Filmographies - films at UST by Country: Germany & German-speaking Countries

Knight Lanze and his Turkish friend Erdal attempt to rescue Herzelinde, a princess who was kidnapped by the evil Black Knight.

In addition to his prodigious output as a playwright, poet and theatrical producer, Bertolt Brecht maintained no fewer than three mistresses at any one time throughtout his adult life. Takes place in a single day, toward the end of his life, in the late summer of 1956, as Brecht prepares to leave his lakeside home and return to Berlin for the fall theater season. Surrounded by the women who form his extended family, he is the center of a quiet storm.

A young German girl passes through the Berlin Wall to look for a better life in West Germany. Unfortunately her dreams elude her because she can't let go of the past.

A band of Spanish conquistadors, led by Pizarro, go up the Amazon in search of gold. As the soldiers battle starvation, Indians, the forces of nature and each other, Don Lope de Aguirre (the self-styled "Wrath of God") is consumed by visions of conquering all of South America and leads a revolt, but Aguirre's megalomania turns the expedition into a death trip.

It's the Battle of Berlin, during World War 2, two women find each other. One is single, Aimee, the other, Jaguar, is unhappily married with 4 children. In war torn Germany it was not safe to be Jewish, it was just as unsafe to be a lesbian. When Jaguar's husband, who is a German soldier, finds out about the relationship of his wife to Aimee, nothing but trouble becomes the result.

A young couple's relationship is pushed to the brink while vacationing in the Mediterranean. On the surface, Chris and Gitti appear blissfully in love while enjoying the sun and sand of Sardinia. But as they spend more time together, their silly games and playful teasing begin to unmask hidden fears and desires. When they accidentally run into another, seemingly happier and more successful couple, the tensions between them erupt.

Lonely widow Emmi Kurowski meets Arab worker Ali in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love--to their own surprise, and to the shock of family, colleagues, and drinking buddies. An emotional power that reflects the ethnic tensions within German society.

A pregnant middle-class housewife, living an ideal, comfortable life, begins to experience moments of uncontrollable undirected fear. Her anxiety grows and becomes more frequent. After giving birth, she turns to drugs and alcohol, but nothing seems to alleviate her tempestuous nerves.

In 1945 during the Red Army invasion of Berlin, women are victims of rape and devastation. One of them is Anonyma, a former journalist and photographer. In her desperation, she decides to look for an officer who can protect her. She meets Russian officer Andrej--an encounter which develops into a complex symbiotic relationship that forces them to remain enemies until the bitter end.

Antares skillfully interweaves the stories of three couples at crossroads over three momentous days. Set in a ubiquitous, concrete high-rise apartment complex on the outskirts of a big city, the couples emerge from this uniform coexistence to search for love, closeness and some form of happiness. Alex and Nicole are divorced, but Alex cannot let go of what has passed. Sonja is becoming wildly jealous of her husband Marco. Eva, a loyal wife and mother, has turned her life upside down. Antares features explicit sexual content and mature themes in its portrayal of these modern relationships.

The Edge of Heaven, weaves overlapping tales of friendship and sexuality into a powerful narrative of universal love. Six characters are drawn together by circumstances-an old man and a prostitute forging a partnership, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together. The films piercing sense of the human condition and contemporary world events charge these hyperlinked stories into a multi-cultural powder keg.

Katja's life collapses after the death of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.

Includes three silent experimental films with music scores: Symphonie diagonale (1924), L'Etoile de mar (1928), and Entr'acte (1924). The films exemplify the cinematic Dada movement of 1921-1929 in France and Germany.

