Writing

Achim von Borries

Born 1968-11-13 · Munich, Germany

Achim von Borries, born 1968 in Munich, studied History, Political Science and Philosophy from 1989 to 1993 at the Freie Universität Berlin. In 1992 he continued his studies at the German Film and Television Academy (dffb). Borries was highly praised for his impressive screen debut ENGLAND! (2000), which was also his graduating film at the dffb. ENGLAND! ran successfully at several festivals and won 15 international awards including two from the German Film Critics Award in 2002 (Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography for Jutta Pohlmann). It was followed by his second directorial feature film LOVE IN THOUGHTS starring August Diehl, Daniel Brühl and Anna Maria Mühe in the main roles, which celebrated its premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the USA in 2004. Together with his sister Bettine he wrote the screen adaptations of the classic children’s books THE THREE ROBBERS, MULLEWAPP and LILLI THE WITCH. Achim von Borries has directed episodes of well-known German television series such as "Unter Verdacht" with Senta Berger. In 2010 for the 40th anniversary of the “Tatort” crime series, he directed the anniversary episode “Wie einst Lilly”, which also marked Ulrich Tukur’s debut as a “Tatort” police inspector.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Good Bye, Lenin! poster
7.5

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.

Good Bye, Lenin!

2003

Alone in Berlin poster
6.7

Berlin in June of 1940. While Nazi propaganda celebrates the regime’s victory over France, a kitchen-cum-living room in Prenzlauer Berg is filled with grief. Anna and Otto Quangel’s son has been killed at the front. This working class couple had long believed in the ‘Führer’ and followed him willingly, but now they realise that his promises are nothing but lies and deceit. They begin writing postcards as a form of resistance and in a bid to raise awareness: Stop the war machine! Kill Hitler! Putting their lives at risk, they distribute these cards in the entrances of tenement buildings and in stairwells. But the SS and the Gestapo are soon onto them, and even their neighbours pose a threat.

Alone in Berlin

2016

Berlin Hero poster
6.6

Micha unwittingly becomes a German hero when a journalist portrays him as the mastermind behind the mass exodus from East Germany.

Berlin Hero

2025

Trick or Treaters poster
7.0

Three robbers pilfer from the countryside until they are charmed by a young orphan girl.

Trick or Treaters

2007

Love in Thoughts poster
6.3

A posthumous look at the last days of Guenther's life as he, his best friend, and his sister let loose on a four-day binge of alcohol, drugs, and sex.

Love in Thoughts

2004

Love in Thoughts poster
6.3

A posthumous look at the last days of Guenther's life as he, his best friend, and his sister let loose on a four-day binge of alcohol, drugs, and sex.

Love in Thoughts

2004

Lilly the Witch: The Journey to Mandolan poster
5.8

Lilli is traveling to India, to solve a mystery.

Lilly the Witch: The Journey to Mandolan

2011

4 Days in May poster
6.1

Germany, Baltic Sea coast, May 1945, a few days before the end of World War II. A small Soviet patrol arrives at an isolated house where an elderly baroness gives shelter to a group of orphan girls and a boy who is determined to continue the fight.

4 Days in May

2011

4 Days in May poster
6.1

Germany, Baltic Sea coast, May 1945, a few days before the end of World War II. A small Soviet patrol arrives at an isolated house where an elderly baroness gives shelter to a group of orphan girls and a boy who is determined to continue the fight.

4 Days in May

2011

Sechzehneichen poster
5.7

A young couple moves to a gated community (named Sechzehneichen), where soon the creative wife (a photographer) gets bored and the husband joins a secret mens' club. All the other wives seem strangely conservative and shallow. Basically a thinly veiled take on the Stepford Wives, just without any bit of humor or atmosphere, but instead filled with the sterile, unflinching and dry seriousness that makes watching a lot of our German films such a drag and a miserable experience.

Sechzehneichen

2012

No artwork available
7.0

Valeri Sikorski knows from his doctors that his days are numbered because of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. He wants to make a last adventure in his life and goes to England, but first he stops in Berlin to pick up his best friend Victor. But Victor has disappeared. Now Valeri's journey turns into a search for his old friend Victor.

England!

2000

No artwork available
7.0

Valeri Sikorski knows from his doctors that his days are numbered because of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. He wants to make a last adventure in his life and goes to England, but first he stops in Berlin to pick up his best friend Victor. But Victor has disappeared. Now Valeri's journey turns into a search for his old friend Victor.

England!

2000

Alaska Johansson poster
4.9

Alaska Johansson is the perfect woman and she is the best in her profession as a headhunter. One day she is fired by her boss, a married man who she has an affair with. He also tells her that their relationship has no future. She decides that her best option is to commit suicide with a poison cocktail. She is saved when a child in a Halloween costume enters her apartment demanding sweets. Something is not right about the child. Later her neighbor is going to tell here that there never was a child. Alaska’s world is turning upside down, her perceptions seem to be merely illusions. When her car starts to act on its own and causes a crash, she becomes convinced that someone is conspiring against her. Or is there another, darker secret in Alaska’s life?

Alaska Johansson

2013