Films by Julia Geiß

Germany 2023, 24 min
by Therese Koppe

Mariella lives in Berlin with her family of seven. Her father was trained in kung fu martial arts at the Chinese Shaolin monastery. Today he runs the Berlin-Schöneberg kung fu school and prepares her and her sisters for the next tournament. This has been part of Mariella’s life for many years. But the nervousness before each competition never really gets better. [66 DOK Leipzig, Lina Dinkla]

Germany 2022, 96 min
by Eric Esser

An inherited family treasure trove of photos and film footage show the director's grandfather in southern Germany in the 1940s. In one clip, the grandfather is briefly seen at a funfair wearing a swastika on hisjacket. How is our perception of a loved one changed through a symbol that stands for murder by the millions? How can photos and film footage, memories and archival material, be pieced together to form a coherentpicture? A struggle for memory – and a search whose persistence ultimately ruffles some feathers in the family.

2019, 90 min
by Johanna Behre

Ossi Viola and Lo Selbo have bet it all on one card: as ITACA they make Italo pop music for the 21st century. Their big dream: performing at the music festival in San Remo. An Italian tour could bring them to the next level. The days go by acrimoniously in rundown roadhouses; at night the duo plays dives along the Italian rustbelt. Not quite their image of bella Italia. Suddenly, this gamble seems completely insane. A 9 to 5 life would be so much easier. The crisis culminates when an unwelcome hitchhiker stumbles into their universe. As the dream threatens to shatter, the adventure begins.