Masha is German, Jewish, Azerbaijani and, when necessary, Russian or Turkish. She is fluent in five languages, and speaks a few more much “like the Ballermann tourists speak German”. Masha's boyfriend Elias struggles with the mystery surrounding her childhood in Baku. She doesn't want to talk about it, and he refuses to let it go. But Masha hates discussions about her “immigrant background” and terms like “post-migrant” – especially when they're used by her boyfriend from provincial eastern Germany. There's still Sami, who doesn't need words to understand, but he's on another continent. When Masha suddenly loses Elias, her world shatters. In a mad rush, she travels to Israel and searches the desert for a new life, a new love, a new beginning.
Fractures and fresh starts run through the protagonists' lives in Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt (All Russians Love Birch Trees). Their family histories are moulded by the fragility of the world: by collapsing private, political and social systems.
Premiere: 16. November 2013
Photo: Esra Rotthoff