Black Box

A state of emergency prevails. A courtyard in a big city is closed. Due to an unexplained incident, the police seal off all access to the courtyard. The residents are unsettled. Rumors gradually fuel fears. Suspicion and mistrust spread, prejudices divide the neighborhood. The community resembles a microcosm of society. Relationships are based on the pursuit of power and greed for profit. And perhaps the real danger comes not from outside, as assumed, but from within... With a top-class cast – Luise Heyer, Felix Kramer, Christian Berkel, Anne Ratte-Polle, Inka Friedrich, Hanns Zischler, Anna Brüggemann, and many more – BLACK BOX addresses the current issues of our time. Taking a community in a backstreet apartment building as her starting point, Aslı Özge's film develops a fascinating metaphor for our society, which is increasingly characterized by class differences and mutual mistrust. The film addresses the disintegrating sense of community and the drifting apart of social and democratic structures in today's society. In addition, BLACK BOX illustrates the struggle for affordable housing in urban centers that are subject to an ongoing gentrification process.