"Summer, sun, sandy beaches and sex ? everything you need to feel just like in paradise. And that's exactly what Elisa, Richie and Florian are looking for. They've left the cold and grey North behind them to have fun on a sunny island. Elisa: rich, spoiled and escaping her father's conservative concepts of morality. Richie: a loafer who knows that behind every woman there is a warm meal. Florian: sensitive, nice and helpful, the sort of men not only women feel attracted to.

But even in paradise there are dark places where the sun does not shine, where you can lose your bearings or fall in love without wanting to admit it... Places where you realise that you haven't left the cold and grey North because it is inside you...

Things get worse on the island for Elisa when her wealthy father cuts off her money supply and even sends out her younger sister Clara to take her home. She stubbornly decides to take charge of her life herself. But she already fails in finding a job. When she meets Richie, the tide turns at first. She falls in love with the charming barkeeper dreaming of making easy money with beach parties...

After a couple of painful attempts to do the right thing Elisa gets lost an emotional downward spiral turning endlessly. Florian and his village buddy Daniel get to the island with only little more than an old Audi 100 and without further ado they start seeking contact with the opposite sex. The reach their goal suprisingly quickly. But for Florian the sexual encounters take a catastrophical course. Only when he falls in love with the islander Marcel against his will he begins to understand... He takes his chance to flee from his old life to make a fresh start with Marcel."

Rolf S. Wolkenstein studied at the Deutschen Film- und Fernsehakademie from 1982 ? 1986. He lives and works in Berlin. Selections from his last films are ? Fernsehzauber? (documentary, 1999), Max Herre (documentary, 2004) and his feature debut ?Lauf der Dinge?, 2006.

"Yonghi Yang is a second generation Korean who was born and raised in Japan.

She was raised by parents who dedicated all of their lives to their ?home country? as leaders of General Association of Korean Residents.

Her three brothers have ?returned? to North Korea more than thirty years ago. They still live in Pyongyang thus her family is dispersed.

Why did her father and mother who cherished family send their sons to their ?home country?? Why do they continue to dedicate all of their lives this much to the home country?

She who wouldn't hope to cast away ?choices of life on her own will? under the name of ?system? and ?allegiance to home country? cannot accept ?her parents' choices.?

Feeling a strong sense of rejection, finally, she starts to talk repeatedly with her parents. The parents and a daughter accept each other?s different styles of lives and seek for a new relationship. When confronting father's death, the father and the daughter start to develop a new strong bond."

"Yonghi Yang, Film maker. As second-generation Korean Resident so called ?Zainichi,? Yang was born and raised in Osaka, Japan.

Graduated from Department of Literature, Korea University in Tokyo. Obtained MA from the graduate school of New School University in New York. Formerly a teacher, an actress, and a radio DJ.

From 1995 she started to introduce mainly documentary works of hers as an auteur.

Obtained MA in Media Studies at New School University Graduate School in New York, U.S.

After having returned to Japan in 2003, she resumed her activity in Japan."

Xiao-Yun is a 16-year-old high school student in a small riverside town in China?s South-Western Sichuan province in the repressive social climate of 1983. When her teacher discovers that she is pregnant, she and her boyfriend Wang Feng are expelled from school. Wang Feng leaves her after convincing his sister Wang Zheng-Yue, a nurse, to help Xiao-Yun give birth to her baby, then give it up for adoption. Ten years later, Xiao-Yun is reduced to being the lead singer in a humiliatingly crass local song and dance troupe. She manages to sustain a furtive relationship with a married man, but her only real companion is Xiao-Yong, a preternaturally curious and impish young boy from across the dam. He craftily begins to insinuate himself into her life, becoming her devoted friend, servant, ?little brother?, and even, in an innocent and playful way, a kind of preadolescent substitute ?boyfriend?. But Xiao-Yun still has to forge a future from her unresolved past. Even soul-mate Xiao-Yong is unable to help her take the fateful, agonising decision that will make this possible.

?I always maintain that this is a film full of hope. I say this because it tells a story about searching for a way out. Metaphorically speaking, Xiao-Yun is like a thirsty person suddenly finding a cup of water. I use a method quite close to traditional narrative to relate a contemporary story about a woman subject to the overwhelming pressure of an unchanging tradition.?

LI Yu was born in China's Shangdong province in 1973. At the age of 16, on her mother's urging, she started to work as television programme guest presenter. After graduating from university, she satisfied her mother's expectations and became a professional presenter at a local television station.. After some time working on documentaries as an off-screen narrator, she began making documentaries. Consequently, she joined the CCTV (China Central Television) feature programme ?Life Space? and became a documentary director. Apart from working as a documentary director, she has written a number of novels and screenplays. In 2000, she shot her first feature film, Fish and Elephant.