Five short films selected from the avant garde movement of the 1920's and 1930's.
Uberfall : (ca. 1929, Germany) / by Erno Marzner

"Volker Schlöndorff transported Bertolt Brecht's 1918 debut play to contemporary West Germany for this vicious experiment in adaptation, seldom seen for nearly half a century. Oozing with brutish charisma, Rainer Werner Fassbinder embodies the eponymous anarchist poet, who feels that bourgeois society has rejected him and sets off on a schnapps-soaked rampage. Hewing faithfully to Brecht's text, Schlöndorff juxtaposes the theatricality of the prose with bare-bones, handheld 16 mm camera work, which gives immediacy to this savage story of rebellion. Featuring a supporting cast drawn from Fassbinder's troupe of theater actors that also includes Margarethe von Trotta, 'Baal' demonstrates the uncompromising vision of its director, a trailblazer of the New German Cinema."--Container.

Season 3 opens in the fall of 1929 in Berlin, during the tumultuous weeks before Black Friday's stock market crash. Inspector Gereon Rath ... and Charlotte Ritter ... are assigned to investigate the death of an actress, only to realize that the film industry is as rotten as the underworld. In the meantime, the fascist Black Reichswehr are regathering their forces for their next attempt to bring down democracy and provoke more clashes with the Communists.

Set in 1929 Berlin, a metropolis in turmoil. In Seasons 1 and 2, the glittering excesses of the city's nightlife sparkle while an army of the impoverished strives for a better life. Organized crime and political extremists take advantage, extending their power throughout town. Gereon Rath ... a young cop from Cologne, is transferred to the vice squad in Berlin, which is headed by the seemingly affable Bruno Wolter ... . Charlotte Ritter ... is a stenographer for the homicide department who lives a double life in the city's cabarets, a valuable resource for Rath's investigations. He is confronted with a tangled web of corruption, forcing him into an existential conflict as he is torn between loyalty and uncovering the truth. Then a freight train from the Soviet Union arrives, which appears to hold the key to political power--and is a deadly trap for anyone trying to approach it.

East Germany, 1980. Barbara Wolff is a doctor who has applied for an exit visa from the GDR and, as punishment, has been transferred from her prestigious post in Berlin to a small pediatric hospital in the country. She must weigh her absolute dedication to her patients against a potential escape to the West, and her newfound attraction to a doctor in whom she sees a kindred spirit.

Director Nina Bader wants to shoot a film about love and sex and invites her actor-friends Hans and Marie for screen tests for a couple days. For Nina love is not necessarily a matter of emotion -- she is rather looking for an authentic depiction of sex. The intimate collaboration turns into experiments with film, love and bodies and finally has an impact on their private relationships between the three of them.

A cross section of life in Berlin from dawn to midnight on a late spring day. Uses montage, cutting, and editing to capture the pulse and tempo of this city.

The corner Schönhauser Allee in East Berlin is the main meeting-point for a group of adolescents. Dieter is a construction worker who falls in love with Angela. She, in turn, spends time with the clique whenever her mother is occupied with her new lover. "Kohle" stays away from home to avoid his dad's alcohol problem, and Karl-Heinz is on his way to becoming a small-time criminal. Due to their interest in western music and culture they are regarded as no-goods and rowdies. Things get interesting when an incident forces Dieter and "Kohle" to escape to West Germany

Set in 1920s Weimar-era Germany. Franz Biberkopf, a former transportation worker, is released from prison where he has served four years for killing his girlfriend, Ida. On returning to his Berlin neighborhood, Alexanderplatz, he becomes involved with Lina and promises to no longer break the law. However, due to the failing German economy Franz struggles to provide for himself and Lina. He goes into business with Lina's uncle, who eventually betrays Franz, destroying Franz's chances of starting a new life. After a botched robbery, Franz loses his arm in a car accident, and with the assistance from his ex-girlfriend Eva and her pimp, Franz recovers and returns to Berlin. He starts to make some money by acting as a pimp for a prostitute named Mieze, but a former friend of Franz's named Reinhold kills her. The police arrest Franz for the murder and he is sent to a mental hospital.

