Karl Markovics Movies

Two top German television personalities star in this comedy in which they parody the entertainment industry, as well as their own on-air personalities. In Cologne, Germany, the Tele-C network is in deep trouble -- they're stuck in the ratings cellar, the star of their most popular show has just quit, and the moneymen are not at all happy. Program director Conrad Scheffer (Harald Schmidt) thinks he sees a light at the end of the tunnel when he meets the partner of his assistant, Carla Sperling (Jasmin Tabatabai). Hannes Engel (Thomas Gottschalk) is a handsome and personable disc jockey working at a small radio station in the country, and Conrad is convinced he'd be perfect for television. All Conrad has to do is (a) convince Hannes to take the job, (b) get Carla over her belief that Hannes would be making a horrible mistake by going into television, and (c) get the network's current talk show host out of the way. Schmidt and Gottschalk have been called the Jay Leno and David Letterman of German TV, and their presence together made this comedy something of an event in its home country. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Politically enforced racial prejudice is parodied in this dark comedy from Austria. Stefan (Karl Markovics) is a bureaucrat with the Austrian government who supervises immigration issues; Stefan's politics lean rather strongly to the right and he has little use for people from abroad. Stefan and his wife Marion (Julia Stemberger) are expecting a baby, and when Marion goes into labor, she arrives at the hospital's maternity ward at the same time as Emine (Meltem Cumbul) and her husband Emre (Ahmet Ugurlu), a couple of Turkish birth who are also about to have a child. Marion and Emine end up sharing a room, leading to an argument between Stefan and Emre. Emre's quarrel with Stefan turns out to be an omen of things to come; though he and his wife have been living in Austria for close to ten years, a mix-up with the immigration department forces the couple and their young child to return to Turkey. However, a nurse at the hospital informs Marion of a terrible mistake -- she was accidentally given Emine's baby, and vice versa, and so Stefan and Marion travel to Turkey, hoping to track down the recently deported couple and exchange their children. Geboren in Absurdistan was directed by Allahyari Houchang, who began his career in Iran before relocating to Vienna in the wake of the Islamic revolution. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A young man who has developed an awareness of death wants to learn the secret history of his own life in this drama. Nineteen-year-old Roman Kogler (Thomas Schubert) has spent four years in a detention center for teens after being implicated in the death of another boy. Roman is thoughtful but withdrawn, making few friends with his fellow inmates and keeping his distance from the chaos that surrounds him. Roman's parole officer (Gerhard Liebmann) is trying to prepare him for his eventual freedom, and has made several efforts to place him in a work-release program, but Roman has a hard time readjusting to the outside world and getting along with others. Running out of opportunities, Roman is given a position at a mortuary, helping move and prepare recently arrived corpses, and while it doesn't seem to be a job that would agree with anyone, Roman unexpectedly bonds with his stern and sometimes contrary co-workers, and comes to respect the importance of their work. One day, Roman has to help with the body of a middle-aged woman named Kogler, and he begins to wonder if she's the woman who gave him up for adoption when he was an infant. While Roman's research soon confirms the woman was no relation to him, it sparks a keen interest in finding out more about the mother he's never known. Atmen (aka Breathing) was the first directorial credit for respected Austrian actor Karl Markovics; the film received its world premiere at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Directors' Fortnight program. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi