World premiere
The Frog and the Water
A heartfelt road movie where two lonely human souls find each other.
Stefan Busch (Aladdin Detlefsen), or just Buschi to his friends, is a true ray of sunshine who wouldn’t even hurt a fly. Everyone simply loves him. Unfortunately, Buschi has Down's syndrome, which prevents him from living independently and stops the adventurous young man, who has been silent all his life, from leaving the care home.
But the world is waiting to be discovered. One day, Buschi joins the other residents of the care home on a city tour. He gets separated from the group and boards a bus carrying a group of Japanese tourists. Thus begins a road trip across Germany, during which the silent young man’s kind manner melts everyone’s heart. Hideo (Kanji Tsuda), a restrained Japanese businessman who has recently lost a brother, feels that Buschi has not ended up on their bus by chance. These two seemingly so different men are linked by an unspoken bond.
The director of this film, inspired by Buddhist philosophy, Thomas Stuber (“In the Aisles”, 2018), is no stranger to the PÖFF audiences. His latest film is entirely different from his earlier works, offering the kind of warm humour that we can never have too much of in life.
Helmut Jänes
Thomas Stuber (1981) is a Leipzig-born German director and screenwriter. After graduating high school, he completed a number of different internships and assistantships in the film industry. Starting in 2002, he worked on several film and TV productions as a script/continuity supervisor and director's assistant. From 2004 to 2011, he studied stage direction at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. During this time, he received several awards for his short film “Es geht uns gut” (“We're fine”, 2006) and for “Teenage Angst” (2008). His graduating film “Of Dogs and Horses” (2011) won the Student Oscar in Silver as well as the German Short Film Award. In 2015, together with Clemens Meyer, he received the German Screenplay Award for “In den Gängen” (“In the Aisles”).
Filmography:
Teenage Angst (2008), Herbert (PÖFF 2015), In den Gängen (Valss vahekäikudes, PÖFF 2018), Die stillen Trabanten (Dark Satellites, 2022), Spuk unterm Riesenrad (2024), Der Frosch und das Wasser (The Frog and the Water, 2025)
Grand Prix for The Best Film, grant of 20 000 euros from the city of Tallinn, Award for Best Director, grant of 5000€ from Alexela
