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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 40 movies from Das kleine Fernsehspiel
An aging poet finds purpose mentoring Yurlady, a talented teen, though exposing her to the poetry scene might be unwise. His own poetic pursuits led nowhere, leaving him a stereotypical obscure writer.
Aug 2025
Four adolescent girls each spend their youth in the same farmhouse over the last century. Though separated by decades, resonances between their lives emerge: their desires and distress, secrets and truths, encounters with another’s gaze and defiant gaze in return.
In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, teenage Nafisa is raised on heroic tales of battling British colonizers told by her grandmother, the village matriarch Al-Sit. But when a young businessman arrives from abroad with a new development plan and genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes the center of a power play to determine the future of the village. Awakening to her own strength, Nafisa sets out to save the cotton fields – and herself. Neither she nor her community will ever be the same again.
Apr 2026
Julia and Tobias discover that their daughter Marielle has suddenly developed telepathic abilities and can see and hear everything they do. This leads to situations ranging from the awkward to the absurd as uncomfortable truths are revealed.
Apr 2025
While handing out food at a charity organization, Laura, Evîn and Julia unexpectedly cross paths. Laura, a released prisoner, defends Evîn, a Kurdish woman, when she is racially insulted by a man waiting in line. Eventually the situation gets out of hand.
Feb 2026
Fifteen-year-old Gabo seems like a regular teenager who goes to school, plays video games with his best friend, and does other things a normal teenager would do – except he’s not. He has tendencies he knows to be wrong, but cannot control. He befriends Dave, a much older man with his fantasies. Lines soon start to blur between a trusting friendship and being groomed. Once Dave is arrested on suspicion of statutory rape, Gabo must suddenly decide whether to testify against his mentor with the risk of exposing his secret.
Nov 2024
Mar is ready to leave the tiny island of Malta behind, and her estranged mother's death gives her the perfect way out: an inheritance of valuable farmland that she can sell. But when greedy relatives contest her claim, Mar's plans hit a snag. As she fights to secure her future, Mar meets Nenu, a spirited troubadour whose vibrant folk songs, rooted in Malta's ancient għana tradition, awaken emotions she's long buried.
Heike works at a cleaning company, where every day she has to handle her team’s struggles, the pressure of delivering a spotless job, and the need to keep clients and boss happy. When a powerful subcontractor threatens to withdraw his support if she does not provide more work for his team, Heike faces a difficult choice. To comply, she must sacrifice one of her own employees. As the pressure closes in, Heike must decide how far she is willing to go to meet the job’s ruthless demands.
Jun 2026
A film shoot takes a dark turn when the burning of a Quran throws the crew into turmoil. Caught in accusations, intern Elif is drawn into a dangerous game of secrets and lies, finding herself at the heart of an all-absorbing conspiracy.
May 2025
Sixteen-year-old Ilay drifts through the summer on the outskirts of Berlin while a palliative nurse accompanies his ailing mother during her last days.
Aug 2026
Chronicle of a Disappearance unfolds in a series of seemingly unconnected cinematic tableaux, each of them focused on incidents or characters which seldom reappear later in the film. Among the many unrelated scenes, there is a Palestinian actress struggling to find an apartment in West Jerusalem, the owner of the Holy Land souvenir shop preparing merchandise for incoming Japanese tourists, a group of old women gossiping about their relatives, and an Israeli police van which screeches to a halt so several heavily armed soldiers can get off the car and urinate.
Sep 1996
A middle-aged fisherman living with his wife and daughter on Greece’s northern border, who is drowning in debt, starts to smuggle migrants across the border lake, in exchange for a hefty fee. Until a tragic incident strikes the family, pushing the three heroes to face their own personal impasses and weaknesses.
Jan 2023
Spending every evening in a new and mysterious stranger’s bed, capricious transient Nore agrees to move into a spare room eagerly offered to her by Jonna, a reserved medical student. Against the odds, this unlikely pair finds solace in each other and fall into an intoxicating pattern of partying hard at night with the local men vying for their attention. As their relationship intensifies, Nore’s troubled past comes to light and threatens to dismantle the blissfully ignorant, inexplicably jubilant lifestyle they’ve built together in this “candy-colored, flamboyant and deeply personal film.” (Variety)
Jan 2026
Four young people from Berlin decide to spend their summer in Portugal. They throw away their smart phones, open up their relationships and try to free themselves from any social norms. But just as their utopia comes true, a devastating forest fire breaks out around them.
May 2026
Katharina, Ricky, Victoria and Malou live in an assisted living group. There they have built up an anarchic utopia as an alternative to everything they reject: Parents, school, rules. With social worker Ballack as a half-hearted guardian, things go well until their “live and let live” agreement starts to falter.
Oct 2025
Today, Mel (34) belongs to the winners in life, but that wasn’t always the case. The thought of her own past so upsets the self-made millionaire’s that she summarily buys the large panel systems-building where she grew up. She would like to come to terms with her history, but the past is a stubborn beast.
Oct 2024
As Tobias, a young director, supposes that his girl-friend Ellen had an affair with his brother Markus, front man of "Hansen", one year ago, he decides to shoot a documentary about the band's next tour. When Ellen joins the project, everybody's emotions boil over, although they are observed all the time.
Oct 2005
At a wellness retreat deep in Germany's forests, a group of young Americans encounter a terrifying presence after a night of partying. As fear and paranoia take hold, they must uncover the truth before it's too late.
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Three actors - Lizzy, Marlon, and Ohboy - navigate city life between rehearsals, nightlife, and alienation. Marlon, new to town, struggles with his role and babysitting. Lizzy chases fame yet finds only transactional glamour in a club. Ohboy, adept yet trapped, drifts comically through urban traps. Linked by rehearsals for “City as Prey,” three episodes chronicle loneliness, friendship, and survival.
Jun 2005
When 12-year-old Lou’s narcissistic artist father, Edgar, realises his money is running out - he comes up with the absurd and morbid idea of faking his own death.