Je Suis Karl

Somewhere in Berlin. Not just some day – today.

A parcel in a hallway.

ALEX, a husband and father of three, leaves his flat to get wine from his car. In the confusion that follows, he's torn from the routine of everyday life and fails to ever find his footing again.

MAXI, his daughter and a strong young woman, sets out into what might pass as life. It’s a brutal weaning process though, and she ends up angry and demanding answers.

KARL set off long ago. He is beguiling, smart as a whip and has the answers Maxi craves. He entices her in, recognising her rage and provides the requisite outlet. Part of a growing radical movement, he dances with her on a razor's edge.

Today in Berlin. Tomorrow in Prague. Soon in Strasbourg and all across Europe.

This is a power grab.

Christian Schwochow studied directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg from 2002 to 2008, where he graduated with his feature debut NOVEMBER CHILD (2008). It was followed by CRACKS IN THE SHELL (2011), his television debut The Tower (2012) and the feature WEST (2013). Schwochow subsequently directed ARD's TV film Bornholmer Straße (2014). Heute ist nicht alle Tage [The Perpetrators], the first part of ARD's NSU German History X trilogy, also garnered great interest. In 2016, his feature PAULA, a portrait of the remarkable painter Paula Modersohn-Becker, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. In 2018, Schwochow's highly acclaimed and multiple award-winning television series Bad Banks premiered at the Berlinale. Christian Schwochow also directed two episodes for the third season of the internationally acclaimed British royal family series The Crown. Schwochow's cinematic adaptation of Siegfried Lenz' classic novel THE GERMAN LESSON followed in the fall of 2019. In 2020, he went on to film the international bestseller Munich for Netflix. Schwochow's works have been doted with many prestigious awards, including the Grimme Award, the Max Ophüls Audience Award, the German Film Award, the Bavarian Film Award and the German Television Award. JE SUIS KARL is his sixth feature.

DIRECTOR'S FILMOGRAPHY