Movies by Laura Tonke
When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before
Growing up on the grounds of one of Germany's largest psychiatric hospitals is somehow - different. For Joachim, the director's youngest son, the patients are like family. They are also much nicer to him than his two older brothers, who drive him into fits of rage. His mother, painting watercolors, longs for Italian summer nights instead of constant German rain, while his father secretly, but not discreetly enough, goes his own way. But while Joachim slowly grows up, his world, not only through the loss of his first love, gets more and more ...
I Am Guilty
Armin Steeb is adrift: just finished with school, living with his middle-class parents, clueless about finding work. He tries connecting with a girl, he engages in risky sex with strangers in public toilets, he goes to job interviews. He also sends an anonymous letter to a local Munich newspaper, claiming responsibility for a fatal road accident. He fitfully pursues notoriety as he goes through life nearly without affect. What will it take to get Armin to smile?
Caveman
Robert Müller has wanted to be a comedian since he was a kid, but he's only made it as a car salesman so far. This is about to change when he takes part in an open-mic show. He puts the program together with his imaginary friend, the stone-age Caveman. Then his girlfriend Claudia breaks up with him...
Ach, diese Lücke, diese entsetzliche Lücke
Twenty-year-old Joachim is unexpectedly accepted at drama school in Munich and moves into his grandparents' upper-class villa. From then on, he tries to find his identity as a young man between the world of theater and the everyday life of his eccentric grandparents.
The Garden
In the summer of 1976, a shared family yard becomes the setting, as the adults bicker over selling the garden and the kids are free to explore the mysterious neighboring lot. Then they hear about a girl that has disappeared...
Axolotl Overkill
Mifti is a teenager as beautiful as she is reckless. Mentally unstable, fed up with her dysfunctional family, oblivious to the youthful world, and aware of the sexual magnetism she gives off with her peculiar appearance, she wanders through the dark path of several bohemian adults with questionable lifestyles.
Gnadenlos - Zur Prostitution gezwungen
A Czech woman is kidnapped in Berlin and forced into prostitution. The man behind the kidnapping is a respected businessman. He is on the wanted list, but so far nothing has been proven against him. This changes when a young female detective becomes involved in the investigation.
Amrum
Island Amrum, early 1945: Hunting seals, fishing at night, nothing is too dangerous for 10-year old Nanning. He helps his mother to feed their family during the last days of war. After the war ends, new conflicts and challanges arise and Nanning has to find his own path in life.
Hedi Schneider Is Stuck
A model family's happy life unexpectedly goes off the rails when the carefree Hedi, played by Laura Tonke, suddenly starts having panic attacks. First mental illness and then drug dependency – the happiness that these happy-go-lucky thirty-somethings once took for granted suddenly seems unattainable, and their world fragile and uncertain.
22 Bahnen
Tilda's days are strictly structured: she studies, works at the supermarket checkout and looks after her little sister Ida - on some days she also has to look after her alcoholic mother. But this summer brings a change: Tilda receives a promising job offer for a doctorate in Berlin. Viktor also turns up, who, like her, always swims 22 laps in the swimming pool. When Tilda begins to believe that everything could be better, the situation at home spirals out of control.
Wintersleepers
Young blonde translator Rebecca lives with her boyfriend ski instructor Marco in a mountain villa owned by her friend, nurse Laura. Rene, local cinema projectionist, steals Marco's car and gets into a car crash with local Theo, whose daughter, after being in coma for a time, dies. Rene suffers from partial short term memory loss and starts a relationship with Laura. Meanwhile Marco is looking for the man who stole his car and Theo - for the man who killed his daughter...
Too Hard to Handle
It's no surprise when Karo is fired. She is loud, over-emotional and egocentric, more so than the average Berliner wise-ass, says her best friend Anna. Karo is not one to give up easily, though: she opts for radical change and goes into therapy. Although her therapist advises her to keep calm, Karo throws herself into it.
Geisterstunde - Fahrstuhl ins Jenseits
While they are stuck in the elevator, three employees of a TV station tell each other stories about supernatural phenomena. They tell of the “dream girlfriend” of a 16-year-old girl who fell victim to a crime 33 years ago; of a bully who turns out to be an alien; and of a comic artist who falls victim to his mirror doppelganger.
The People vs. Fritz Bauer
It is the late 1950s. Flourishing under the economic miracle, Germany grows increasingly apathetic about confronting the horrors of its recent past. Nevertheless, Fritz Bauer doggedly devotes his energies to bringing the Third Reich to justice. One day Bauer receives a letter from Argentina, written by a man who is certain that his daughter is dating the son of Adolph Eichmann. Excited by the promising lead, and mistrustful of a corrupt judiciary system where Nazis still lurk, Bauer journeys to Jerusalem to seek alliance with Mossad, the Isr...
Baader
Andreas Baader starts out as a small-time criminal. In Berlin, he is recruited by a revolutionary cell. They plan to overthrow the state.
Maret
After losing part of her memory, Maret, 44, sets out to find out who she used to be. She learns about the many different life paths she followed, in none of which anything was ever really achieved. A profoundly unhappy person in a never-ending, headlong rush. A doctor on the island of Lanzarote offers to put this restlessness to an end through brain surgery. A promise of peace and satisfaction. Will Maret proceed with the surgery that would take away part of her being - or not?
Turn Down the Music
In Essen, four ordinary teenage Death Metal fanatics are looking for the best way to kill time. There are girls, cigarettes, drive-ins and petty larceny but nothing moves the needle.
Mission: Love
Hans calls his girlfriend Heinz, which tells you everything you need to know about their relationship. They're a typical couple who're stuck in a rut after eight years. Hans works at a copy shop and Heinz is an actress relegated to voicing a cartoon stoplight. On their anniversary, they go to the movies. It's a romance. But the spark on screen just doesn't strike them. When Hans gives Heinz's ex her phone number instead of putting up a fight over her, Heinz' alarm bells go off: How can this be love? They decided to make a list of everything ...
A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love
Anna is 60 and her acting heyday is now behind her. She lives on her own but has a friend and confidant in her downstairs neighbour Michel, who is also single. Reluctantly, Anna accepts a job as a language coach for 17-year-old Adrian who has a speech impediment and is something of a misfit. She recognises him as the boy who recently snatched her handbag in the street.
Mein Lotta-Leben - Alles Tschaka mit Alpaka
Lotta Petermann is looking forward to her first class trip. Finally without parents and with her best friends Amrum unsicher machen - that promises pure adventure! But Mama Sabine sabotages Lotta's plans and suggests Papa Rainer, of all people, to accompany her on the class trip - how embarrassing!