takes a turning point. Moritz meets his old friend Dirk again, who is working in Frankfurt now. In a conversation with him, it becomes clear that while Dirk has always gone directly for the goal he is ultimately unsure whether this was the best way. Moritz takes heart and decides to finally finish his studies. He takes off like a rocket and passes his diploma. In the end, Moritz and Dirk are in Australia, where they lead a successful chain of restaurants for Maultaschen, a special German dish. However, the film only hints at what happens between Moritz and Kerstin, thus leaving the ending open. Background The main models for the film were experiences made by co-author Oliver Ziegenbalg. He studied mathematical economics and even achieved a diploma in his field of study. According to the director, there are more connections to real life that result from memories of his own life as a student. Frieder Wittich got to know the band Bonaparte at a small concert in Berlin and spontaneously invited them to take part in the shooting of 13 Semester. Thus, the song “Anti, Anti” became the film's theme song. The band cancelled a concert for this film and specially wrote a new song that is played over the end credits. At the beginning of the shooting, Amit Shah, who plays Aswin, could barely speak German. He figured it out himself while shooting. Production The shooting for 13 Semester took place in the city of Darmstadt from March, 31 to May 13 in 2008. Darmstadt, the fourth-biggest city in the state of Hessen, had won in a casting against Münster, Karlsruhe and Konstanz, among others. Among other places in the near surroundings, several facilities of the Technical University of Darmstadt (Technische Universität Darmstadt), the canteen of the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Darmstadt), the University- and state library, the students dormitory Karlshof as well as the bar of the Kammerspiele of the local state theater, the inner-city lake “Großer Woog”, the Herrngarrten, Frankfurt and Offenbach am Main served as setting. Reception Reviews of 13 Semester were mostly favourable: Kulthit.de praises the film as equivalent to the many US American student comedies. Filmszene.de highlights the character development, and kino.de talks about a successful Coming-of-Age comedy that very well depicts real students’ life, whereas Cinema thinks the film to be more “authentic” than funny and labels 13 Semester a