Films by Sebastian Bäumler

Germany 2023, 82 min
by David Spaeth

"Imagine you go to heaven and a pig opens the gates." the master butcher demands of his apprentice. At first glance it seems macabre, at a second one profound. Upon longer contemplation it tells the story of an existential drama. Meat-eating humans have managed to suppress the fact that they eat animals. The film follows those who face the facts - those who do the killing. What do they repress, what do they feel, what do they dream about? For the protagonists, these questions mean everything – motivation, bitter truth and at the same time Pandora's box, which one better keeps closed.

Germany 2021, 97 min
by Lena Leonhardt

A celebrated Palestinian influencer from Israel who quit his lucrative job at PayPal in order to maximize life experience; a young top manager who sacrifices both her job and marriage for the adventure of sailing around the world; an Argentinean couple who apply their computer science skills to distribute their self-produced porn online: ROAMERS accompanies a wide variety of characters on their journeys all over the world and in different social media feeds and follows their search for meaning and support in the new digital world of countless possibilities.With Jonna Kilian-Vostell, Kim & Paolo, Nuseir Yassin, Alyne Tamir, Matthew Bowles, Agnes Nyamwange

Germany 2019, 88 min
by Lena Leonhardt

Andreas Drapa used to be a regular paver in a small town, breeding pigeons in his free time. Now he's a millionaire – and the wealthiest high-class racing pigeon breeder in Germany. As such he has become the preferred business partner of multi-millionaires in China and Dubai. Because especially in the Middle Kingdom betting on pigeon races has become a million dollar business behind closed doors. But Drapa's still aiming for more: He wants to belong to the powerful super rich, too.HIGHFLYERS adopts an unusual perspective on the story of winners and losers in a game ruled by the new powers of global economy.

Germany 2018, 52 min
by Niko Apel

Muslims don't do anything against the progressing radicalisation oftheir faith brothers? - They do.Ron W. from Berlin and Mustapha L. from Frankfurt/Main have taken up thefight for so long: Day for day they face the radicalisation process inschools and mosques.(Internationale Hofer Filmtage)

Germany 2017, 87 min
by Monika Hielscher, Matthias Heeder

To predict a future crime scene and to prevent a murder seems like something from a sci-fi movie. It is, but it’s also real – and happening right now. To make this possible, powerful computers and omnipresent cameras capture data from all sources, which is then evaluated and analyzed with the help of algorithms. At the same time, we, the citizens are transformed into carriers of recorded data – our every move, message and purchase tracked and mapped. Ratings of how likely we are to commit a crime are attached to our personae. Computers spit out lists of tomorrow´s criminals. But what if it´s you who ends up on this list? What if the data is wrong? Or biased?? How can we be guilty of things we haven’t done?PRE-CRIME travels to Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin, Munich and other places to show predictive policing techniques in action, to investigate their opportunities and dangers and to meet people who use them and those who have been victims of them. Who is – and who isn’t – protected by the algorithm?

Germany 2016, 69 min
by Lena Leonhardt

A remote forest: a place where dogs become canine soldiers. The dogs born here, in the military dog training school of the German Army, are all supposed to be both companion and weapon for their human counterparts. The dogs are trained to act like a weapon, and the soldiers are trained to make use of it. The initial play gradually becomes drill and the artificial training setting gets closer and closer to the scenario of a real military mission. A reality that is only to well known to another protagonist: at the same time, in the same training camp, a traumatised Kosovo veteran is to be rehabilitated with the help of a therapy dog. DOG SOLDIERS is an essayistic look at what it means to be soldierly.

Germany 2012, 82 min
by Astrid Schult

America is fighting relentlessly with itself, with its driving forces being infuriated citizens: supporters and sympathizers of the Tea Party movement. The dissatisfied, the disappointed and the unassured have come together in countless groups. Ben Cunningham from Nashville, Tennessee has been fighting for years for the ownership rights and against tax increases. He wants the US government to keep out the local politics. Ken Marrero transports pallets for a living and wants to teach his five kids at home together with his wife rather than letting teachers from public schools manipulate them. Tess S. and Ralph W. bought a campervan after 9/11 so that they can get themselves to safety, if another terrorist attack should occur. All of them are against Obama and are still active after his re-election.The documentary I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK takes us on a journey into the spiritual life of conservative Americans in the ‘Heartland’ – a place where ultra-traditional American values are upheld, where local politics, federalism and independence from Washington are preached. The film portrays just how deeply divided today’s America is.