Alaska.de is an acute portrayal of German teenagers struggling with contemporary suburban life in the former East Berlin. The project grew out of an influential music video Esther Gronenborn made that dealt with violence in the schools, and out of the contact established with two youth gangs who were filmed for it. To create the oppressive atmosphere of the setting, Gronenborn avoids showing the green areas of the city; a heavy yellow suitcase is the only colorful thing in this dreary world, dominated by an endless variety of gray, uninviting concrete skyscrapers and streets. Amateur actors and a documentary style of searing intensity lend an immediacy to the story of love and violence that erupts among a group of three teenagers. Gronenborn received the German Film Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement and the Bavarian Film Award for this first feature film.