IN PRODUCTION
MALAKA (WT) - Feature Documentary
Malaka
(2025 | 87min)
"Malaka" is a comedic documentary with a surrealist flair about an impossible place: the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo in Kreuzberg.
With the wink of a mocumentary, the film portrays the story of Berlin's last video store/bar, its maverick colleagues and odd patrons. It's a contemporary document of a Berlin that in the face of gentrification is in danger of dying out.
With Eniola. Brian. Mala. Mariam. Lua. Abaad. Sezer. Bruno. Garip. Nanghiti. Vassilis. Martin. And more.
Writer: Lea Bethke and Martin Schuffenhauer
Director: Lea Bethke
A Sinne Film and Martin Schuffenhauer Production
“The store looks like an exploded Christmas present. And that is how it should be. Because it's fun and warm in here. It may be cold outside. But outside stays outside, please. In here there's no reality. In here is surrealism.”
Martin Schuffenhauer
Synopsis
What would a person do for love? Probably pretty much anything. Even the impossible: open a video store and keep it alive in the age of streaming.
More than two decades ago, Martin Schuffenhauer opened the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo—a quirky mix of video store, bar, and late-night party hub, which looks like a devotedly furnished junk room. A haven where film nerds, misfits, locals, and tourists collided in joyful chaos. A utopia in which reality has no place.
The documentary "Malaka" tells Fitzcarraldo’s story in seven chapters, capturing the heart of this cultural outpost and painting a portrait of an unfiltered, subcultural Berlin over the last twenty years. With a keen sense for tasteful trash and a twinkling eye, colleagues and regulars stand behind and in front of the camera, blending documentary with mockumentary. "Malaka" follows these people, who made Fitzcarraldo what it is: raw, rebellious, and defiantly alive.
This is the tale of one man’s fight for the love of film, for something larger than life and for a Berlin that no longer exists. A struggle for survival that expresses real resilience, for a wild, anarchistic, ungentrified Berlin that fiercely resists rent increases, the economic crisis and the impending death of neighbourhood culture, with the force of a madman.
„It’s the unique place of the world, this shop.
I can have an Orgasm.“
Bruno, a regular at the Filmkunstbar
OUR CAST
Really it's the people who make up the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo: The clerks (employees), the indestructible inventory of the Filmkunstbar, poorly paid temporary workers who sleep little, and the regulars from cinegeeks to liquor corpses, people from the Kreuzberg neighbourhood who are addicted to their obsession, be it alcohol - or film consumption. They are all a collection of figures from Berlin's subculture. Outsiders, like Nanghiti and Vassili or Rami, Bruno and his dog Stanley. A bunch of people from different generations, different backgrounds, different social circles and different lifestyles who wouldn't easily cross paths outside. They all bring their stories with them and all seek refuge in the rooms of the Filmkunstbar.
Narrated by the voice of founder Martin Schuffenhauer himself, and framed by a prologue and epilogue, seven main characters divide the film into seven chapters. Old colleagues and regulars appear, who are embodied by new colleagues and new clerks show up to impersonate themselves. They guide us through the creation and history of the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo: Skulli, Dimitros, Eniola, Nasli, Garip, Ali and Lua.
Brian as Skulli
Skulli was Martin's first partner in crime. He believes that life doesn't change, but instead waits for him.
Brian: "I don't need to be famous or anything. Just after the film is done, I would like to become an urban legend. That people look back and say, that Brian guy, he was cool."
Eniola as Herself
Eniola arrived in Berlin looking for jobs and tried everything she could and couldn't do, bouncer at the door to shift leader behind the bar.
Eniola: "I never lost a fight."
Mala as Garip
Garip was a regular guest and our friend. He lived all over the world and returned to Berlin - but remained a stranger at home.
Garip: "If the Filmkunstbar should close, I promise I will make a funeral in the streets. A celebration to give her the farewell she deserves."
Mariam as Nasli
Nazli left everything behind, her family, her friends and her home - in search for freedom. And what she found was love.
