An old, faded photo album — no, that was certainly not what Laini had wished for on her twelfth birthday. On the blurred pictures, you can't even make out the subjects properly. But at least it comes from her late parents in Africa and is thus an important link to her origins. Countless times she had already placed secret messages in bottles and thrown them into the Rhine, but apart from this album she had never received a reply. Although Laini's adoptive parents Anni and Henning do their best to make her start in a new life as easy as possible, the girl often feels lonely and misunderstood in her unfamiliar surroundings. So this mysterious gift comes just at the right time: on closer examination, Laini discovers strange numbers and oddly sounding words between the lines of the album. What do they mean? Could they be encrypted messages from her parents? Together with her two new friends Paul and Michael, she tries to solve the riddle, and together they set off on a journey of discovery through Wiesbaden and into her past. By interweaving the different worlds of its three protagonists, "Die Flaschenpost-Insel" addresses the difficulty of being different in our society and highlights in particular the necessity of tolerance and integration. The three children of the story are on a shared quest to find their own abilities and strengths, and in the end they realise that they had the power to do so within them all along. They offer one another support and stability and continually grow beyond themselves. But the humorous and funny moments are not neglected either, helping the viewer to identify with the various characters. Through this gripping treatment, young people can engage with these rather more serious themes and develop their social awareness. Philip Bender plays Paul's ally Nat, who always has an open ear for Paul's wishes and fears alike. Nadine Heidenreich, as Paul's mother Mary, mediates between her husband Brian, who is desperate to go back to the USA, and her son, who does not want to be torn from his familiar surroundings again and again. A cinema film by Toni Kurtin, starring Tobias Licht, Nadine Heidenreich and Philip Bender.
Secret Messages in a Bottle
