Konnie, a respected musician in the right-wing scene, loses her reputation when she incorporates feminist and queer content into her music. In order to rehabilitate herself, she uses the outsider punk Rudi, who wants to attack a Nazi pub. But both end up fighting a battle for belonging – who will be left standing?
Konnie (28), who is respected in the Berlin Nazi scene, sees her reputation among her comrades dwindle more and more: Since Konnie has been integrating her ultra-feminist, sex-positive, body-positive and queer views into her music and vehemently defending them, the right-wing scene can no longer do anything with her. Andi in particular, the pub owner of Friedrichshain’s Stahlkappen Division, has her on his back. When Konnie meets punk Rudi, who wants to blow up Konnie’s Nazi pub in a fatalistic solo effort, she finds him to be the perfect pawn to make herself popular again with her right-wing comradeship. Rudi (38), who has driven all his friends away with his unpredictable, aggressive behavior and has himself become an outsider in his punk clique, is also looking for a way to get closer to his buddies again. Which of the two will be left in the end?
Ascend (German Title: Flieg Steil) tells the story of two outsiders who find no place in the world. Rudi wants to achieve immortality in the punk scene by destroying a Berlin Nazi pub, sabotaging his last friendship (Cervezito) with defiance and denying his son August, whom he fathered with the love of his life, Sandra. Konnie, on the other hand, tries to revolutionize her macho Nazi pub with feminism, body positivity and LGBTQIA* – a “bug in the system” that exposes right-wing contradictions.
Her sentence “The future of National Socialism is female” is provocative: Is the male hierarchy biologically determined? Wouldn’t an NS matriarchy be more logical? But Rudi and Konnie take refuge in transgressiveness for fear of remaining meaningless.
Caught between self-hatred and delusions of grandeur, they act like isolated monads, incapable of truly recognizing the other. The narrative space is based less on causality than on symbolic repetition.
Konnie and Rudi fall prey to a solipsism in which only their own experience is considered real. The outside world seems unreal – an attitude that leads to vigilante justice, similar to the Reichsbürger.
Konnie’s plot is based on observations of Christopher Street Day in Leipzig (17.08.2024) and Bautzen, where neo-Nazis threatened the parades. The active participation of young right-wing women who specifically opposed gender diversity and LGBTQIA* rights was striking.
According to the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, the participation of women in right-wing extremism is increasing. By integrating women more strongly, these movements are modernizing themselves and broadening their base. Young women are staged as “defenders” of traditional values and thus gain influence.
It is also clear that right-wing extremist groups in Germany are increasingly planning and carrying out targeted campaigns against the LGBTQIA* community.
I was interested in the question: What if a young right-wing woman uses feminism and LGBTQIA* to secure National Socialism? How could these concepts be defined in a fascist reading?
Just as left-wing advocates of arms deliveries are seen as warmongers while right-wingers present themselves as peace ambassadors, queer identity politics could be reinterpreted in a diametrically populist way in the future.
Ascend is currently playing out the worst-case scenario of right-wing organizations.
Alice Weidel (AfD), the lesbian politician of the AFD, rejects the term “queer” and only sees herself as a woman married to a woman – an absurd construct, but one that AfD supporters can digest.
My fascination with Konnie and Rudi stems from their self-destruction. They seek validation in extreme acts, but their desire for recognition only reinforces their own alienation. They embody the turmoil of a fragmented, hostile world in which self-denial and existential fear lead to nihilism.
Increasing self-centeredness and social fragmentation drive individuals to vigilante justice – for example in Southport, where a 17-year-old stabbed three children at a Taylor Swift dance class. Public events become the target of young offenders who do not understand the consequences of their actions and hope for recognition from older string-pullers.
Rudi is no exception: he plans a PR stunt (explosion of the Nazi pub), while his conflict-shy friend Cervezito fails to reach him.
Ascend could be continued as a series format by exploring the complex themes of self-alienation and extreme ideologies in ever new facets.
Title: Ascend
Original German title: Flieg Steil
Director: Martina Schöne-Radunski, Lana Cooper
Screenplay: Martina Schöne-Radunski, Lana Cooper
Cast: Ceci Chuh (Konnie), Alexander Merbeth (Rudi), Andreas Anke (Andy), Tom Lass (Cervezito), Cora Mainz (Franzi), Rosario Bona (Heinrich), Lana Cooper (Sandra), Katharina Behrens (Maja), in other roles (a. o.Naomi Achternbuch, Heiko Pinkowski, Antonio Wannek, Peter Marty, Hendrik Heutmann, Ivonne Schwarz, Bodo Goldbeck, Milton Welsh, Jakob Lass, Florian Denk, Christin Nichols, Martina Schöne-Radunski, and many more.
