Freistatt

West Germany, 1968. It's the age of youth upheaval but the rebellious 14-year-old Wolfgang winds up at the detention center Freistatt, after having attacked his mother's new boyfriend. An unfamiliar institution where reprimands with nightsticks and forced labor are part of daily life. Wolfgang is neither large nor strong, but he has a mind of granite and stands up against the system. Something that he will pay a high price for. Sanctuary is an uncompromising film about an uncompromising young man who rentlessly struggles for self-worth in a merciless "educational system." Based on true events and a very dark chapter in Germany's history, where this institution survived into the twenty-first century. (Göteborg Film Festival)