23 tells the true story of the young hacker Karl who managed to hack into the head-office-computer of the Pentagon in 1986. As he starts to sell the stolen data to the KGB, an initially harmless trick became one of the most spectacular cases of spying in Germany, which was accompanied by ambitious journalists, greedy small criminals and the office responsible for defending the constitution.

Karl, confused by increasing drug comsumption, believes that he is on the track of a global conspiracy of the secret alliance of the "illuminators". On 23 May 1989, Karl is discovered dead in a little forest near Hannover. It could never be solved whether he committed suicide or if he was murdered.

23 is based an a true event and extensive investigations.

Hans-Christian Schmid was born in Altötting in 1965. After his studies at the HFF Munich he participated in the Munich script workshop and, within the German Academix Exchange Service DAAD, studied screenwriting at the University of Southern Clifornia in Los Angeles.

Filmography:
1989 SEKT ODER SELTERS, doc
1991 LACHENDES GEWITTER, short
1992 MECHANIK DES WUNDERS, doc.
1996 NACH 5 IM URWALD