Run If You Can

Ben is a student of comparative literature who uses a wheelchair; he lives in a flat in Duisburg, gets by with civil service assistants, and has been watching Annika, a cellist across the way, from his balcony for years. When Christian, his new assistant, arrives, Ben treats him like all the others, but Christian meeting Annika upsets the whole balance. The three become friends and Annika ends up in the middle of an emotional and at times dangerous triangle. For the career-minded Christian it is a game; for Ben the same thing means going back to his past and to the fears he has pushed furthest away. It is Dietrich Brüggemann’s first feature, written with his sister Anna Brüggemann. It played at the Berlin Film Festival in 2010 and won several newcomer awards in Germany. Robert Gwisdek, as Ben, carries the core of the film.