The ugly duckling of a fraught middle-class household has her life turned upside-down by the arrival of a handsome German exchange student, in this caustic, absurdist satire of petit-bourgeois family life from Dutch director Michiel ten Horn. (TIFF)

Penniless Peter Munk toils day after day as a charcoal burner in the Black Forest. In order to finally achieve the wealth he longs for and thus get closer to his previously unattainable crush Lisbeth, he turns to two mysterious forest spirits with his wishes. While the cranky little glass man can't really help him, the sinister Dutchman-Michel promises him an end to his financial worries. However, he demands Peter's heart in return and puts a cold stone in his chest instead. Although he can now afford everything and finally take Lisbeth as his wife, Peter no longer has any compassion, which soon has devastating consequences not only for himself but also for his fellow human beings.

While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.

Charleen is 15, melodramatic, mega depressed, and Kurt Cobain’s biggest fan. Her best friend Isa is getting really boring, her dad is out of the picture, and her mom has hooked up with her biology teacher. Even though she has an apprenticeship preparing bodies for funerals, which is pretty cool, her musical idols are all dead. It’s about time Charleen was, too.

Is. This. My. Son? No matter how often Tobias Wilke poses this question, there's always only one answer: Yes! Tobias, can't believe his eyes when he comes to the airport to pick up his 17-year-old son Finn – and learns that Finn is now calling herself Helen and wearing girls' clothes. Finn/Helen reveals that she's always was a girl, and that she used her year abroad in San Francisco to pass the "everyday life" test. This is required by law for everyone preparing for the sex reassignment surgery they will undergo upon reaching majority. Reactions from Helen's friends, acquaintances and schoolmates cover the entire gamut from derision to solidarity. Especially Helen's father, a well-known chef, finds it difficult to accept a situation he cannot understand. But Helen nearly always finds the right words - and humor - to counterbalance the ignorance and jeers of those around her. It is the beginning of a long, winding road towards the sexual identity she is convinced is hers.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.

Berlin in June of 1940. While Nazi propaganda celebrates the regime’s victory over France, a kitchen-cum-living room in Prenzlauer Berg is filled with grief. Anna and Otto Quangel’s son has been killed at the front. This working class couple had long believed in the ‘Führer’ and followed him willingly, but now they realise that his promises are nothing but lies and deceit. They begin writing postcards as a form of resistance and in a bid to raise awareness: Stop the war machine! Kill Hitler! Putting their lives at risk, they distribute these cards in the entrances of tenement buildings and in stairwells. But the SS and the Gestapo are soon onto them, and even their neighbours pose a threat.

The unorthodox millionaire's wife Eva Klüber raves when her husband Rainer divorces her and she should keep according to the marriage contract nothing of the common assets. Eva fictitiously her own kidnapping, in order to come to what they see as more than earned money. But her perfect plan is backfiring in several ways.

Alex inherited her recently deceased grandmother's cottage in Wales. Having lost her husband a year ago and being broke, she moves there with her son, hoping to quickly sell the cottage, so she can use the money to purchase an antiquities shop in London. But with the cottage in dire need for repairs and no potential buyers in sight, she is forced to stay for some time. While there, she meets up with an old friend of hers, who wants to be more than friends, and also runs into an intriguing local politician who is already engaged. She supports the politician's goal of creating a nature preserve right outside of town, although she falls short of pledging some of her land to the cause in order to not upset potential buyers of her property. When her aunt suffers a fall and gets hospitalized, Alex temporarily takes over her aunt's shop. While the love triangle gathers steam between Alex and her two suitors, a local gold digger suddenly claims that there might be gold right under her ...

On the escape of the violent Poles 1946, the child of Rosemarie get lost. And Rosemaries tries to find her daughter.

Three young Russian friends, who move from Moscow to Berlin in a lucky wave of emigration right after the fall of the Berlin wall. They take their chance looking for a better life and find themselves involved in the tales of everyday lunacy on the streets of Berlin and its spirit of the early nineties.

