With BLINDGÄNGER, award-winning director Kerstin Polte presents a moving and profound drama with an excellent, diverse ensemble cast (including Anne Ratte-Polle, Haley Louise Jones, Bernhard Schütz, Claudia Michelsen, Daniel Sträßer, Karl Markovics, Ivar Wafaei, Lukas von Horbatschewsky and many more).
A kaleidoscope of fates, BLINDGÄNGER tells of intergenerational traumas, the search for humanity and unexpected solidarity in the midst of chaos from different perspectives with sensitivity, subtle tension and warm humor. The director skillfully and empathetically links personal fates with the virulent question of emotional resilience in an uncertain world and takes an exploratory look at what connects us when everything else seems to be falling apart.
After its world premiere at the Hamburg Film Festival and many other festival stops, the film will be released in cinemas nationwide on May 29, 2025. It has also just been awarded the “valuable” rating.

An unexploded bomb from the Second World War is found in an urban residential area. While the bustling neighborhood is thrown into a state of emergency, our heroes struggle not only with the external danger - but also with their own inner explosions.
Experienced bomb disposal expert LANE (48) is actually not easily rattled by anything. But today she is in the eye of the hurricane - literally: not only is an approaching storm threatening the defusing of the bomb, but her mother MARGIT (83) lives in the very house that towers monolithically into the city sky next to the bomb site. Margit has not left her home for years and refuses to follow the evacuation order: Her early childhood memories of the Hamburg bombing nights are triggered and reinforce the echo chamber of her repressed fears.
Now, of all times, Lane's boss OTTO (63) learns of a possible cancer - and evades everything, the bomb and his broken marriage to HANNE (61). So much responsibility increases the pressure on Lane, and her rising panic attack is recognized too late by her new colleague on the defusing team, psychologist AVA (32). Perhaps also because her view is clouded by her attraction to Lane. Otto's sudden disappearance is the last straw for Hanne. She can and will no longer suppress her inner emptiness and finally allows herself to explode. She receives support from her student WILLIAM (17) of all people, who is torn between responsibility and a personal outburst - until he realizes that only he can save himself.
The young Afghan refugee JUNIS (17) has supposedly found safe refuge with Margit's dedicated neighbor VIKTOR (60) for a while now, but today his fear of being discovered is greater than ever. His game of hide-and-seek takes an unexpected turn.
Viktor meets Otto by chance and, like so many before him, takes him under his wing. Otto can finally let go and feel himself like never before. While the storm becomes an incalculable risk, our heroes form unexpected alliances, force overdue ruptures and allow sincere confessions. And then there's the real bomb that's ticking...

The director and screenwriter Kerstin Polte completed her film training in the film class at the HfG Karlsruhe and at the Zurich University of the Arts. She was a scholarship holder of the Munich Screenwriting Workshop and the European directing support program EKRAN. Her graduation film 510 METERS OVER THE SEA was shown at over 150 international film festivals and marked the beginning of her successful career. LETZTE RUNDE premiered at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival. In 2016, she released the award-winning documentary KEIN ZICKENFOX, which portrays the largest female wind orchestra in the world. Kerstin's first feature film WER HAT EIGENTLICH DIE LIEBE ERFUNDEN? was critically acclaimed and won several prestigious awards, including the Bavarian Film Award for Best Newcomer Director.
Kerstin Polte directed various episodes of the series WIR and BECOMING CHARLIE, the latter of which received numerous awards and a nomination for the German Television Award for Best Drama Series. Her work delights viewers and critics alike. She has established herself as an innovative and influential filmmaker in the German film landscape. She is a member of the German Film Academy, a lecturer at various film schools and a jury member of the new federal cultural film funding program.