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The series New German Films has for years reflected the political and social issues of our time. It has become manifest that social subjects like the pressing questions of our existence are cross-border issues. This year the subject of people in difficult situations of life runs like a red thread throughout all plots, including the asylum issue. Peter Luisi’s SCHWEIZER HELDEN (UNLIKELY HEROES) deals with political and social questions; DESSAU DANCERS is a historical look back at the bureaucratic socialism of the GDR, while WIR SIND JUNG.WIR SIND STARK. (WE ARE YOUNG. WE ARE STRONG) shows the escalation of conflicts back in 1992 with asylum seekers in Rostock. Ulrich Seidel’s film IM KELLER (IN THE BASEMENT) goes into the darkest depths of human behaviour and shows tragicomical obsessions of people living in basements. The film DAS ZIMMERMÄDCHEN LYNN (THE CHAMBERMAID LYNN) observes the world from under the beds of hotel guests. NACHTHELLE (NIGHT BRIGHTNESS) questions the concept of relationships. DAS HOTELZIMMER (THE HOTEL ROOM) and ICH SHE ICH SHE (I SEE I SEE) both deal with the question of identity, while in VON GLÜCKLICHEN SCHAFEN (ABOUT HAPPY SHEEP mother and son, in a vortex of emotions, are forced to forgive themselves and each other. AMOUR FOU, on the other hand, delves back into the past and deals with poet Heinrich von Kleist’s suicide pact with his lover in 1810.