A student of Cathrin is murdered and draped like a doll found on the beach. The dead body corresponds to the imagination of one of Cathrin's patients. Kelly, however, suspects a friend of the dead.

On the site of a former children's home, the remains of ten babies and one adult are found. At the dead man's ring, a former psychologist recognizes her missing husband. But the police do not believe her and so she goes on her own tracks.

After the death of their father three sisters, sixteen year old Lou, Charly who is in her early twenties and Emmie who is a mere child, have to try and run the family's horse farm between them. They have to overcome all manner of adversity in order to keep their beloved farm.

At times of changing gender roles, a tinder date encourages young Leonid to live his own definition of "masculinity". A current reflection on love, sexuality and role models.

In 1950s Germany, a farmer's children face an excruciating dilemma when the son resists expectations to take over the family farm.

The German ex-top model candidate Luna imagined it completely differently. She stands at the train station in Linz with all her luggage because she was promised a place in an influencer shared apartment. But Luna has too few clicks, too few followers and too little fame, which is why she's thrown out of the shared apartment before she's even been inside. Things are also going differently than expected for programmer Heribert, because he actually wanted to present the app idea at a pitching contest at Ars Electronica Center that would free him and his development team from his boring help desk job. But his pitch is at first pathetic, then embarrassing and ends in a faux pas with a shitstorm. And so he and his colleagues are thrown out before they can even develop. When the completely inexperienced but fearless would-be influencer Luna Heribert discovers first in the viral video and then in real life in Linz, she makes him an offer because she knows: we are better together than alone!

Life seems to be kind to criminal psychologist Cathrin Blake: a tender love affair has developed from the acquaintance with the charming Matt. Professionally, however, Cathrin faces a tricky case: A year and a half ago, the renowned psychologist Helen Bell disappeared without a trace.

Abbie Campbell is in prison for murder, she stabbed her sleeping husband. The background to the brutal act was never clarified, Abbie had refused any statement at the time. Criminal psychologist Cathrin Blake has to prepare an expert opinion on the young woman.

Gaspard is menestrel at the court of King Wilbur. He and Princess Ella love each other and want to get married and discover the world together. But Ella's father King Wilbur does not accept it. He traps Gaspard in a dungeon and makes his daughter believe that he has gone around the world. In prison, Gaspard meets Lucas "The Strong", who is stronger than 10 men, and Flora "The Witch", who orders plants. Thanks to Lucas, they escape from prison, and on their way they meet Marcus "The Runner", who carries an anvil in his bag to prevent himself from running faster than the wind; Benjamin "The Marksman", who has a view that carries further than that of an eagle; and Lisa "The Icy", who has a breath of ice.

The whole country wants an end of the drought. Maren has even more reason to wish for rain, her austere father,the rich hay farmer Iven, will approve her marriage with her beloved Andrees only if the rain falls before the next sunset.

The decades of struggle in Northern Ireland left deep wounds that have not yet healed. Criminal psychologist Cathrin Blake is faced with the delicate task of mediating in a perpetrator-victim conversation.

The psychologist Cathrin Blake actually wants to withdraw from her work for the police. After a mysterious murder during the ghost parade of the "Samhain" harvest festival, however, Superintendent Kelly asks for her support. It's not just about the bloody act, but also about the disappearance of Holly Reid, the victim's friend.

Criminal psychologist Cathrin Blake is called to an emergency in the middle of the night: a young woman is threatening to throw herself to her death from a high-rise building. Cathrin knows the disturbed woman: Moon Flynn was in therapy with Cathrin a few years ago for a borderline disorder, but stopped it prematurely.

16-year-old student Moira McKendry, gifted, popular and fun-loving, is found dead after a school party. The fatal head injuries indicate a violent crime. Moira's best friend, the introverted Hanna, was apparently the last person to see Moira alive. But Hanna can't remember anymore.