The Flaws/Das Manko

In the organizer's words:

"Stromberg" creator Arne Feldhusen takes his (and our) understanding of comedy to the next level. "Das Manko", which quite rightly won the directing prize at the prestigious Seriesmania festival, really does leave you speechless - often simply because the madness of the modern working world in general and German bureaucracy in particular is driven to absurdity with the almost pantomime-like means of circus clowning. This works so well because the collective of authors behind it also act in front of the camera - as (fabulously incompetent) employees of a government agency who are unfortunately subjected to an examination procedure and are then accidentally allowed to travel to nowhere in an autonomous bus. The four episodes each develop a kind of independent physical narrative and unity - and allow the individual to become part of the dysfunctional whole. They become cogs in a well-oiled slapstick machine with a hint of "Severance" (and Peter Sellers).