Directed by:
Matti GeschonneckScreenplay:
Wolfgang KohlhaaseCinematography:
Hannes HubachCast:
Bruno Ganz, Hildegard Schmahl, Sylvester Groth, Alexander Fehling, Natalia Belitski, Pit Bukowski, Stephan Grossmann, Gabriela Maria Schmeide (more)Plots(1)
East Berlin in the early autumn of 1989. Wilhelm Powileit is grinning and bearing his 90th birthday with stoic indifference. There's not much the old man hasn't seen. A staunch communist for the past 75 years, he fled from Nazi Germany and lived in exile in Mexico. Meanwhile his stepson Kurt was arrested in Moscow as an alleged counter-revolutionary. After his return to East Germany, Wilhelm had only limited possibilities of a party career in the SED due to being an 'émigré from the West'. But today the Young Pioneers are serenading him and he is being decorated with medals. Whilst Wilhelm vehemently denies that his ideal of a better world was nothing but a fantasy and that the high hopes of yesteryear have been smothered by bureaucracy and fear, the younger generation is leaving the country. And cracks have appeared in his own family that are also beyond repair. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Bruno Ganz
Switzerland
Best movies:
In the White City (1983)
Wings of Desire (1987)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Hildegard Schmahl
German Empire
Best movies:
Nowhere in Africa (2001)
Der junge Häuptling Winnetou (2022)
Dark Woods (2020) (series)
Sylvester Groth
East Germany
Best movies:
Generation War (2013) (series)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Reader (2008)
Alexander Fehling
East Germany
Best movies:
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Captain (2017)
Labyrinth of Lies (2014)
Natalia Belitski
Soviet Union
Best movies:
All of a Sudden (2016)
In Times of Fading Light (2017)
Vaterfreuden (2014)
Pit Bukowski
East Germany
Best movies:
Never Look Away (2018)
Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga (2013) (series)
The Fox (2023)
Stephan Grossmann
East Germany
Best movies:
Sanctuary (2014)
Phantom Pain (2009)
Tough Enough (2006)
Gabriela Maria Schmeide
East Germany
Best movies:
System Crasher (2019)
Good Boy, A (2008) (TV movie)
Grill Point (2002)
Angela Winkler
German Empire
Best movies:
Hunting Scenes from Bavaria (1969)
The Tin Drum (1979)
Danton (1983)
Thorsten Merten
East Germany
Best movies:
Curveball (2020)
Vom Atmen unter Wasser (2008) (TV movie)
The Elementary Particles (2006)
Inka Friedrich
West Germany
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
Willenbrock (2005)
A Year in Winter (2008)
Jean Denis Römer
Germany
Best movies:
Generation War (2013) (series)
Free Country (2019)
Wolves of Berlin (2009) (series)
Sarina Radomski
East Germany
Best movies:
Rising High (2020)
In Times of Fading Light (2017)
Praxis mit Meerblick (2017) (series)
Sophie Pfennigstorf
East Germany
Best movies:
In Times of Fading Light (2017)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Iceland Doctors (2018) (series)
Ronald Kukulies
West Germany
Best movies:
Balloon (2018)
Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga (2013) (series)
54 Hours (2018) (series)
Jörg Pose
East Germany
Best movies:
Never Look Away (2018)
Operation Zucker (2012) (TV movie)
In Times of Fading Light (2017)