Diana-Maria Breuer

East Germany. Summer, late 70's. Three years after her boyfriend Wassilij's apparent death, Nelly Senff decides to escape from behind the Berlin wall with her son Alexej, leaving her traumatic memories and past behind. Pretending to marry a West German, she crosses the border to start a new life in the West. But soon her past starts to haunt her as the Allied Secret Service begin to question Wassilij's mysterious disappearance. Is he still alive? Was he a spy? Plagued by her past and fraught with paranoia, Nelly is forced to choose between discovering the truth about her former lover and her hopes for a better tomorrow.

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The film tells the story of Jochen, who lives with his divorced mother and her boyfriend. The family relationship is tense, the mother looks on helplessly. Out of frustration, Jochen steals a chocolate bar. Alex, an older classmate, observes him and takes advantage of the situation: Jochen begins to steal on Alex's behalf. Soon he is caught and sent to a reformatory... A group of students from Bonn filmed Hans-Georg Noack's bestseller for young people. “Escalator Down” is the successful debut of young filmmakers and impressively shows how a 13-year-old begins to steal and ends up in a downward social spiral. The writer Noack was so enthusiastic about the Bonn student group's script that he gave them exclusive permission to film his work. The result is remarkable and the film is particularly recommended for these reasons.

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