Movies by Joel Basman

The Colony

The Colony

In the not-too-distant future: after a global catastrophe has wiped out nearly all of humanity on Earth, an elite astronaut from Space Colony Kepler must make a decision that will seal the fate of the people on both planets.

Land of Mine

Land of Mine

In the days following the surrender of Germany in May 1945, a group of young German prisoners of war is handed over to the Danish authorities and subsequently sent to the West Coast, where they are ordered to remove the more than two million mines that the Germans had placed in the sand along the coast. With their bare hands, crawling around in the sand, the boys are forced to perform the dangerous work under the leadership of a Danish sergeant.

Chess Story

Chess Story

1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Five stories, all taking place on New Year's Eve in Zurich, Switzerland.

Late Shift

Late Shift

Matt, a smart student, has to prove his innocence after being forced to take part in a bold heist at a famous London auction house. The consequences take him on a journey across London to escape the twisted web he finds himself caught in, discover the truth and gain his retribution. How will the audience decide to act when everything is turning against him?

Nussknacker und Mausekönig

Nussknacker und Mausekönig

At Christmas, the young Mary receives a wonderful nutcracker that takes life. She becomes witness to his fierce struggle against the mouse king.

Dawn

Dawn

The story is set in Palestine in 1947, during the British mandate period. The Zionists are fighting for the establishment of a Jewish state, and four comrades in arms pressure the young Elisha to overcome his moral qualms and fully commit to the armed struggle.

Chris the Swiss

Chris the Swiss

Croatia, 7th of January 1992: In the middle of the war, a young journalist's body is discovered dressed in the uniform of an international mercenary group. Twenty years later, his cousin Anja Kofmel investigates his story.

Löwenzahn - Das Kinoabenteuer

Löwenzahn - Das Kinoabenteuer

Little Fritz Fuchs and his friend Roman Zenkert are about to recover Hannibal's legendary Alpenschatz. However, as an avalanche in the cave goes down, the jammed Fritz is ignored by his "buddy" ignominiously. Decades later, Fuchs is overtaken by his past. Because the nasty Zenkert still wants to get by all means in the possession of the treasure. After many entanglements and entanglements, the second treasure hunt in the mountains leads to a heated finale.

The Working Man

The Working Man

After his parents' death, construction worker Sigi doesn't know what to do with his life. He can't do much with his pay, and as a working-class man, women aren't interested in him. But things start to change after a colleague advises him to start moonlighting as a private builder and he meets the beautiful Hannah.

Summer Outside

Summer Outside

An unusually hot summer. Fourteen year-old Wanda moves with her family from Berlin to Switzerland. Everything will be better here. The move is meant to heal the open wounds of the family. Anna, the mother, has lost her self-confidence due to an affair her husband Joachim had in Berlin. The big house with the overgrown garden and the pretty small town all seems like one big promise. But the new beginning is difficult for everyone. Joachim, 40, throws himself into family activism while Anna, also 40, tries to strengthen the family with new rit...

Stella. A Life.

Stella. A Life.

Stella, grows up in Berlin during the rule of the Nazi regime. She dreams of a career as a jazz singer, despite all the repressive measures she is forced to go into hiding with her parents in 1944, her life turns into a culpable tragedy.

Puppylove

Puppylove

Diane is a mysterious and lonely teenager. Sharing special bonds with her father Christian, she takes care of the education of her brother Marc. The arrival of Julia in the neighborhood, a charismatic and liberated young British woman, is going to disturb Diane’s daily life. Desperately willing to become an adult, Diane is going to live, for a semester, the most shattering experiences of her life. The more she gets close to Julia, the more she gets irresponsible, ignoring consequences and limits to her desires.

As We Were Dreaming

As We Were Dreaming

Andreas Dresen's adaptation of Clemens Meyer's novel about a group of East German friends right after the fall of the Wall.

Rosannas Tochter

Rosannas Tochter

Once Upon a Time in Indian Country

Once Upon a Time in Indian Country

A wild genre mix between a boxer film, urban western, road movie and music video, set at end of the summer holidays in a drab neighborhood in the outskirts of Hamburg suburbia. Young boxing talent Mauser is preparing for a pivotal competition when his father kills his step-mother and flees. Trying to find his father, Mauser embarks on a journey through the world of music, psychedelia, violence, love and a biblical thunderstorm. And what is with the Native American? "Once upon a time in Indian country" is a story that radiates both, heat and...

Lubo

Lubo

Lubo Moser is a jenisch, a gypsy. Mirana, who tried to oppose him, was killed. But how could this have happened? Why? Because Switzerland considers nomadism a social scourge, and, to eradicate it, it takes the children of the jenisch. Thus, without children, the Jenisch will be without a future. The mastermind is a state-run humanitarian institution, Pro Juventute, the arm the Street Children's Work: everything is perfectly legal and there is no opposition to the law. Lubo feels himself dying. And something about him really does die, on that...

We Are Young. We Are Strong.

We Are Young. We Are Strong.

On 24th August 1992 in the eastern German city of Rostock a rampaging mob, to the applause and cheering of more than 3,000 bystanders, besieged and set fire to a residential building containing, among others, more than 120 Vietnamese men, women and children on what has since become known as "The Night of the Fire." The riots became a symbol for xenophobia in the just recently reunited Germany. This film recounts the incident from the perspectives of three very different characters.

Head Burst

Head Burst

Markus is a handsome and respectable architect who has a secret: he is a pedophile. Despite feeling disgust of himself, Markus can't help but feel attracted to young boys. When he thinks he won't be able to suppress his deepest feelings, he decides to isolate himself.

Ziellos

Ziellos