A public swimming pool complex in the middle of a forest which is soon to be renovated: between water slides, French fries, TikTok and sun cream, six teenagers spend the long summer days in the “Badi”, as outdoor pools are called in Swiss German. It is a place to discuss, laugh, try things out and simply hang out together. Whether on the grass, in the water or between the different pools, their conversations revolve around everything that currently moves them. This sun-kissed film accompanies these adolescents at a moment of transition. They talk about the past, think about the future and try to find out who they are and how they will find their place in a changing world. The film stays close to their glances, conversations and encounters, taking an unvarnished look into the inner world of these adolescents – their curiosities, their humour, their contradictions and their insecurities. For one summer long, the Badi becomes a place where childhood and future can exist alongside each other. And while the orange slide is dismantled, the question of what will remain of this summer bubbles up through the water.

Lina Dinkla

Camille, a very small girl, and the Chameleon who is afraid of heights are inseparable and love to play hide-and-seek in the forest. Camille loves to literally call the tune with her whistling. But one day she becomes too cocky and gives Chameleon an idea that will upset everything. Now they are lost in the green thicket. Can they get over their pride and find each other again?

Lina Dinkla

Sam, a grumpy raccoon, must share a prison cell with Bob, a loveable, but somewhat slow-witted manatee. Their chaotic prison break gradually reveals Sam’s soft core, while Bob remains unfailingly loyal to Sam. Will they manage to escape? Suddenly, that no longer matters so much, since together they have already experienced something much better: solidarity. A cute plasticine animation you will absolutely love.

Lina Dinkla

Everyone who longs for tenderness is welcome aboard the Pompelmo Express, a huge pink rocket ship. Together with a number of diverse passengers who shimmer in all the colours of the rainbow, Delfino, Rita and Zenf journey through the cosmos of possibilities. While a party rages on in the spaceship, Zenf discovers a fiery comet through his huge telescope. At an atmospheric tea party, Delfino falls head over heels in love with Carlos, and Rita begins to quarrel with her body. The infinite expanse and warm darkness of space envelop the friends benignly and offer a space to live out the most varied needs. “Say goodbye to your lonely days.”

Franka Sachse

Three butterflies are absorbed in their graceful ballet routine, skilfully turning one pirouette after the other. They ignore the clumsy caterpillar that would really love to dance with them. Only the smallest butterfly reaches out a hand. What a surprise when the caterpillar pupates and hatches! Another episode of the KiKA show “Lenas Farm”.

Lina Dinkla

Anna is lured outside by a lively flurry of snow. As she wanders through the snow she comes across an unexpected playmate. A snow hare – or is it just her imagination after all? After playing, she settles down comfortably on the sofa with a hot cup of cocoa. A poetic film about the joys of winter, drawn in clear colours.

Lina Dinkla

„A little flame that lit up and inspired people to tell different stories about the GDR.” This is how a protagonist describes the 1977 book “Guten Morgen, du Schöne” (Good morning, beautiful) by the writer Maxie Wander, a collection of records in which a wide variety of women talk about themselves. One of the most successful books in the GDR and one of the most influential in German literary history: It affected generations of women (and men!) and encouraged them to question their own lives – ample reason for the director to let a few of the women look back on the book and their lives today. It is about equal rights and emancipation, life plans and rebellion, dreams and failure, love and sexuality, mothers and fathers, men and women, happiness and loneliness, death and, above all, the hunger for life. With respect and great tenderness, Susanne Schüle films faces and bodies on which time has left its mark. Age and beauty, fragility and strength. On the visual level, the stories are subtly commented on by amateur footage: bodies marching in step to the ideologies, Hitler salutes and mass rallies. Again and again contrasted with naked bodies, the wild and non-conformist life beyond the dictatorships. War, peeling potatoes, kisses, children. This is how it was. This is how it is. In the end, the monologues of the past lead up to a contemporary dialogue between the sexes and generations. A flame.

Grit Lemke

“How long have you known each other?” – “Six funerals.” Having grown old as a gay man is a privilege in the wake of the Aids crisis. At “Lebensort Vielfalt”, a Berlin housing project for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersexual persons, lived experiences are exchanged among three generations. They used to be pigeonholed, today children might just be allowed to learn to speak before they define themselves. A wild kind of growing up and ageing. All residents share the desire to be safe, even from having-to-explain-themselves. The camera roams the house, crosses the corridor, moves from one balcony to another, looks out of the window onto the street, develops new perspectives. Social backsliding is registered; sometimes new happiness is found. On deceased persons’ birthdays, the raspberry cake is cut. Falling asleep, the sound of riot rises again.

Jan Künemund