Cloud 9

Set in East Berlin, CLOUD 9 is the groundbreaking, lyrical and moving story of Inge (Ursula Werner), a 67-year old married woman who rediscovers passion and her sexuality when she unexpectedly falls in love with 76 year-old Karl (Horst Westphal). Ms. Werner won the German Film Award for Best Actress (Germany's equivalent of the Academy Award) for her extraordinarily raw and sensitive performance. Home-based seamstress Inge has seemingly been happily married for 30 years to Werner (Horst Rehlberg), with whom she has an intimate and tender relationship. But when she decides to deliver a pair of altered pants to Karl, she is suddenly shaken out of her comfort zone into the realm of physical and emotional passion. Andreas Dresen's nuanced and humorous direction shows us an aspect of life rarely portrayed on screen for which he won the German Film Award (Germany's equivalent of the Academy Award) for Best Direction. One of Germany's independent cinema's most acclaimed directors, Mr. Dresen's previous feature films include "Summer in Berlin" and "Grill Point." In CLOUD 9, which has no screenplay credit, the dialogue was improvised during the production, a method reminiscent of Mike Leigh.