Manuel Harder

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"The Straw That Broke" is a surrealist, micro-budget meta-fiction feature blending retro-futuristic aesthetics with philosophy to explore the boundaries between reality and the digital realm. "The virtual is viral," announces Clea Bardan, editor at DeBase SF, to Claudia Weiss, her overworked author of futuristic pulp fiction. Clea demands an impossible task: write five volumes within 31 hours. Claudia's journey spans from Stuttgart to Nueva York, a Harkonnen spaceship, and a water-based planet holding the secret to saving the multiverse from the O-Cloud—a virus destroying sentient life at its ontological core. But how much of this reality is authentic, and can a talking mouse from Claudia's own stories save the multiverse? Using diverse cinematic devices, the film tackles deep metaphysical questions while remaining a poignant story about loss, love, and hope for us all.

He was arrested 23 years ago. In May 1995, Germany's most famous building tycoon and fraudster was caught by FBI and BKA investigators in Miami. Jürgen Schneider had been hiding there with his wife Claudia for over 13 months after his flight from Germany triggered the biggest real estate bankruptcy of the post-war period. He left behind debts of over 5 billion Deutschmarks to more than 50 banks. Never before had the banking industry in Germany been so ripped off. But it was not only the banks that were affected, but also many, especially East German craft firms.

At an exhibition, graphic designer Stefanie is thrilled by the work of John Heartfield, the inventor of political photomontage 100 years ago. While trying to understand his life on the run, she suddenly finds herself in Heartfield's studio.

The shy late twenties Torsten tile lives with his mother in a bleak Berlin slab. In the guise of his alter ego "Lux - Warrior of Light" he tries to make the world a little bit better. He distributes food to the homeless and helps out on his forays through the city wherever he can. A film crew accompanies him to make a documentary about the social engagement of the self-appointed real-life superhero. Jan, the director, is still looking for a donor. The resourceful producer Brandt shows interest, but on condition that he sees something spectacular.

When his partner Susanne Koch is not lying in bed next to him as usual in the morning, Inspector Martin Brühl knows immediately that something is wrong. What he doesn't know is that Susanne has witnessed a crime on her way home at night. She was seriously injured when an ATM was blown up and was quickly taken away by the perpetrators.