rural areas and follows four individuals over the course of several years, each of whom give unexpected impulses to life on the countryside. The quartet consists of a mayor who's stuck between the fro

France, Germany 2018, 82 min
by Philipp Jedicke

Chilly Gonzales is a Grammy-winning composer, virtuoso pianist and entertainer. Criss-crossing between rap, electro and solo piano music, he became the outrageous pop performer who invited himself to the ivory tower of classical music. Change seems to be the only constant in Gonzales‘ journey. The cinematic documentary Shut Up And Play The Piano follows Gonzales from his native Canada to late 90‘s underground Berlin, and via Paris to the world‘s great philharmonic halls. The playfulness of his c

Germany 2018, 88 min
by Melanie Andernach, Andreas Köhler

The Shaash family is spread out all over the world. The civil war in Somalia forced them into exile. Suddenly, the oldest family member, Imra (88), must leave her exile in Ethiopia. The rest of the family has to find a fast solution. But where should she go? And where can she go? Some where where other family members have already found a new home and a new future? Based on these questions, a transnational family drama unfolds, one in which a family tries everything and fails to find a new home f