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
Volker Ranisch
East Germany
Best movies:
Frei (2013) (TV movie)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Rainer Reiners
West Germany
Best movies:
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Never Look Away (2018)
Sense8 (2015) (series)
Constanze Behrends
East Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Die Grenze (2010) (TV movie)
Thomas Wendrich
East Germany
Best movies:
Me and Kaminski (2015)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Lutz Teschner
Germany
Best movies:
Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Mike Zaka Sommerfeldt
East Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Carl & Bertha (2011) (TV movie)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Lars Jokubeit
Best movies:
Das Wunder von Berlin (2008) (TV movie)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Axel Werner
Best movies:
System Crasher (2019)
Alaska.de (2000)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Reiner Heise
Best movies:
The Tunnel (2001)
Der Aufenthalt (1983)
The Woman and the Stranger (1985)
Nadja Petri
East Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Wir sind das Volk - Liebe kennt keine Grenzen (2008) (TV movie)
Ein starkes Team (1994) (series)
Bianca Künzel
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Karl-Heinz von Liebezeit
West Germany
Best movies:
Operation Valkyrie (2004) (TV movie)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Cornelia Hudl
Best movies:
The Woman and the Stranger (1985)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Heike Thiem-Schneider
East Germany
Best movies:
The People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015)
Because You're Mine (2019) (TV movie)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Michael Gerber
German Empire
Best movies:
The Lives of Others (2006)
Der Aufenthalt (1983)
Before the Fall (2004)
Uwe Lach
East Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Mein Kampf (2009)
Christoph Heckel
Best movies:
Goethe! (2010)
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Angelika Hart
East Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Stefan Sommer
East Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Dresden (2006) (TV movie)
Flightplan (2005)
Harald Grundschok
West Germany
Best movies:
The Red Cockatoo (2006)
Im Spessart sind die Geister los (2010) (TV movie)
Die Krähen (2006) (TV movie)