In a dingy Munich tavern, their paths cross amid the downpour outside. Emmi, an elderly cleaning lady, and Ali, a much younger Moroccan worker, find themselves alone together in this city where they are both strangers. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s work, a tangled web of drama and romance, shows how the walls around them are built following the two people’s sudden marriage. While neighbors and families react with anger to this growing closeness, the couple is also forced to confront their own inner insecurities. This jarring example of the New German Cinema explores, in simple language, how prejudice encircles human life.

4 wins & 1 nomination