System Crasher

Nine-year-old Benni keeps being thrown out of every placement the German child welfare system finds for her. Social workers have a name for children like her, and she lives up to it: she breaks the rules, refuses to settle, and slips through the gaps of the institutions meant to hold her. Her single aim is to go back to her mother, who is overwhelmed by her daughter and afraid of her outbursts. When no placement seems left, an anger-management trainer named Micha takes her on and tries to break the cycle of rage and aggression she is caught in.

Nora Fingscheidt wrote and directed this German drama, her first feature, which came before The Unforgivable and The Outrun. Helena Zengel plays Benni, with Albrecht Schuch as Micha, Gabriela Maria Schmeide as Frau Bafané, Lisa Hagmeister as Benni's mother, Maryam Zaree as Elli Heller and Melanie Straub as Dr. Schönemann; the credited cast runs to 38 names. It was produced by Peter Hartwig and Jonas and Jakob D. Weydemann, among others.

Released in September 2019 and running 118 minutes, the film was received warmly by audiences, holding a 7.8 rating on IMDb from around 16,000 votes and a 7.6 on TMDB from roughly 400.