Lichter (German: Lights; English title Distant Lights) is a German film, released in 2003. The film takes place on the Polish-German border at Słubice and Frankfurt (Oder). It has an ensemble cast, and the various threads illustrate the daily life between the two countries.

Plot summary

Unlike many ensemble films, the subplots of the film mostly do not interconnect with each other, and the film ends without a finale. Instead, the story threads illustrate life on the border between two countries; what appears to be poverty and desparation to some is a promised land for others, worth risking their lives to reach. The threads are:

• Kolya, a Ukrainian, has paid to be smuggled into Germany illegally; he finds he has been left on the Polish side of the border. When he is caught, a German translator agrees to smuggle him herself; he reaches Berlin.
• Ingo, a German mattress salesman, finds business in Frankfurt to be minimal and the people self-interested. He is humiliated and becomes desparate, but may have found love in Sonja.
• Antoni, a Polish taxi driver, struggles to find the money to buy a communion dress for his daughter. By the time he is able to afford it, he is too late. (This subplot pays homage to Ken Loach's film Raining Stones.)
• Philip, a young German architect, runs into his Polish former girlfriend while working on a building project in Słubice. Neither the romance nor the project works out.
• Anna and Dimitri, a young Ukrainian couple who are swindled out of their money and try, with Antoni's help, to cross the river Oder, almost drowning in the attempt.
• Andreas, a young German orphan who smuggles cigarettes, attempts to take the money and run away with a girl from the children's home.

Reception

• The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2003 Berlinale
• 2002 Bundesfilmpreis in silver
• Best Direction, Best Script, 2003 Bavarian Film Prize

Main cast

• Iwan Shwedoff: Kolya
• Devid Striesow: Ingo
• Alice Dwyer: Katharina
• Zbigniew Zamachowski: Antoni
• Maria Simon: Sonja
• Michael Gerber: Rainer Petzold
• Herbert Knaup: Klaus Fengler
• August Diehl: Philip
• Henry Hübchen: Werner Wilke

External links

• Official site

2002 films | Drama films | German films

Lichter | Lichter