One of the buzziest titles at Berlin this year, İlker Çatak’s gripping high school drama shows an idealistic young math teacher (the extraordinary Leonie Benesch) seeking to rectify what she reads as a miscarriage of justice, only to make matters unfathomably worse. New to her school, Ms Nowak is reluctantly drawn into the interrogation of two grade 6 class representatives after a series of thefts. They cast suspicion on a Turkish classmate, Ali, despite his proclamation of innocence even after a search turns up a surprisingly fat wallet. Convinced racism is at play, the teacher decides to set up a sting operation to uncover the true culprit. An ethics master class, the film vividly returns us to the everyday anguish of normal school life, when even seemingly the most straightforward problem can open up a minefield of mistrust and humiliation.
C.I.C.A.E. Award, Berlin 2023
Community Partner
Leonie Benesch, Leonard Stettnisch, Eva Lobau, Micheal Klammer Anne-Kathrin Gummich
Germany
2023
Showcase
In German with English subtitles
Bullying
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Ingo Fliess
Screenwriter
Ilker Catak, Johannes Duncker
Cinematography
Judith Kaufmann
Editor
Gesa Jager
Original Music
Marvin Miller
Director
İlker Çatak
İlker Çatak was born in Berlin in 1984 and, the son of Turkish immigrants. He completed a master’s degree in directing at the Hamburg Media School. In 2017, Çatak made his first feature film, Es War Einmal Indianerland, the adaptation of the award-winning novel for young people by Nils Mohl. This was followed in 2019 by Es Gilt Das Gesprochene Wort. In 2021, the filmmaker adapted Finn-Ole Heinrich’s successful novel Rauberhande.
Filmography: Once Upon a Time… Indianerland (2017); I Was, I Am, I Will Be (2019); Stambul Garden (2021)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Kikuyu Land
Kikuyu Land follows Mr. Mungai’s struggle to reclaim family land taken during the colonial era. Through personal stories and archival research, the film explores the enduring impact of land dispossession in Kenya.
Crocodile
In Crocodile, a group of young, self-taught filmmakers turn Kaduna's streets, homes, and residents into the raw materials of sci-fi cinema. This Tribeca Viewpoints winner examines filmmaking as a means to overcome a city's constraints.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
A career thief’s circumstances grow desperate when he fences valuable merchandise stolen from a vengeful crime family. John Turturro is exquisite as a wiseacre who is typically one step ahead of everyone but now finds himself behind the eight ball.
Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird)
Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at this year's Berlinale, Anna Fitch and Banker White’s exuberant documentary combines vérité interviews with a playful mix of puppetry, collage, and insect actors to memorialize a friend.
Image: © Mirabel Pictures
Ceremony
Powerful and evocative, Ceremony follows the disappearance of the ooligan in Bella Coola, revealing a story of cultural survival, environmental stewardship, and the enduring relationship between the Nuxalk Nation and the land.
No Good Men
Naru, the sole camerawoman at a major Kabul newsroom, is convinced that there are “no good men” left in Afghanistan. But partnered with the station’s star reporter in the leadup to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, her outlook starts to shift.