HOUSTON

HOUSTON

Director: Bastian Günther
Feature film  | D | 2013
106 min

47th Hof International Film Festival
2013

Clemens Trunschka is not doing so well. The successful headhunter leads a normal life. He’s married, has two daughters, a house and a car. But behind the façade, he has a dark secret. He’s a drinker – he needs the alcohol to deal with his everyday life. His double life is about to be exposed when he gets an offer he cannot refuse. A German automobile company is looking to recruit an American candidate as its CEO: Steve Ringer, a top manager at TEX-OIL in Houston, Texas. Trunschka finds his subject but quickly realizes that it is almost impossible to get close to this well-guarded man. He follows him to Houston, but even there the situation seems hopeless. By chance he meets an American business man, Wagner, at the hotel bar. Wagner has good contacts in the industry. Confusingly friendly, always in a good mood, he wants to help Trunschka complete his job. But who is Wagner really? And why is he going to so much trouble to help Trunschka? Slowly but surely, Trunschka loses control of the situation. With the pressure mounting, he gets caught up in an unrealistic world of glass façades, golf courses and his own perception of reality …