Producers: Joachim Keil, Martina Schöne-Radunski, Robert Zimmermann (Co-Producer), Charlotte Roche (Associate Producer), Oliver Jerke (Executive Producer), Ayla Sophia Franken (Producer)
Cinematography: Manuel Ruge
Editing: Monika Parii
Sound: Alexander Feldman, Simon Konrad-Vayner
Music: David Hantelius, Jan Blumentrath
Production year: 2024
Production companies: UCMP GmbH, Ultimaratiofilm GbR
Genre: Drama / Satire
Country: Germany
Language: German
Subtitles: English
Length: 86 minutes
FSK Age Rating: 16 requested
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (4K: 4096×1716 pixels, 2K: 2048×858 pixels)
Frame rate: 24 fps
Sound: Stereo 2.0
Weitere Titel:
German: Flieg Steil
World premiere:
12.09.2024 – 31st International Film Festival Oldenburg, Germany
Prizes / Awards
2024: 31st International Film Festival Oldenburg
German Independence Award – Originality, Daring, and Audacity
Film label: Darling Berlin
Distributor: UCM.ONE
Theatrical release: 2025 / TBA
Martina Schöne-Radunski, born in 1986, had her first leading role in the web series “Ninas Welt” as Nina Weber alongside LaFee. Her first collaboration with Tom Lass was in the film “Papa Gold”, in which she can be seen in a supporting role. This was followed by further engagements in Tom Lass’ films such as “Kaptn Oskar” in 2013 and “Blind & Hässlich” in 2017. Schöne-Radunski received the Seymour Cassel Award at the Oldenburg International Film Festival for her acting performance in “Kaptn Oskar”. This was followed by appearances in short films and in the television program Löwenzahn as a roofer. Schöne-Radunski was also seen in the three-part television film Ku’damm 56 in a small role as Sissi.
In 2016, she starred as Nina in the film adaptation “So was von da”, directed by Tom Lass’ brother Jakob Lass, with whom she had already worked on the 2011 film Frontalwatte. The film was released in German cinemas in 2018. Under the direction of Irene von Alberti, she played one of the three leading roles in the film “Der Lange Sommer der Theorie” (2017). Together with director Philipp Eichholtz, she shot the films “Luca Tanzt Leise” (2015) and “Kim Hat Einen Penis” (2018), both in the title role.
She is also musically active and performs on stage as a singer and guitarist in the band Cuntroaches (Skin Graft Records). Ascend is Martina Schöne-Radunski’s feature film debut as a director.
Filmographie (Auswahl)
| 2018 |
So was von da (feature film) |
| 2018 |
Kim hat einen Penis (feature film) |
| 2017 |
Blind & Hässlich (feature film) |
| 2016 |
Ku’damm 56 (three-part television movie) |
| 2016 |
Luca tanzt leise (feature film) |
| 2015 |
German Angst (feature film) |
| 2013 |
Kaptn Oskar (feature film) |
Born in Oldenburg in 1983, Manuel Ruge studied “Digital Video and Animation” at SAE Berlin until 2012 after training as an office administrator, where he made his first fictional short films. In 2013, he did his first work as 1st assistant cameraman in the Berlin mumblecore scene.
From 2014, he began realizing his first fictional feature films. After several scenic works, which were exploited at various film festivals and on TV, he began shooting his first television formatsin 2020 . These included episodes of the successful ZDF series “Liebe. Now!” as well as the medium-length children’s feature film for the children’s channel “Kalinka08” directed by Axel Ranisch.
However, Manuel Ruge remains loyal to independent films. In addition to TV formats such as “Soko”, “Blutige Anfänger”, “Löwenzahn”, “Großstadtrevier”, “Herzkino”, “Wapo” and the ARD children’s fairytale, he also shoots other independent feature films in various countries such as Iceland, the USA, Malta and India.
Filmographie (Auswahl)
| 2024 |
Blutige Anfänger (Director: Josephine Frydetzki), TV series |
|
Ascend (Flieg Steil) (Director: Martina Schöne-Radunski, Lana Cooper), feature film |
|
| Komm mit mir in das Cinema – Die Gregors (Director: Alice Agneskirchner), feature documentary film |
|
|
Imposters and Ponies (Director: Timo Jacobs), feature film |
|
| 2023 |
Malibu ZDF Herzkino (Director: Philipp Eichholtz) TV Spielfilm |
| 2023 |
Darlings (Director: Lea de Boor, Steff Mauerer) Feature film |
| 2021 |
Soko Potsdam (Director: Philipp Eichholtz) TV series |
| 2020 |
Kalinka08 (Director: Axel Ranisch) TV movie |
|
LIebe. Jetzt! (Director: Philipp Eichholtz) TV series |
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