Lua as Herself
Lua has moved to Kreuzberg and wishes it could be a little nicer and more peaceful.
Abaad as Dimitrios
Dimitrios has devoted himself to the nightlife and lost his human compass.
Sezer as Ali
Ali is trying to make a quick buck with cocaine, but in order to succeed, he lacks, among other things, brains.
Martin as Himself
Martin is a native Berliner and owner of the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo. With a lot of drive and a dash of madness, he created the bar and video store.
Martin:
“I didn't set up the business like an economist, but like a super nerd. You have to assume there was a compulsion. I had no alternative.
What else could I have done? Become a salesman or do something real? No, I didn't want to. I wanted a video store. And if you don't have a decision, you don't think about it. You go through with it.”
„I think everybody is completely themselves here. And if anything, as soon as they step out this door they become who they’re not and then when they’re back into this place they become who they really are. In these four small little walls that we have here it feels like you’re in a safe zone or a safe environment, where it doesn’t matter who you are and what you do.““
Rami, former clerk in the Filmkunstbar
OUR CREW
All from the Store
Lea
Director. Writer. DOP. Editor.
Lea lives across the street, is the queen of the minibar, formerly the little bar in the toilet, called DJ Temptation by the regulars, is the daughter of a communist, a feminist force and now the longest-standing colleague in Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo. In view of the unusual character of this place and its impossible story, she decided to dedicate a film to the bar. Filming began in 2019, paused during the Corona period and is now back on set. As Martin remarks when he sees her behind the camera, that's funny, in our movie the people behind the camera are naked.
Martin
Producer. Writer.
Martin is in his early fifties and a pretend democrat. A boss who calls himself a colleague, cultivates flat hierarchies and ultimately just does what he wants. He is the quirky man who created the Filmkunstbar for himself and other rejectors of reality. A collector, a fetishist, a geek, addicted to movies, a bubbling fountain of knowledge that nobody needs, blessed with a dash too much craziness and a whole lot of drive. An outsider who uncompromisingly follows a way of life that is subordinate to a single principle: living for passion, for film, for the Filmkunstbar.
Alex
Sound Recordist/Designer
Alex is a welcome guest at the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo. For a while, he organised a series of events in the cellar with experimental film and electronic music. He is a sound recordist, a sound designer and a Berliner by choice.
He sees himself as a cosmonaut, is a declared anarchist and wears his good heart on his sleeve. He particularly finds the sounds that the bar makes every day and night worth capturing, from the squeaking of the blinds to the moaning of sweaty bodies on the dance floor.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
I’m lucky enough to be living the Berlin dream, with an apartment in my name, on a street in Kreuzberg, in District 36. On Reichenberger Straße, diagonally across from the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo. I moved in a year after her. And just a few moments later, I started working behind her bar. I got to be part of her story, a witness to this wonderous place that, really, shouldn't even exist. A place whose craziness is only outdone by that of its owner. A video rental store and a bar and a piece of anarchic, endangered Berlin. A microcosm that reflects the macrocosm of our times.
I thought the story of this place deserved to be told. And of course, if you want to capture the spirit of a place, you have to focus on the people in it. So in seven chapters we follow seven protagonists who guide us through the history of the Filmkunstbar and of Berlin, more specifically, Kreuzberg over the past 20 years.
We’re doing everything ourselves: music, acting, script, camera, editing, production, direction and all without any funding. Just the way the bar survives: with a healthy dose of insanity.
The film started out as a student project and unexpectedly grew into a community project, with the whole neighbourhood getting involved. Regulars, colleagues, Späti owners, and neighbours. Everyone wants to be a part of it and celebrates their appearance and us for the fact that someone from Kreuzberg is finally making something about our lives in Kreuzberg.
Of course, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. With a wink and a nod, the harshness of existence can be told more entertainingly anyway. In the end, we want to make a film for the audience, a film that’s fun. A film that tells, almost in passing, about the sweet nothing, about meaning and madness and stubbornness, about the tragedy and comedy of life, about resilience and fighting for love and fuck gentrification, and somehow, about the kindness in people too.
