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Between Before and After is a 56-minute performative film inspired by Lina Kostenko’s Berestechko and the war dreams of Ukrainians. Moving between myth and reality, it follows figures such as Bogdan Khmelnytsky, Ukraine, The Witch, The Child, the Refugees, and The Artist, each searching for Ukraine. Through a mythopoetic language, the film reflects on history, war, and cultural memory, offering a poetic meditation on identity, loss, and resilience.

Twins share perfect togetherness in the womb, but who leaves first? The real world crashes in - social pressure, time, and individuality pulling them apart. Can they balance closeness and sisterhood without losing themselves?

Sometimes the search for meaning doesn't seem worthwhile

Ghost in the Park traces the narratives of the community of Görlitzer Park, an area in Berlin known for public drug use and trade. Highlighting “drug consumption buses” that promote safer use and aim to reduce HIV transmission among drug users, the space of the bus is taken as an axis through which the experiences and feelings of the community around the park are amplified.

Mushroom picking is actually a peaceful activity – but hardly anyone thinks about how the mushrooms feel about it. A young mushroom discovers the beauty of nature with curiosity. His neighbor, an old, grumpy toadstool, shows little joy in company or nature. Undeterred, the young mushroom seeks closeness – until a sentence from the old man changes everything: "They'll eat you!" Before he even understands what that means, the mushroom is torn from the ground and finds himself in a nightmare: knives, pots, fire – a kitchen full of dead mushrooms. Desperately fighting for survival, he manages to escape and return to the clearing. The old fly agaric can hardly believe that the little one has made it. For the first time in a long time, his heart warms.

The only place where Amelie feels truly safe is her apartment. Here, she can read in peace, fold paper cranes, and quietly observe the world from a safe distance through the window. Every attempt to leave her safe space and make it to the garden fence fails at the threshold. Soon, Amelie risks shutting herself off from the world entirely – until, one day, her young neighbour urgently needs her help.

Instead of the typical image of the suffering trans man, this experimental documentary focuses on the joy and euphoria that trans men experience in their everyday lives. The short film shows excerpts from the lives of four trans men as they describe and demonstrate their hobbies, personal projects, and gender experiences.

A new lollipop on the market is causing unrest.

After his parents' death, Elias feels empty and lost. But an unexpected moment gives his life a new turn.

The mayor of Oberarschenberg collects welcome gifts for a refugee family in a box. Unfortunately, not everyone in the village is as welcoming to the refugees as the mayor would like. The carpenter entrusted with building the box maliciously hides a bomb under a false bottom. The mayor carries the box through the village and asks for gifts for the new arrivals—sometimes with more success, sometimes with less.

The video-guide invites viewers to peek behind the fence and reflect on the social distance and its ethical implications, exploring the complex dynamics between public space, community needs, and marginalized groups. The place is Drob Inn, a low-threshold contact and counseling service with integrated drug consumption rooms. It supports adults with substance use disorder and is state-recognized. Located near Hamburg Central Station, it serves as a crucial support center for the local open drug scene, offering accessible services. In April 2024, authorities installed a fence to separate the courtyard from the sidewalk. This measure aimed to revitalize the green space and improve pedestrian use, while providing limited visual protection.

A sensitive portrait of "Bella Who", a drag queen from Lower Bavaria with a dazzling personality.

A 17-year-old grows up in the shadow of his addicted mother and carries more than a teenager should.

A group of children tells us about the good (and bad) experiences they have had with their neighbors.

A mountain climber falls into the abyss. And into himself. Fragments of a life.

Oh dear, the crocodile swallowed Mila's dog Charly. Now the crocodile feels sick. And Mila wants Charly back.

A love story in video clips from days gone by. What was it like back then, with Peddy, Ronja, and the pineapple jar?

What does it take to be happy? For grandmother Ani, not much. A quiet village, some sunshine, and the feeling: Ya está - everything is fine.

At almost 90 years old, Monika is approaching the end of her life. Her mind is also starting to go. She’s suffering from dementia. It’s a good thing she has her granddaughter Emma for company during her final days in her home, which is full of history.

Eleven-year-old Mira is in costume because her school is celebrating Mardi Gras. Later, she goes to the hospital to be with her gravely ill brother. Mira is more than a child; she’s a major source of comfort for her parents, who do everything they can to allow their family to lead normal lives. Nevertheless, Mira’s needs often take a back seat.

Commercially operated AI image generators reveal their hidden logic in the shimmering choreography of loading bars, confirmation windows, and beauty filters. Between gamification and advertising banners, the camera switches between the feverishly typed prompts of an invisible user and the AI-generated portraits. Algorithmic promise and lived uncertainty of the digital black box. A field of tension between the visible and the hidden, between conformity and difference, in which creativity must be renegotiated.

No technology has caused as much of a stir in recent years as artificial intelligence. However, understanding what AI is depends on the perspective of the observer. A short film attempts to describe a realistic perspective on this phenomenon. Therefore, the film's presentation refers to the actual form of AI: individual lines of code.

The artist Sarah Schrof is in her studio, where fragmentary soundscapes accompany her through the space. Observing and feeling her way, she follows fleeting materials and processes that unfold in the moment. Plants transform into pigments, colors slowly take shape. In the process, measurable time becomes a subjective sensation that is lost in the creative flow. An invitation to explore the connection between nature, art, and inner experience in this timeless space and to trace the fleeting moments.

