A small holiday house by the Baltic sea. The days are hot and it hasn’t rained in weeks. Four young people come together, friends old and new. As the parched forests around them begin to ignite, so do their emotions. Happiness, lust and love; but also jealousies, resentments and tensions. Meanwhile the forests burn. And before long, the flames are there.
He was born in Hilden (Germany) in 1960.He studied German and Drama at Freie Universität Berlin and then, from 1988 to 1994, Film at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). ). After his first feature films (‘Pilots’, 1995; ‘Cuba Libre’, 1996; and ‘The Sex Thief’, 1998), he won the German Film Award for best film with ‘The State I Am In’ (2000). His films, distinguished with important awards at numerous international festivals, usually have their world premiere at the Berlin Festival, where he won Panorama’s Fipresci award for ‘Wolfsbur’ (2003), the Silver Bear for best actress for Nina Hoss in ‘Yella’ (2007), the Silver Bear for best director for ‘Barbara’ (2012), the Fipresci for ‘Undine’ (2020) and the Grand Jury Prize for ‘Afire’ (2023). Additionally, he competed at the Venice Film Festival with ‘Jerichow’ (2008) and won the Fipresci in San Sebastián with ‘Phoenix’ (2014).