Vilcek Foundation

Director: Stefan Schaefer
Screenwriter: Stefan Schaefer, Christoph Silber
Producers: Diane Crespo, Stefan Schaefer, Christoph Silber
Cinematographer: Dan Hersey
Cast: Nicole Beharie, Reg E. Cathey, Ken Duken, Marlene Forte, Laith Nakli

Synopsis: When a young business executive, Niklas, is sent from Frankfurt to New York to shut down a division of his firm, he doesn’t realize his life is about to be turned upside down. By 9:30 a.m. he has done what he was tasked to do. But his flight back home doesn’t leave for another 11 hours. In this time, seemingly by chance, he meets and falls for Leticia, a beautiful African-American secretary and aspiring singer.

Only one problem: Unbeknownst to him, she’s one of the people he just fired. They end up back in Brooklyn, where he meets her father, a pastor, and begins to realize who she is. Unable to tell her the truth about himself, Niklas stumbles through a romantic few hours of eating, walking through Brooklyn streets, and listening to Leticia play music in her new apartment. At the worst possible time, Leticia finds out Niklas’s true identity. In a rage, she abandons him deep in Brooklyn. Despite this, it’s clear he’s been stricken by an emotion he’s never experienced before.

—Brooklyn Film Festival