Zürich in the mid 50‘s: The young shy teacher Ernst Ostertag becomes a member of the gay organisation DER KREIS. There he gets to know the transvestite star Röbi Rapp – and immediately falls head over heels in love with him.
Röbi and Ernst live through the high point and the eventual decline of the organization, which in the whole of Europe is seen as the pioneer of gay emancipation. Ernst finds himself torn between his bourgeois existence and his commitment to homosexuality, for Röbi it is about his first serious love relationship. A relationship which will last a lifetime.
The film looks back from the present to the time when the „Mother“ of all European homosexual organizations had its high point to the time it slowly fell apart. While the repression against homosexuals became increasingly more intense in Zürich, two young and very different men fight for their love and – together with their friends – for the rights of gays.
Matthias Hungerbühler went to the Berlin University of the Arts. After his acting training he has played in different movies and worked for different theatres. In DER KREIS (The Circle) he plays his first leading role.
In 2008 Sven Schelker went to the prestigious Otto-Falckenberg School in Munich where he graduated in 2013. Since 2012 he is an official member of the ensemble of the Thalia
Theater in Hamburg. In 2011 he received the Sponsorship Award of Migros Culture Percentage as „most promising actor of the year“.
Anatole Taubman was born in Zurich and studied at renowned Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York. He has starred and co-starred in more than 70 films all around the world and is one of the most famous Swiss actors. He is also UNICEF Switzerland Spokesperson and BBC Goodwill Ambassador.
From 1977 to 1981 Marianne Sägebrecht worked at the cabaret “Opera curiosa”. 1979 she was spotted by director Percy Adlon for the movie “The Swing”. With her following movies she quickly became very popular. She always played the role of the simple girl next door who is always up for a challenge. 