The stationmaster Bolwieser is obsessed with his wife Hanni. Soon bored with her husband and life at the train station, Hanni engages in adulterous affairs, causing her husband to become sullen and depressed--leading to disasterous consequences.

What is a moral person to do in a time of savage immorality? That question tormented Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German clergyman of great distinction who actively opposed Hitler and the Nazis. His convictions cost him his life. Bonhoeffer's last years, his participation in the German resistance and his moral struggle are dramatized in this film.

The story of a girl who transforms the lives of those around her during World War II, Germany. Although Liesel is illiterate when she is adopted by a German couple, her adoptive father encourages her to learn to read. Ultimately, the power of words helps Liesel and Max, a Jew hiding in the family's home, escape from the events unfolding around them.

Goes behind the scenes in the making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, the story of one man's attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Filmmaker Les Blank captured the production, made perilous by Herzog's determination not to use models or special effects.

A young man named Francis suspects that Dr. Caligari - the travelling hypnotist who performs with his sleep-walking assistant Cesare - is a murderer. He believes that Cesare also kills while under the doctor's spell. Francis' sweetheart Jane is attacked and carried off by Cesare, but she manages to escape. During the search for her, Francis goes to an insane asylum hoping to find Cesare and discovers that the director of the asylum is none other than the insane Dr. Caligari.

A German army deserter finds an abandoned Nazi captain's uniform in the final weeks of World War II. Emboldened by the authority the uniform grants him, he amasses a band of stragglers who cede to his command despite the suspicions of some. Citing direct orders from the Führer himself, he soon takes command of a camp holding German soldiers accused of desertion and begins to dispense harsh justice.

The story of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 OPEC meeting. One of the twentieth century's most-wanted fugitives, Carlos was committed to violent left-wing activism throughout the seventies and eighties, orchestrating bombings, kidnappings, and hijackings in Europe and the Middle East.

Clara Schumann is a pianist and composer, but her talents are overshadowed by those of her husband, Robert Schumann. Robert is supportive of Clara's creative ambitions, while she loves him and clearly admires his work. But Robert is a troubled man whose mental illness is aggravated by his appetite for alcohol and drugs. One night, Clara hears a performance by Johannes Brahms and she's transported by the beauty of his music. Clara befriends the budding composer and helps him guide his talents while striking up a strong friendship with him; he becomes a frequent presence in the Schumann household, and brings happiness to a home that's been darkened by Robert's growing instability.

Niko is having a tough morning. He's broken up with his girlfriend, been cut off from his monthly allowance, and was just declared "emotionally unstable" by a court-appointed psychologist. If only he could find a decent cup of coffee. Painting an eventful day-in-the-life of a twenty-something law school dropout, A Coffee In Berlin follows Niko as he drifts through a series of absurd, funny, and ultimately, life-changing encounters with the people and city around him.

Eliane, a child psychologist is summoned to the hospital to help provide care for a young boy named Yves who is the sole survivor of a horrendous car wreck that claimed the lives of the boy's entire family. His remaining relatives a feuding grandmother and aunt arrive and fight for custody of Yves, and Eliane is asked to make a formal evaluation of the boy so that the court can determine where to place him. During this time, Yves is allowed to stay with Eliane for further observation.

A dramatization of an experiment by Stanford University in 1971 which asked for 24 male students to volunteer for a simulated prison experience as prisoners or guards to determine behavioral and psychological consequences. The original time frame was two weeks. The experiment was terminated after six days.

A young woman, tainted after her brother's arrest for subversive political activities, has an affair with an older man - who turns out to be the judge that put her brother in jail.

A 1984 East Berlin simple surveillance assignment: Capt. Gerd Wiesler, a Stasi officer and a specialist in surveillance, has been assigned to keep an eye on Georg Dreyman, a respected playwright, and his actress girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland. Though Dreyman is known to associate with blacklisted director Albert Jerska, a known dissident, Dreyman's record is spotless. Wiesler discovers that Minister Hempf has an ulterior motive in spying on this seemingly upright citizen. Wiesler's sympathies shift from the government to its people - or at least to this one particular person.