Lea Bethke
.
MUSIC COMPOSERS
Just like everything else in this movie, the songs were made by us. While our colleague Gabriel recorded the drums and bass, Martin searched for movie titles on imdb. These became the lyrics because, as he says, our songs are ultimately for a movie about a video store. Our colleagues Lua and Brian helped with vocal performances, apart from that Martin sang and Gabriel played the instruments and recorded and mastered everything. Martin says: “ There's a sense of humor in the fact that it took us an afternoon per song (composing and recording).”
To round off the whole thing, original compositions, scores and songs by multi-instrumentalist Michael Pahlich complete the picture.
PRODUCER'S NOTE
Our film MALAKA is about life in our video store in Kreuzberg over the last 20 years. It features: Our colleagues and regular customers. The script was written by us and so was the music. The film was directed and edited by Lea, who also works for us. That's why the film is not just about our video store, but was also made by it, so to speak.
These are stories from life. The story of Nazli, who had to run away from home, and Garip, who returned to Berlin and became very sad and finally drowned in the Landwehr Canal. We see Eniola, who struggles on her own, and Ali, who tries his hand at drug dealing. It all happened, we didn't make anything up.
We filmed with our own money. We didn't want state money or help from anyone else.
Something new is definitely created this way, because we didn't think about it for long, we always took the camera with us.
P.S. and since I posted a little announcement on instagram, our email box has been flooded with screenwriting courses and offers. Why is that?
Martin Schuffenhauer
„Martin build it. It’s his child. We all contributed, but without his tolerance and his way of being, it won’t be like that for sure.“
Vassili, former clerk in the Filmkunstbar
„When you go to a video store, you get a movie at the end. And for people like me, for whom movies are not just 90 minutes of distraction, but much more, a promise of another world, of what I might be missing in my life, then going to the video store suddenly becomes a kind of ritual. You take your movie, you do it regularly. It's the modern way of going to church.”
Martin Schuffennhauer
Martin's poster design
In an age when gentrification is changing Berlin's neighborhoods, club culture is struggling to survive and video stores have died out, the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo stands indestructible in Kreuzberg's Reichenberger Strasse, as improbable as pulling a boat over a mountain, residing like a poem in life's struggle for survival.
As Martin puts it: “I only know one thing, I'm not going to give up under any circumstances. This store will continue to exist. That I can guarantee for the future:
You can't get me out of here!”
Wanna know more about the store?
IN SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT
LAST TRIP (WT) - Feature Film
Last Trip
(2025 | 90min)
Karim, a Syrian refugee living in Berlin, enjoys a carefree existence in a loving relationship with Franzi, a Shibari artist. Their lives revolve around parties, gallery openings and working night shifts at a local bar. However, when Karim is unexpectedly tasked with photographing a bondage performance of his girlfriend, his suppressed memories of war and haunting visions resurface. The faces of the prisoners he once captured during his time as a photographer for the Syrian army start appearing around him, haunting and chasing him relentlessly throughout Berlin. The city transforms into an unyielding maze as Karim tries to escape them. Desperate to overcome his trauma, he embarks on a tumultuous self-chase and Karim's grasp on reality and imagination begins to blur. As his struggle endangers his own life and jeopardizes his relationship, the couple decides to embark on a journey to the serene Polish countryside, hoping to find solace and save their love.
Amidst the captivating Polish landscape, they encounter an elderly couple who unwittingly push Karim to confront his dark past. Step by step, buried secrets are unveiled, leading Karim deeper into his subconscious. Ultimately, a traditional leech ceremony becomes a gateway into the abyss of Karim's psyche, where he must confront the demons that haunt him.
“Last Trip” is a mental odyssey, wherein Karim must confront his inner self to grant himself forgiveness.
Director: Ziad Kalthoum
Writer: Nadja Dumouchel. Lea Bethke.
Ziad Kalthoum. Nicola S. Sangs.
A Mayana Films Production