ALL DIE GARTENZWERGE

Marie, 15, and Luka, 17, watch their hometown vanish – swallowed by an expanding lignite mine. A whole village erased for profit. But who is to profit? They’re losing the ground beneath their feet, both literally and figuratively. Growing up in the late capitalist wreckage, they navigate a world shaped by climate crisis and social collapse. Marie wants to escape her family – especially her father, whose cruelty leaves her numb. School pressure suffocates her. She’s in love with her brother’s girlfriend. Luka longs for his mother, who’s always off working, just to keep them afloat. He understands, but the anger sticks. In his relationship, he’s torn between vulnerability and old-school ideals of masculinity. They both face a future they don’t know how to shape. The smokestacks of the mine grow bigger each day – symbols of a broken system that demands everything and gives nothing. Change is necessary, but it arrives like a storm: too loud, too fast, too much. Fear and numbness become constants. Their bond is the only thing that holds – intense, unpredictable, sometimes tender, sometimes brutal. The mine, like a cancer, just keeps growing.