The film begins on a hot summer day, when a girl named Pia is brutally murdered in a field of wheat by Peer, as his helpless friend Timo watches. Exactly 23 years later, another 13-year-old, Sinikka, is missing, her bicycle abandoned in the same spot, leading police to suspect the same killer may be at work again.
Based on the novel "Das Schweigen" by Jan Costin Wagner.

A mother desperately trying not to implode and her youngest daughter who explodes constantly form poles between which sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, family pets and cousins weave in and around each other in the tight domestic space of a middle-class Berlin flat.

A land surveyor identified simply as K is summoned to a remote mountain village by the local government, known as (and housed in) 'the castle.' Unable to convince underlings of the legitimacy of his position, he tries to take his case to castle officials. But the more K struggles to gain entrance, the more obstructive the village's provincial bureaucracy becomes.

Summer, 1954. The Soviet Union is sending its prisoners of war home. Among them is the father of a quiet, football-loving 11-year-old, Matthias, who lives with his mother, sister, and brother in a West German mining town. The boy has long found a surrogate father in the local football player Helmut Rahn, who has "adopted" Matthias as his mascot. The return of the boy's father Richard casts a shadow over the once-happy family: broken by his years in captivity, Richard has trouble adapting to life in post-war Germany and alienates his family through his severity. For Richard, football is pointless, and so is the World Cup that's about to be held in Bern, Switzerland. Matthias, however, longs to be there with his idol, who's been chosen to play on the German team. Through his passion for the game and his fighting spirit, Matthias rekindles a love of life in his dad's heart. And so, as the final match of the World Cup begins, a little miracle of love and generosity leaps across borders to help another miracle occur--the victory of Helmut Rahn and the German team, the miracle of Bern.

Story about a Hamburg picture framer who is perfectly ordinary except that he is suffering from a rare and fatal blood disease. His peace and sanity are upset when he is offered money to assassinate a Mafia figure in Paris.

Fassbinder's homage to American gangster movies. Ricky, a professional killer, is hired by 3 Munich policemen upon his return to Germany from America. He visits family, meets up with friends, and drops by old haunts, all the while carrying out his kills without hesitation of emotion. Upon completion of all his assignments, Ricky finds himself in a shoo-out with the cops who hired him.

A middle-aged schoolmaster becomes infatuated with and marries a singer from a sleazy cafe. When she leaves him for another man he returns to his school as a broken old man.

Based on the novel by Henning Mankell, The man form Beijing is a two-part thriller that begins with the stunning murder of 19 people. The only clue left behind is a red ribbon. When Judge Brigitta Roslin discovers that almost all the victims were related to her, she starts an investigation of her own. Her search for the killer leads her to China, where she is confronted with the gruesome machinations of a millionaire businessman.

Margit has two children, each with different fathers. Both relationships failed miserably. Until now, she had allowed men in her life to choose her. But no more. Margit has discovered herself and a new liberation. She has eyes for her colleague, Hrdlitschka, but he has no idea of Margit's amourous intentions.

Set in Latvia in 1919 at the end of the Russian civil war, a Prussian soldier rejects the advances of an aristocratic woman. She spirals into a depression and retaliates by joining the Bolsheviks.

Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The frog king." A princess named Sophie drops her favorite toy--a golden ball--into the water. A green frog saves the toy and wants a reward from the princess: food from her golden plates, drink from her silver glasses, and a good-night kiss. But who kisses a frog? Sophie throws him against a wall, only to find the frog is now a prince.

The professional dancer, Diotima, finds herself the center of a love triangle when she is pursued by two mountain climbers, Vigo and his unnamed older friend. Diotima is drawn to the elder climber but can't refrain from encouraging Vigo's attentions during a skiing session. She has a moment of intimacy with Vigo, and when the friend sees them together he angrily challenges Vigo to a dangerous climbing tour. During the trek he causes Vigo to fall but repents and rescues him. Both men, however, soon become lost in the mountains, and they perish before Diotima and the rescue team can reach them.

