Nachttanke

It is not the playhouse that provides a compressed version of real life, but the filling station, at least in the view of Samir Nasr, who observed the BP station in the German town of Ludwigshafen in 1998 to capture life in all its aspects. It is the summer of World Cup soccer, an event that runs through the film and links the many nocturnal visitors. Three Turkish kids in their BMW, always ready to pull their knives, often visit the filling station on their night-time roaming. Taxi-driver Wolfgang, whose business is looking down, drives his night-time loneliness at the filling station. Frau Kade drops by every evening to give everyone a Jagermeister. And a disappointed soccer fan throws his flag in the rubbish bin and a young couple doesn't even know a match was being played.