Between memory and the digital realm, we create ghosts: of people around us and of ourselves, in long-forgotten game worlds that now lie dormant on hard drives. These ghosts haunt worlds that are slowly decaying and fading away. Human connections crumble if they are not nurtured—just like our memories and our data. The internet has claimed that it never forgets, but that's not true: it forgets very quickly. Our digital world is transient, even if we hardly want to admit it.

A view of the desktop. A text read aloud via Google Translate opens up a digital labyrinth of nested folders. Project folders lead to subfolders, images overlap, scenes appear and disappear again. While searching for order, the system threatens to collapse. Between self-staging, archival chaos, and loss of control, a cinematic essay emerges that opposes imposed order and inner overload. The paradox is that it was produced by the very system it questions.

How do we feel about the place where we grew up when it undergoes radical urbanization?

Through symbolic imagery — like the cocoon and the fragile exhalation — the journey of suffering and purification unfolds: a metamorphic process of death, release, and rebirth. The film reveals how the body’s inner messengers link pain, transformation, and hope, shaping both our perception and our very being.

One day, a child sits quietly and attentively in a dilapidated apartment building. A fan gently stirs the air as the child plays with a Rubik's cube, its colorful faces sparkling in the fading light. With delicate movements, the child crosses streets and alleys, discovering hidden possibilities. Despite the threat of decay, small moments full of play, wonder, and hope arise, nourishing creativity. A delicate contrast to the faceless world of adults and the impending collapse that threatens to engulf everything.

The film explores the relationship between consent and intimacy in the context of the acting profession. A chamber play starring Lola Fuchs and Mervan Ürkmez in the leading roles, the production is based on PR interviews. The verbal exchange between the two actors is interrupted by physical altercations, with exercises from intimacy coordination becoming choreographies.

A Neumann calls other people named Neumann and, instead of playing a prank, asks them what they can see from their windows. New images emerge.

When religious-patriarchal dogmas take precedence over women's right to self-determination: the documentary takes a critical look at the consequences of a merger between two hospitals in Flensburg.

The film addresses the despair of the post-war generation and emphasizes that we must not allow ourselves to suffer the same fate. In conversation with the director's grandmother, it becomes clear how important it is to accept the past and talk openly about it instead of repressing it—otherwise, we will stumble blindly toward the future.

During a police check, a discouraged actor realizes that he may be able to showcase his talents more successfully in real life.

In the early 1990s, undercover informant Ronny infiltrates a right-wing extremist cell. But when he realizes the state’s inaction, he begins to doubt his mission. To prevent an imminent attack and force the authorities to respond, he pushes the group toward further radicalization, bringing himself dangerously close to the very thing he was meant to fight.

The Upper Sorbian teenagers Annalena, Emma, and Hannah, as well as the Lower Sorbian artist Hella Stoletzki, talk about what being Sorbian means to them.

Super 8 material from the 1980s poses a mystery, so an Al tool is tasked with deciphering Berlin life. It recognizes surprising connections to the ancient city of Ekbatana.

What a beautiful day to watch the world fall apart. It feels like any other day. Waking up, cigarettes on the balcony. Two friends smoking together. Conversations about nothing, while, in the distance, an unknown chaos rises. What do they see?

The film tells the inspiring story of a young Moroccan skateboarder who defies societal norms to forge her own path in life. Growing up in a conservative environment, Houda is the only female skateboarder in her city. Her skateboard becomes her symbol of freedom and self-determination.

Seven-year-old Emily lives with her alcoholic father. She wears the fragile shell of an adult version of herself to care of her irresponsible father. As she cooks, cleans, and carries the heavy responsibilities her father won’t face, the cracks in her shell begin to show as pressure grows - until the shell shatters, revealing the overwhelmed child beneath.

Since it was founded in Barcelona in 2015 by ten female wind musicians, the Balkan Paradise Orchestra has established itself in a field traditionally reserved for men. These ten Spanish artists deliver a refreshing performance combining traditional Balkan fanfare and dance music and have already toured at festivals all over the world. Here they thrill the audience at Nuremberg's Bardentreffen in 2025.

After a hard day at work, all Arnold wants is to sink into the comfy couch and get lost in a good book. His peaceful evening suddenly spirals out of control as his craving for peace is drowned by his guilty conscience and a whole lot of meowing. So… who’s going to save Arnold’s evening? And more importantly - who’s going to save this annoying cat?

Nawal moved to Berlin from the West Bank to establish a life away from occupation, leaving behind her mother, an Israeli activist living in the West Bank. A meditation on daughterhood, motherhood and complex inheritance, the film explores the legacies of resistance passed down between Neta and Nawal at a moment of immense turmoil.

An old woman lives alone in her house in a Turkish village. The camera accompanies her in her daily rituals, and even though the gaze is focused on her, she does not return it. Her hands, marked by life, work routinely as she talks about the latest marriages. An attempt at dialog and making contact. An examination of family structures, unspoken worries, and empty spaces between the generations.

The river, an autonomous, natural creature, a living world composed of billions of micro and macro- organisms who are sensitive and yet exposed with no protection against the human economy.

Along the picturesque coast of South Africa stretches one of the most fascinating and unknown ecosystems on earth: the kelp forest. Consisting of meter-long brown algae, it stores as much CO2 as the Amazon rainforest. It is also home to numerous animal and plant species and a paradise of biodiversity: from crabs and starfish to small sharks and octopuses, many creatures use the kelp forest as a refuge. Kelp is also a healthy source of food, which is why the brown algae is currently experiencing a hype in South Africa.

Figurations, program organized by Helga Fanderl for Sessão Babel, at Cinemateca do MAM, in August 2025.