The Teachers’ Lounge: a drama with the intensity of a thriller, Ilker Çatak’s film follows a 7th Grade teacher who works in a school where a series of petty thefts occur, and as she tries to find the culprit, breaks the balance of the place. All in all, it’s a terse and tense look at how a community can easily unravel. The protagonist is an interesting character: clearly idealistic, with the best for her pupils at heart, but still fallible and somewhat misguided. It is quite a good piece of acting by Leonie Benesch, who makes her a very appealing character. Acting, in general, is solid, including the many kids: Leonard Stettnisch, who plays the most central of them, is particularly good as the intelligent kid at the core of the conflicts. If the film feels like a thriller, it’s in great part due to the tight editing of Gesa Jäger and the tension-inducing musical score by Marvin Miller. Cinematographer Judith Kaufmann captures the action, which mostly takes place in a single location, very efficiently.