Jahr des Drachen

In cooperation with WDR - Westdeutscher Rundfunk and the Film- and Mediafoundation NRW

Thomas Eichner, a partner at a German textile company, arrives in the neon metropolis of Ho-Chi-Minh City, formerly Saigon. The local business culture needs some getting used to, as do the avalanches of motorbikes, the fried frog dishes and the karaoke. When he is presented with the call girl Huong he reacts disturbed. At home again, he finds back into his old rhythm, keeping his adult son down and attending to his cancer-ridden wife – but he can't get over Huong. And when after another of his visits she suddenly appears in Germany he starts to lose control over both his business and his emotional life.  Torsten C. Fischer tells this complex tale of a culture clash romantic tragedy quietly and sensitively – and finds some extraordinary images of a changing country and a sparkling city that never sleeps. In the film's center performance, Klaus J. Behrendt is magnificent as a silent and flawed rationalist becoming the victim of his own emotions.