Thanks for Nothing
original title: Danke für Nichts
2025, 108 min., color, German
COUNTRY: Germany
PRODUCTION : BUDGET : 438 000 euro
CAST
Lea Drinda, Sonja Weißer, Safinaz Sattar, Zoe Stein, Jan Bülow
CREW
Director : Screenplay : Stella Marie MarkertCinematographer : Edgar Fischnaller, Jonas Kolahdoozan
Producers : Marcos Kantis, Martin Lehwald, Luc Vincent Hinrichsen
COMMENTS
FESTIVALS: Tromsø IFF 2025, Tallinn Black Nights FF / PÖFF (Just Film’s International Youth Competition – International Premiere), Black Forest Film Festival 2025, FilmZ Mainz 2025, International Film Festival Oldenburg 2025, Filmfest München 2025 (World Premiere)
DIRECTOR’S NOTES: THANKS FOR NOTHING isn’t a film meant to settle scores with the adult world. (Okay, that’s a lie—it kind of is. I mean, it’s literally called “Thanks for Nothing.”) But more than anything, it’s a film that grew out of its characters—out of that feeling of not being taken seriously, not being heard, as a young person. It’s almost as if the knowledge that teenagers experience everything more intensely-more painfully, more joyfully-triggers the opposite reaction in us: we take them less seriously. Which is exactly the wrong impulse, isn’t it…
That naturally brought in the social system too-not because I wanted to attack it, but because it’s the structure through which this story can best be told. It was never about criticizing social work itself, but rather about questioning rigid systems in general. Structures that make it harder to see people as individuals. Rules that still apply even when they clearly don’t make sense in a specific case. And those who enforce them-people you’ve probably met, especially in Germany.
I certainly have.
But I don’t want to get stuck talking about theory—that’s not what this film puts in the front row. It’s really about people. Characters born from my neighborhood, from my friends (and enemies), and from my own reality. A reality I often miss in portrayals of Berlin today. All told, of course, with a good dose of irony and exaggeration. Because we know: you don’t have to depict reality to tell something true. The goal isn’t to be “accurate” —it’s to be honest.
THANKS FOR NOTHING is a film about consequences…
If you asked me what this film is about, I’d say it’s about friendship. But if you asked me what it’s really about, I’d say it’s about the radical concept of unconditionality. A love between friends who couldn’t be more different-but love and respect each other because of it. An unconditionality I’ve been lucky enough to experience. And one I wish for everyone.
SYNOPSIS
Katharina, Ricky, Malou, and Victoria are four teenagers living in a group home – a place they’ve crafted in defiance of everything—parents, school, and society’s rules. With the dubious guidance of their social worker, Ballack, they’ve created their own little anarchic utopia. But Katharina, sick of the world and its expectations, is determined not to survive past 18. With her birthday looming in two weeks, her friends are scrambling to keep her suicide attempts under wraps, terrified that exposing the truth will destroy the only semblance of “home” they’ve ever known.