14 films, including six full-length fiction and four documentary films, will compete for the Kompass-Perspektive-Preis, endowed with 5,000 euros. In addition, a neighborhood film project that focuses on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin will be a guest at Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2018.

Sure, you can always take off. Soon. Right now. Or later. You could just be gone, just steal away from a fully furnished life. But then what happens? Everyone has thought about it but very few actually do it: leave their intended path. It’s risky, it’s exciting, it’s brave and whimsical. Paul Zeise (Sebastian Rudolph) goes for it in the debut film Whatever Happens Next (produced by The StoryBay, Salzwedel) by director Julian Pörksen. Paul travels across the country crashing funerals and parties, moves in with off-the-wall Nele (Lilith Stangenberg) for a while, and generally floats around in the wonderland we call life. A short film by director Julian Pörksen was presented at Perspektive Deutsches Kino in 2012. Whatever Happens Next is his first feature-length fiction work.

Director Susan Gordanshekan is also returning to Perspektive Deutsches Kino with her debut feature Die defekte Katze (A Dysfunctional Cat, produced by Glory Film, Munich). The film tells the story of an Iranian couple who only begin to get to know each other after entering traditional marriage, and then fall short of success when faced with the challenges of life together in Germany. The story is about liberating oneself from different lifestyle ideals and giving love a second chance.

The debut film Verlorene (Lost Ones, produced by VIAFILM, Munich) by Felix Hassenfratz takes us deep into provincial Baden, where everyone knows everybody and the siblings Maria (Maria Dragus) and Hannah (Anna Bachmann) live alone with their father (Clemens Schick) following the death of their mother. Director Felix Hassenfratz is well acquainted with the environment and tells a small town story where fear of the unknown is just as strong as a yearning for it.

The horror/love story Luz is the graduation film by director Tilman Singer and production designer Dario Méndez Acosta from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Luz, a young taxi driver from Latin America, stumbles into a police headquarters with the last of her strength. She’s being pursued by a demon, who is determined to finally be close to his beloved. Tilman Singer describes the work as an erotic 16mm thriller that plays with audience perception.

Three more documentary films (see Berlinale press release, December 21, 2017) have also been selected for the Perspektive programme. In The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life (produced by Zita Erffa, Petruvski Films, in Tegernsee, with co-production by the HFF Munich), director Zita Erffa asks her brother László about his motivation for entering a Legion of Christ monastery. Eight years after his departure, she can finally visit him and ask why he left her alone in her family. For both, the camera functions as a catalyst to find harmony. The political documentary Impreza - Das Fest (Impreza - The Celebration, produced by DREIFILM, Munich) also takes a highly personal approach. Her aunt’s 50th wedding anniversary is an opportunity for director Alexandra Wesolowski to visit her family in Poland. But instead of being about the party, the conversations she documents soon focus completely on politics. In Überall wo wir sind (Everywhere We Are, produced by Veronika Kaserer) director Veronika Kaserer follows a family after the death of one of its members - the parents who lost a son and a sister who lost a brother. In the organisation of daily activities and the narratives of the protagonists, battling or grieving, we see the “pact with death” become a “pact with life”.

The 22-minute fiction film Kein sicherer Ort (No Safe Place, produced by Filmmagnet, Munich, with co-production by the HFF Munich) by director Antje Beine supplements the mostly mid-length programme with one more young protagonist (see Berlinale press release, December 21, 2017). Through the eyes of 10-year-old Marie (Lucia Stickel), we see what it means when you’re not allowed to be a child in the place you call home.

The series Film Wanderungen (Film Walks) completes the Perspektive Deutsches Kino programme. The project was invited to Perspektive 2018 as a guest. What does “neighbourhood” mean? And what is “home”? In the summer of 2017, 140 residents of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz area in the Mitte district of Berlin were interviewed. On the second Berlinale weekend, audiences are invited to take a trip through the living rooms of those residents to watch films together, and engage in conversation.

On Berlinale Publikumstag, February 25, 2018, Perspektive Deutsches Kino will present the winning work in the fiction film competition “Max-Ophüls-Preis 2018”, and the winner of the documentary film competition First Steps Award 2017 (Ohne diese Welt, directed by Nora Fingscheidt).

The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life
By Zita Erffa
Documentary
World premiere

Die defekte Katze (A Dysfunctional Cat)
By Susann Gordanshekan
With Pegah Ferydoni, Hadi Khanjanpour, Henrike von Kuick, Constantin von Jascheroff, Arash Marandi
Feature film
World premiere

Impreza - Das Fest (Impreza - The Celebration)
By Alexandra Wesolowski
Documentary
German premiere

Kein sicherer Ort (No Safe Place)
By Antje Beine
With Lucia Stickel, Kristina Pauls, Robin Sondermann
Medium-long feature films
World premiere

Luz
By Tilman Singer
With Luana Velis, Jan Bluthardt, Julia Riedler, Nadja Stübiger, Johannes Benecke
Feature film
World premiere

Verlorene (Lost Ones)
By Felix Hassenfratz
With Maria Dragus, Anna Bachmann, Clemens Schick, Enno Trebs, Meira Durand
Feature film
World premiere

Whatever Happens Next
By Julian Pörksen
With Sebastian Rudolph, Lilith Stangenberg, Peter René Lüdicke, Christine Hoppe, Eike Weinreich
Feature film
World premiere

Überall wo wir sind (Everywhere We Are)
By Veronika Kaserer
Documentary
World premiere

Films announced so far:

draußen (outside)
By Johanna Sunder-Plassmann, Tama Tobias-Macht
Documentary
World premiere

Feierabendbier (After-Work Beer)
By Ben Brummer
With Tilman Strauß, Julia Dietze, Johann Jürgens, Christian Tramitz
Feature film
World premiere

Kineski zid (Great Wall of China)
By Aleksandra Odić
With Elena Matić, Tina Keserović, Faketa Salihbegović-Avdagić, Anja Stanić, Mugdim Avdagić
Medium-long feature film 
German premiere

Rå
By Sophia Bösch
With Sofia Aspholm, Lennart Jähkel, Lars T. Johansson, Ingmar Virta, Ivan Mathias Petersson
Medium-long feature film 
World premiere

Rückenwind von vorn (Away You Go)
By Philipp Eichholtz
With Victoria Schulz, Aleksandar Radenković, Daniel Zillmann, Angelika Waller
Feature film
World premiere

Storkow Kalifornia
By Kolja Malik
With Daniel Roth, Lana Cooper, Franziska Ponitz
Medium-long feature film 
World premiere

Guest Projects:

Film Wanderungen (Film Walks)
27 participants
Doc-series

Ohne diese Welt (Without This World)
By Nora Fingscheidt
Documentary

Award winner “Max-Ophüls-Preis 2018” for Best Feature Film