Films by Stefan Kloos

2023, 95 min
by Thorsten Ernst, Tobias Lickes

Four athletes from various countries live with different intellectual disabilities. Timo from Germany plays tennis with his sister. Toivo and Roope are from Finland and sail together as a unified team. Uyangaa from Mongolia wants to participate with her volleyball team, and Mary Stella from Kenya is competing to qualify with her football team.Being 'special' seems less of a challenge since they also have to cope with the troubles of growing up, finding true friendship, and figuring out what life has in store for them.All four have one common goal: participating in the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin in 2023.

Denmark, Germany 2022, 85 min
by Lars Henrik Ostenfeld

The ice at the poles is melting, which will result in enormous rises in sea level and have major consequences for the world. But how fast will it really go?In the Greenland ice sheet we can see our future. The film travels with three pioneering glaciologist on their expeditions INTO the inland ice of Greenland. Top-notch science meets breathtaking visuals when one of them descends into a 200 meter deep moulin hole to find out about the bottom of the ice sheet. What they find may sound the alarm for our planet's climate and is a clear call to act now.

Germany 2022, 90 min
by Antje Schneider

Hospital manager David Thies has a vision of a new kind of hospital: one designed as a comfortable patient hotel where organic food is served and everyone is treated as a guest regardless of their health insurance category. A place where innovative care concepts are combined with attention to privacy, safety and improved working conditions for the staff. An ambitious plan, but David is a pioneer, somebody who wants to set standards.Cutting privileges of doctors in exchange for quality in health care, David has come to make a change. Will he be able to cut of the health system's old braids?

Germany, Pakistan 2020, 70 min
by Ammar Aziz, Christopher Patz

A textile factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan, kills over 260 workers, among them a widow's only son. Saeeda's transformation from domestic mother to influential activist brings her to the centre of a male-dominated workers' rights movement. A journey along the supply chain of the fashion industry reveals that change may in fact be coming from those at its very end.

2019, 88 min
by Daniela König

Aishe, after losing her husband, suddenly became the sole provider for her three children. She participates in several workshops for emancipation of Muslim women and decides to pursue a career as a female plumber to ease her financial situation. WATERPROOF gives a humorous insight into the world of a plumber and her colleagues who try to stand their ground armed only with pliers and screwdrivers. They are the first femal plumbers in Jordan - one of the driest countries in the world.

2018, 80 min
by Agnieszka Zwiefka

For Tamil people her name means 'Miss Victory', for the Sri Lankan government she is a terrorist under surveillance. Vetrichelvi was a fighter joining the Tamil Tigers at the age of only 17. During the 25 year-long Sri Lankan civil war, she lost one arm and one eye but also became known as a writer and as the Voice of the Tigers, the radical and charismatic radio speaker of the Tamil liberation movement. Now, just recently being released from jail, she is determined to tell the unknown story of female fighters and to find her former comrades and face her own past, even if it means risking life.

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?

Denmark, Germany, Syria 2017, 103 min
by Feras Fayyad, Steen Johannessen

The White Helmets are struggling to keep it together. Aleppo is close to collapsing, the last months of the city’s life, as we know it. People are constantly put their life at risk. How do they deal with their fear of death? After 5 years of War in Syria the remaining 350.000 citizens of Aleppo are preparing themselves for a siege. Through the volunteers from The White Helmets we experience daily life, death and struggle in the streets of Aleppo. Khalid, Subhi and Mahmoud are founding members of The White Helmets and are the first to enter the destroyed buildings, scouring through the rubble in search of bodies and signs of life. They have chosen to stay in Aleppo in order to save their people during the never ending siege. A lot of lives including many small children and infants are lost during the bombings. But every day is also a dilemma and a conflict for the men – should they stay and risk death themselves or should they try and get out and save their own families like so many others? The film is collaboration with Aleppo Media Center which contains an extraordinary story of real heroes in a massive human tragedy played out right in front of a numb international society.

Germany 2012, 74 min
by Isa Willinger

Fantastic buildings of the Russian constructivist era, and three Moscow citizens who use these buildings to pursue their big dreams. Vsevolod renovates an architectural heritage building, Elena demonstrates to keep her apartment block alive and Donatas strives to be an avantgarde-artist. The buildings they live in or live for are more than a backdrop. They are the trigger for these fights. A film about how to deal with historic andpersonal utopia.

