Viola Neumann

17-year-old Paul likes strange things: stealth trails and abandoned buildings, whispered conversations and left-behind bags. Besides that, he seems to be a young man without qualities. His mysterious nature catches the eyes of his classmate Dala and his art-loving teacher Mr. Bulwer, both seemingly driven by hidden desires. Then a boy’s dead body is discovered in the forest...

The student Jan gets along better with animals than with people. The shy young man is particularly fond of snakes, some of which he keeps at home. The two fall in love when he meets the radical animal rights activist and environmental activist Alice at his university. Jan's life then begins to change suddenly. He is overwhelmed by his intense feelings and social life with Alice. From then on his perception begins to become distorted. Jan feels like she has to take active action against various threats. Although Alice supports him, he loses himself in his madness and love for her.

At a Babelsberg studio, two German actors try to outdo each other with their Hollywood experiences. At a chic Düsseldorf café, two expatriate French women envy each other’s respective life. At a construction site somewhere in North Rhine-Westphalia, a foreman informs the supervising archaeologist that he as ordered the concrete without her approval. In a trendy Café in Ehrenfeld, Cologne, a recently departed meets a friend of his ex to obtain a box with things he’d left behind. A Dutch business consultant desperately tries to sell his inflated services to a Bulgarian arms contractor at Brussels Airport. On a rooftop in the Belgian Eifel, the owner and the future heir of a family workshop quietly discuss the recent passing of the family’s grandfather.

Geschützter Raum

Kommissar Marthaler