“Who Am I – No System Is Safe” by Baran bo Odar

Who Am I – Kein System ist sicher
(Who Am I – No System Is Safe)

Directed by Baran bo Odar

106 min – 2014

In German with English subtitles

Movies for young adults (15 – 18 years old), Feature film

Cast: Tom Schilling, Elyas M’Barek, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Antoine Monot Jr., Hannah Herzsprung, Trine Dyrholm…

The title gives away the film’s two main themes: The search for one’s own identity and the vulnerability of an electronically interconnected world. Playing with one’s identity is deeply rooted in the hacker scene. Hackers wear digital masks and form alliances and start battles, without knowing who their allies or their foes actually are.

Take Benjamin. He’s invisible. A nobody. Or, according to the language of binary code: A zero among ones. But this changes abruptly when he suddenly meets the charismatic Max. On the outside, they couldn’t be more different, but they share a common interest: hacking into other people’s computers and closed networks. Along with Max’s friends, the impulsive Stephan and the paranoid Paul, they form the subversive hacker group CLAY, which stands for Clowns Laughing @ You.

The members of CLAY see themselves as a fearless, prevocational troop. As playful guerrilla fighters. Through their actions and social performances, the members of CLAY seem to have struck the nerve of an entire generation. They manage to make a name for themselves through their cyber attacks against a right-wing party congress and against a pharmaceutical company. For the first time in his life, Benjamin feels as though he’s part of something big, and even the attractive Marie starts to notice him. In order to become part of the hacker scene elite, the group manages to hack into the server of the German Federal Intelligence Service. This, however, puts them in extreme danger. Through this action, the hackers find themselves on Europol’s most wanted list and they also manage to infuriate the Friends; A hacker troop enmeshed in organised crime. Hunted down by the cybercrime investigator Hanne Lindberg, Benjamin is no longer a nobody. He’s one of the most wanted hackers in the world.

Distinctions and Awards

2015 Bavarian Film Awards (Best Director)
2015 German Film Awards (six nominations)

In cooperation with the Goethe Institute, the Goethe-Zentrum in Tirana and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Albania, in the frame of the German Thursday Films program for academic year 2018-2019.