My Sweet Home

By Filippos Tsitos

A group of tragic-comically stories, which take place during the failed „wedding-eve-night” of an American exile and a German woman. Stories about people who lost the aim in life: what they have, they don’t want, and what they want, they’ll probably never get. Realizing the absurdity of this trap, they celebrate their misfortune, at least for a night.
A film about the search for a foothold in life, a solid ground to walk on and a place to call home.

Germany 2001, 87 min.

Director	Filippos Tsitos
Script	Filippos Tsitos
Producer	Thanassis Karathanos Karl Baumgartner Fenia Cossovitsa
Production	Twenty Twenty Vision Pandora Filmproduktion Ideefixe Productions
in co-production with	ZDF-ARTE, DFFB, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, Prooptiki
Comissioning Editor ZDF	Burkhard Althoff Das kleine Fernsehspiel
supported by	Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Eurimages Council of Europe, Greek Film Center
Distributor	Kinowelt
World Sales	ARRI Media World Sales

On the eve of a wedding, a Polterabend (German for “wedding shower”) is in full swing in a quirky, dilapidated café in Berlin.

Bruce Winter, an American, has just persuaded his German girlfriend Anke to marry him, even though they have only known each other for a month. But while Anke is now determined to finally establish a proper family for herself and her fatherless baby, Bruce suddenly begins to get cold feet: should he marry and settle for a more purposeful life in Berlin, or should he leave it all behind and return to “Cali’fuckin’fornia”?

Weaving through the fates of Bruce and Anke are the various dramas of the other, “multicultural” guests who happen to be in the café that evening, invited or not. All those present seem faced with the same dilemma: What is home? Where is it?…

Each has his personal reason to stay “here” or to leave for “there”. Each has his own vision of home which, for each, seems practically unattainable. They are all losers in one way or another and they know it. And they finally poke fun at their predicament by challenging themselves to the ultimate test… “do you dare call your parents and admit you are a failure?”
What follows is a collective tragi-comic escapade which spins out of control and turns into a wild celebration of futility…

Actor / Actress	Character
Harvey Friedman	Bruce
Nadja Uhl	Anke
Mario Mentrup	Owner of the pub
Monika Hansen	Ankes Mother
Neil D´Souza	Ino
Peter Lewan	Harmut
Bernard Liegme	Hakim
David Monteiro	Brasilian Guy

Director of Photography	Hanno Lentz
Editor	Petar Markovic
	Nebojsa Stanojevic
Sound Design	Andreas Koeppen
Re-recording Mixer	Martin Steyer
Art-Direction	Isabel Ott
Set Design	Peter Weber
Music	Dr. Nelle Karajilic
	Dejan Sparavalo

International Premiere:
16.02.2001, 51th Int. Filmfestspiele Berlin

Festivals / Awards (selection):
Nominated for FIRST STEPS, 2001
Rencontres internationales de Télévision, 2003
– Prix du meilleur téléfilm
– Audience Award
Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin / Wettbewerb, 2001
Troia International Film Festival, 2001
Internationales Filmfest Emden-Aurich-Norderney, 2001
St. Petersburg Festival of Festivals, 2001
Moscow International Film Festival, 2001
Midnight Sun Film Festival (Sodankyls), 2001
Sao Paulo International Film Festival, 2001
Kinofest Lünen, 2001
International Filmfestival Thessaloniki, 2001