About nine years before the fall of the Berlin wall: Barbara, a doctor from Berlin, applies for an exit permit from the GDR. She is arrested and transferred to a provincial hospital. While her lover prepares for her escape to the West via the Baltic Sea, Barbara works as a paediatric surgeon, under frequent observation and controls. Her boss André appears to be cooperating with the state security employees. He does, at least, seem to approve of Barbara's commitment to the young outsider, Stella. Is he in love with his colleague? On the day of her escape, Barbara makes a surprising decision. This is a quiet, discreet film with
great attention to detail, thus offering an exact picture of life in the GDR - far removed from any ideological discourse.

Director: Christian Petzold, Germany 2012, 108 min
Awards: Berlinale 2012: Silver Bear for best Director; German Film
Academy Award 2012: Silver Lola; Gilde Film Prize 2012: Best National
Feature Film; German Film Critics' Awards 2012: Best Feature Film & Best
Cut; Official German Nomination to the 85th Oscar Academy Awards,
Category "Best Foreign Language Film"