A romantic fantasy about an angel who wishes he were mortal and is willing to fall from the sky if it means a chance to fall in love. Set in modern day Berlin, the film follows angel Damiel's path from heavenly flight to earthly delight in a manner that's comical, touching and entertaining.

Young Torless is to go to boarding school. His experiences there, the merciless torments of the pupils among themselves and the unsatisfactory answers of his teachers make it clear to Torless that good and bad cannot be differentiated in life. The boy leaves the boarding school at his own request after a short while. The incipient social and personal deformation in Musil's novel is skillfully implemented by Schlondorff in close correspondence with the text but also in a more distant manner.

The Inspector and the Sea, is set on the idyllic Swedish island of Gotland. Laid-back German police inspector Robert Anders has the job of solving crimes on Gotland, but he's a man out of his element: living on an island, and afraid of the sea. It's a phobia he'll have to conquer if he's to delve beneath the pleasant surface of the medieval town of Visby. Behind the facade of its brightly colored houses lurk criminals of all stripes: con men, extortionists, kidnappers and serial killers. They move among the residents and the summertime tourists who vacation in cottages that line the beaches. Robert's investigative team includes his loyal deputy Karin Jacobsson, the charming, capable Thomas Wittberg, and Ewa, a sardonic pathologist. Together, they discover that seemingly innocuous local characters conceal secrets; everyone has something they're hiding and nothing is as it appears on the surface. The resort town of Visby may present the picture of innocence, but it provides plenty of work for a criminal inspector.

On the idyllic Swedish island of Gotland, laid-back German police inspector Robert Anders has the job of solving crimes on Gotland, but he's a man out of his element: living on an island, and afraid of the sea. It's a phobia he'll have to conquer if he's to delve beneath the pleasant surface of the medieval town of Visby. Behind the facade of its brightly colored houses lurk criminals of all stripes: con men, extortionists, kidnappers and serial killers.

Thomas, a young German baker, has an affair with Oren, a married Israeli man. After Oren unexpectedly dies in a car crash, Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking answers about his death. Under a fake identity, Thomas enters the life of Anat, his lover's newly widowed wife. There, he begins to work for Anat, baking pastries that bring her cafe to vibrant life. Thomas becomes deeply involved in her life beyond his own expectation and stretches the lie about himself to a point of no return.

The story of a hotel doorman who is demoted to washroom attendant because of his age. Humiliated, he considers suicide. Then, by a strange twist of fate, he becomes a millionaire. This silent film is told entirely by camera, without title cards.

In 1942, Henri Kremer is a Catholic priest who, like three thousand other Catholic clergymen, has been sent to the Dachau prison camp by Nazi authorities for espousing his faith and speaking out against the Axis leadership. Shortly after Kremer receives word that his mother has passed away, he's pulled from the ranks at the camp and sent to Luxembourg, where he used to live and lead a congregation. While Kremer at first believes his well-connected family has arranged for his release, he soon finds this is not the case - Untersturmfuehrer Gebhardt, a ranking member of the Gestapo, informs Kremer that he's been given a nine-day respite from the camp for a special assignment. Kremer is well acquainted with Bishop Philipp, leader of Luxembourg's Catholic community, and the Nazis want the bishop to sign a letter pledging full cooperation with German authorities, something he has been unwilling even to discuss. Gebhardt wants Kremer to persuade the bishop to sign the document; if Kremer fails to meet this goal, he's told 18 priests from Luxembourg currently in Dachau will all be killed. What Gebhardt prefers not to mention is that if he can't find a way to secure the bishop's cooperation, he'll be transferred from his comfortable post to a death camp in Eastern Europe.

