Films by Rouven Rech

Germany 2024, 90 min
by Lilith Kugler

When Lilith comes to Berlin to study film, homeless Chris is the first person to welcome her. Chris lives with his buddy Alex at an S-Bahn station, cared for by the entire neighborhood. But he is an addict and unable to free himself from the vicious circle. As his general condition gets worse and worse, he decides that he has to get off the streets and off heroin. But can a young man find his place in our society, even though he has never fit in anywhere since childhood – or wanted to?

Germany, Canada, Finland 2022, 99 min
by Rick Minnich

A 76-year old engineer is on a mission: to connect the United States and Russia with a 100-kilometer long train tunnel beneath the Bering Strait.THE STRAIT GUYS follows Czech-born mining engineer, George, and his fast-talking protégé, Scott, along the proposed route of the InterContinental Railway through Alaska, to the Bering Strait and onward to Russia. The “Strait Guys” endeavor to convince international governments, corporations, and indigenous tribes to green-light their $100 billion railway project—with the promise to become the Panama Canal of the 21st century. As they struggle to keep their monumental vision alive in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the Strait Guys leave us wondering: What is really preventing the US and Russia from being connected?Since Russia's attack on Ukraine, the tunnel plan seems absurd. But the Strait Guys are more convinced than ever that their mega-project is exactly what the world needs to finally leave wars behind and create "peace, progress and prosperity" for all.

Germany, France 2015, 93 min
by Ayat Najafi

In Iran, since the revolution of 1979, women are no longer allowed to sing in public as soloists - at least in front of men.Defying censorship and taboos, the young composer Sara Najafi is determined to organise an official concert for solo female singers. In order to support their fight, Sara and the Iranian singers Parvin Namazi and Sayeh Sodeyfi invite three female singers from Paris, Elise Caron, Jeanne Cherhal and Emel Mathlouthi, to join them in Tehran and collaborate on their musical project, re-opening a musical bridge between France and Iran.But are they going to succeed and finally be gathered in Tehran, sing freely, side-by-side, in front of a mixed audience and without restrictions, and to open a door towards a new freedom of female voice in Iran?