Directed by:
Dominik GrafCinematography:
Benedict NeuenfelsComposer:
Dieter SchleipCast:
Max Riemelt, Jessica Schwarz, Ronald Zehrfeld, Devid Striesow, Kathrin Angerer, Volker Michalowski, Dietmar Huhn, Johannes Gabriel, Klaus Manchen (more)Plots(1)
Dresden in the Spring of 1961 – four months before the Berlin Wall was built. Siggi, aged 20, comes to Dresden to work as a set painter. He soon hopes to be able to take up studies at art school – thanks to the obligatory support and protection of his superiors. But his plans are foiled when he meets and falls in love with a young poet named Luise, whose poems are banned from publication in the recently founded GDR. Luise introduces Siggi to the "Red Cockatoo", a notorious nightclub that dares to play music from the West – something unheard of in the GDR at the time. Siggi soon makes friends with Wolle, Luise's fun-loving husband. Although there's bound to be a Stasi informer among the group, passing on to the department every single detail about what goes on in the "Red Cockatoo", Siggi finds himself being drawn deeper into this clique of young beatniks, members of the 'awkward squad', who each in their own way reject the new state – even as it struggles to establish itself. In order to raise money for the club and Luise – in whom he is more in love than ever in spite of his friendship with Wolle – he steals porcelain figures and sells them in West Berlin. Things come to a head when Wolle is suddenly arrested. And when Siggi uses his ill-gotten gains to print a volume of Luise's poetry without submitting it to the censor, he and Luise soon find themselves in the firing line. Should he stay or should he go? Should he come to terms with things as they are or start afresh? It's time for Siggi to make a decision. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Max Riemelt
East Germany
Jessica Schwarz
West Germany
Best movies:
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
Off Beat (2004)
Death of a Superhero (2011)
Ronald Zehrfeld
East Germany
Best movies:
Dying (2024)
The Silent Revolution (2018)
Line of Separation (2015) (series)
Devid Striesow
East Germany
Best movies:
Downfall (2004)
Before the Fall (2004)
My Brother Simple (2017)
Kathrin Angerer
East Germany
Best movies:
The Final Journey (2017)
Russendisko (2012)
Gundermann (2018)
Volker Michalowski
East Germany
Best movies:
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Lives of Others (2006)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Dietmar Huhn
German Empire
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Johannes Gabriel
East Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Maximum Speed - Renn' um dein Leben! (2002) (TV movie)
Klaus Manchen
German Empire
Best movies:
The White Ribbon (2009)
Aimee & Jaguar (1999)
Line of Separation (2015) (series)
Nina-Friederike Gnädig
West Germany
Best movies:
Death of a Superhero (2011)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Peter Schneider
East Germany
Best movies:
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
System Crasher (2019)
Berlin Calling (2008)
Katharina Spiering
East Germany
Best movies:
About a Girl (2014)
Lore (2012)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Tobias Lehmann
East Germany
Best movies:
Willenbrock (2005)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Ingeborg Westphal
East Germany
Best movies:
Life Is All You Get (1997)
Off Beat (2004)
The Elementary Particles (2006)
Frank Auerbach
East Germany
Best movies:
Ein Tick anders (2011)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Whiskey with Vodka (2009)
Olaf Hais
Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Tanja Schleiff
East Germany
Best movies:
Downfall (2004)
Shoppen (2006)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Ljubisa Ristic
Yugoslavia
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Jean Denis Römer
Germany
Best movies:
Generation War (2013) (series)
Free Country (2019)
Wolves of Berlin (2009) (series)
Heiko Senst
Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Alma & Oskar (2022)
The Promise (1995)