Movies: Stefan Merki

The subject of male prostitution gets a distinctly zany and offbeat twist in Stellungswechsel (AKA Special Escort), Maggie Peren's tale of five male underdogs who promulgate themselves as female escorts in the city of Munich. Of that group, we meet p...

Although Volker is one of the less privileged people as a parcel deliverer and single father to his son Benny, he tries never to let his good mood be spoiled. But the miserable pay increasingly pushes Volker to his limits. When his son wants to move ...

Carlos Benede is in his thirties, single and helps minors cope with the after-effects of crime. Alexander is a strong-willed and precocious eleven-year-old, who witnesses the horrific death of his mother by his own father. Benede mentors Alexander an...

Sissi and Theo are different, as one can hardly be more different. Theo, an intolerant, purposeful businessman who keeps people at bay, and Sissi, a young woman who has not yet found her way and still lives with her mother, would probably never have ...

Christmas! Every year, expectations are high again. And that's why a little dissatisfaction quickly becomes the deepest despair. "Over there, it's snowing" tells of the joy and sorrow of December 23rd and 24th, as experienced by the residents of a Mu...

A greying company boss from a Bavarian town falls in love with a tropical beauty. For his seventieth birthday, his two children want to give their father something special and surprise company boss Clemens Filzhofer with a vacation to Cuba. "Nobody n...

Katharina, a young lawyer from rural Kleinpenning, has made it big in Munich by her own efforts. Only her relationship life can be optimized, because the attractive single woman has the highest standards: even in this cosmopolitan city, only twelve c...

The registrar Ellen is an unhappy single woman - and has to marry couples in love every day. After a shoplifting incident, Ellen, who is addicted to shopping and tablets, ends up with the attractive therapist Christian. Although he is about to get ma...

Gwen meets Ben. Gwen is done with relationships and love for the time being. Ben shares her attitude and so the two come to an agreement. They agree on what at first seems to be a simple rule... What remains when the masks fall - how much truth do we...

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Chronicles the fate of Frieda Keller, a young seamstress in St. Gallen who, in 1904, is accused of murdering her 5-year-old son Ernstli....

After Willy Unterkofer, an old acquaintance of the Germingers, is murdered, Franz Junior takes over the investigation together with Karl and Anna and a family quarrel soon arises. Franz Senior and Erika seem to want to steer the youngsters in a certa...

A young black man is verbally harassed by an older woman on a streetcar, while the other passengers remain silent. He finally exacts his revenge....

Adrian Zumbusch is an extreme phobic and hypochondriac rolled into one. His life is like one long panic attack. The news that he has leukemia and only three months to live is like a liberating blow. Now that he has nothing left to lose, he blossoms a...

"Hape" Wegener is an old hippie and has a lot of debts. At the cemetery he happens to meet the widow Martha Ebinghaus, who clearly comes from wealthy circles. Hape poses as a mysterious diplomat in order to gain the trust of the unstable Martha and t...

The happily married judge Susanne has been carrying a secret with her for many years. As a 17-year-old, she released her baby for adoption. But a letter now confronts them with the past: Paolo, the Italian father of her girl, has died and has inherit...

Bella is not a sad child. She lives out her promiscuity openly, smokes, drinks and is not averse to the occasional drug binge. But the really special thing about Bella is her appearance: she is a doll, barely more than half a meter tall, with red pig...

Her husband Niklas' loan fraud plunges housewife Laura Vandenberg into disaster. While Niklas is behind bars and the company is being wound up, Laura has to give up her house and move to a dreary high-rise estate with her two children. But with the s...

Growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp, 14-year-old Ali Messalam learned to hate "the Jews" from an early age. After fleeing Lebanon with his family, he arrives in Berlin Kreuzberg. Here, Ali tries to make friends with the Arab youths in the neighb...

Franziska does not understand where Tom is. During their trip together, he disappears without a trace....