ROCC Film

Image film for the Berlin Jobcenter Always human. Yvonne shows what that means.

Yvonne depended on the Jobcenter for years, a single parent, worn down by the routine. Today she drives a night bus through Berlin. We filmed her way back into a job: no script, no voiceover, not a single statistic on screen.

Image Film Public Sector Berlin · 2026

A film about placement work that stays with people.

The Berlin job centers wanted to show what their placement work really looks like. The problem with films like this is almost always the same: they try to explain everything — funding programs, responsibilities, measures. Nobody watches something like that to the end.

So we didn’t explain anything. We followed two people: Yvonne, who wanted to get back into work, and her caseworker Elisabeth from the Berlin-Neukölln jobcenter. No casting, no script for the interviews. The two knew each other from real counseling sessions. We asked and listened; the story told itself.

Elisabeth, placement officer at the Berlin-Neukölln job center, in interview.
Quiet close-up of Yvonne's hands on the coach's steering wheel. View through the bus windshield, driving through Berlin at night.

„The Berlin Jobcenter promises: always human. Our job was to make that visible instead of just claiming it.“

Christian Martin Schäfer

Christian Martin Schäfer

Founder & Director · ROCC Film

Why the hardest shoot took place at night in a bus depot.

The strongest scene was shot at night at the bus depot. A Setra coach, a tight cockpit, barely any room for camera and operator. We lit the bus from outside with soft sources so Yvonne's face in the cockpit stays readable without harsh shadows, and shot the driving scenes with the gimbal from a chase vehicle. Three attempts, then the take was in the can.

The whole film follows one principle: no voiceover, no statistics, no explanatory text. Just two women who really lived through something. The editing rhythm follows the breath of the interviews, not a dramaturgy drawn up on a drawing board.

It all started with an offhand remark. “I like driving,” Yvonne said in a counseling session. In that moment, Elisabeth didn’t see a file, she saw a person. She listened and asked: what if?

“We're people, and we work with people.”

Seen in the film.

A counseling session at the Berlin-Neukölln job center, where one casual sentence changes everything. Yvonne and her case worker Elisabeth, followed documentary-style, without a script. Then the night shoot: a Setra coach in the depot, Yvonne's hands on the wheel, driving through nighttime Berlin. No voiceover, no statistics — just two women and a real story.

In the counseling session, where it all began

01 · In the consultation where it all began

Two people who really know each other

02 · Two people who really know each other

Night shoot at the bus depot

03 · Night shoot at the bus depot

Yvonne behind the wheel, through Berlin

04 · Yvonne behind the wheel, through Berlin

What ROCC Film took care of.

Two shoot days, three locations, one film with zero voice-over narration.

01 Concept for a public-sector film that does without explanatory text
02 Documentary-style interviews without a script
03 Direction, camera and lighting, including a night shoot at the coach
04 Gimbal shots from the follow vehicle
05 Editing, grading and sound design
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