Germany 2010, 88 min
by Jakob Preuss

Donetsk is the coal-mining area of Ukraine. Here most people work for low wages in the run down mines, while others make a lot of money. No matter which side of the social divide you are on, coming from Donetsk you will almost certainly be an opponent of the Orange Revolution and a fan of the local football team, Shakhtar Donetsk. Billionaire Akhmetov invests heavily in the club, which is becoming a major European force during the season followed by the film. Yet this sporting success funded by an Oligarch fortune only seems to highlight the wider social and political stagnation of the region. Off the pitch, the outlook appears bleak... IDFA Competition for First Appearance 2010First Step Award 20119th Zagreb Film FestivalZurich Film Festival 2011Max Ophüls Preis 2011Trieste FilmFestival 2011One World Prague 2011DOK.fest MunichDocuDays Kiew - Opening Film

Germany 2010, 52 min
by Berke Bas, Florian Thalhofer

Istanbul's Galata bridge bears within it a universe of stories. Between shops, restaurants and inrushes of tourists we meet people for who the bridge is home, hope and purpose in life. On it we meet restaurant owners, windows, and Ömer, the controlling director and secret "King" of the bridge. Available as a linear film and cross-platform experience, Florian Thalhofer’s first cross-media documentary bridges an historic city with an exciting new future.

Germany 2009, 77 min
by Juliane Großheim

In the commune of Viennese action-artist Otto Muehl, children should remain 'unspoilt from the nuclear family' and be brought up to become completely new human beings. Common sexuality, common property and the abolition of parents-children relationships were the basic elements of a social experiment which turned into a totalitarian system. Through the eyes of former children of the commune and combined with extraordinary exclusiv footage from its archives the film takes us into a world of utopia and abuse.

Germany 2009, 15 min
by Marie-Catherine Theiler, Jan Peters

Being confronted with the finiteness of life in a car accident while carrying their unborn baby, the filmmakers Marie-Catherine Theiler and Jan Peters suddenly realize that their lives have become way too hectic. They spend too much precious time rushing from one appointment to the next, hunting deadline after deadline. They decide to change their lives and slow down. But how? During a humorous odyssey from one time-expert to the next, Marie-Catherine and Jan ask the questions most of us would like to know the answers to… Within the timeframe of Marie-Catherine’s pregnancy, the directors of TIME’S UP leave no stone unturned, examining with wit and irony how today’s society - and above all they themselves - deal with the subject of ‘time’.

Germany 2008
by Aliona Polunina

Germany 2008, 75 min
by Andrea Roggon

They love, they fight, they dance. Enrique and Judita are the most acclaimed and extraordinary tango-couple in Buenos Aires. And they are from Germany. In fact, they are the first Europeans to have won the 2nd place in the world tango championships. Every year, they spend five months with the great masters in Argentina’s capital to bring their technique to perfection. Impulsive and passionate, both on stage and in real life, Enrique and Judita embrace and confront each other, they split- but always reunite. The film is a celebration of their unique love story, narrated like a tango in its own right. An intimate and thrilling look at two outstanding characters. A film full of great music and dazzling tango performances scheduled for theatrical release.

Germany 2008, 75 min
by Makoto Sasa

In 1959, Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist monk since childhood, was incarcerated by the Chinese Communist Army for peacefully demonstrating against Chinese occupation in Tibet. For 33 years, he endured jail, torture, starvation, humiliation and forced labor. After his release, Palden escaped to Dharamsala, India, home of the Tibetan exile community. He became an activist speaking out against the Chinese occupation, giving voice to thousands of dead, displaced or imprisoned Tibetans. Today, his spirit remains unbroken and his fight against injustice and ignorance continues.FIRE UNDER THE SNOW illumnitates the dramatic and inspirational story of a man whose will and belief remained unweakened even under unthinkable duress. Director Makoto Sasa’s elegant interweaving of interviews with Palden, political prisoners, family members and the Dalai Lama, as well as with impressive archival footage, makes this film a captivating, revealing and heart-breaking historical document

Germany 2008
by Aliona Polunina

Germany 2008
by Makoto Sasa