Whoever Brakes, Stays

The somewhat shy Bruno actually dreams of becoming an actor, but Ms. Brenner, the friendly and resolute career counselor, advises him to consider another option: train conductor for the Swiss Railways. And so, a few years later, Bruno is eagerly checking tickets, inspecting the brake pads of a wide variety of train car models, making announcements in a variety of languages and taking care of travelers. He meets an asylum seeker whose valid ticket he accidentally confiscates in the stress, an old woman who confusedly pulls the emergency brake, and above all he meets Marta, who, like him, likes model trains and is determined to emigrate to Manitoba in Canada. Bruno falls in love with the young woman, and the two become a couple. But then Marta actually dares to set out into the wide world, while Bruno remains unchanged at home, traveling on the same tracks and increasingly losing his way.

With a cheerful melancholy and at times surreal humor, Silvan Rechsteiner – himself a former conductor for the Swiss Railways – accompanies Bruno on his odyssey through a life in which others too often set the course and in which he wonders how he can save his former dreams from track disruptions and side tracks.