Set in 1985. When an unusual rock with a cylinder inside is found in the Gobi Desert, scientists determine its origin as the planet Venus. A crew of astronauts are sent there to learn more. The multinational crew includes American Brinkmann, African Talua, and Japanese Sumiko Ogimura. Once the crew lands on Venus, they discover that the planet's population was wiped out by a nuclear error. With this knowledge, the expedition returns to earth with a warning for all mankind.

A mysterious admirer follows a twenty-one-year-old would-be actress for a day in Berlin as she travels from her job, to her mother's flat, through the Tiergarten, to a meeting with her sister.

Melanie Pröschle, an optimistic young teacher from the countryside, is starting her first job at a high school in the city. However, despite her efforts, it is not easy to start a new life, as Melanie copes with loneliness, established teachers and ninth grade students. Eager for companionship Melanie attempts to become a part of a neighbor's life, but in the end is shunned due to her neediness, forcing Melanie into a mental breakdown.

Set during World War II, newlywed Lene must watch her new husband go off to war during the German invasion of Poland. She discovers that she is pregnant and is forced to take her child on a journey across the war-ravaged countryside. Lene is in turn brave and foolhardy, resourceful and resilient, facing a bleak future with fierce determination.

It's 1983. The Cold War is hot. The threat of nuclear conflict looms. Born and raised in East Germany, Martin Rauch is sent undercover, as Moritz Stamm, to West Germany to work for a top General in the Bundeswehr. Officially, his job is to gather intelligence on the placement of the Pershing II Missiles. A secondary gig develops: infiltrating youth culture through close relationships with the General's two children. But nothing and no one are as they seem.

Martin Rauch is recruited by the HVA to infiltrate the West Germany army. As a rookie spy, his decisions constantly put his cover at risk and force his agency to take extreme measures.

Abandoned by Moscow and desperate for cash, the East German leadership pushes their secret operatives to experiment with global capitalism and save their sinking socialist ship. Long banished to Africa for his sins in 1983, Martin Rauch is now sent back into the field.

Martin Rauch experiences the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 during his activities as an East German spy.

Deutschland im Herbst (Germany in Autumn): A collective film chronicling seven weeks of political terrorism by the Red Army Faction and political repression in Germany during the fall of 1977. It begins with the kidnap and murder of industrialist Hans-Martin Schleyer and ends with the deaths of three imprisoned Baader-Meinhof terrorists. Includes the work of many of Germany's top directors.
Die Patriotin (The patriot): Various aspects of German history are explored from several angles in a series of odd sequences. Gabi Teichert is both a history teacher and a patriot. One day she goes out into the winter landscape carrying a shovel (digging for the truth?) and comes across a dead soldier killed at the battle of Leningrad, whose symbolically disembodied knee speaks to her. Next, Gabi scans the landscape with a telescope, looking for evidence. Later, she is at a convention of the Social Democrat Party and tries to find information there. The scenes continue at different venues and with different people as this history teacher tries to piece together history.

Set in 1960, the film begins with a series of unsolved murders in the Berlin hotel Luxor. Police commissioner Kras, tries to uncover the sinister secret of the mysterious murders and the hotel which is a hub for a massive crime wave. The crimes show all the hallmarks of evil genius Dr. Mabuse--but he died 30 years ago! Kras and a pair of amateur sleuths suspect that the killer is a man who believes that he is the reincarnation of Mabuse.

Set in a dreary, unforgiving mid-nineteenth century German village in Hunsruck, this film captures the plight of hundreds of thousands of Europeans who immigrated to faraway South America to escape the famine, poverty, and despotism that ruled at home. Edgar Reitz's film is a drama and love story set against the backdrop of this forgotten tragedy. Jakob, the protagonist, tries to immerse himself in literature and learning, as the rest of his family toils to fend off starvation.

In the story, an architect tries to get approval for a contract which will put him in charge of a major city project. If he can get it, his career will be assured. Before he can get very far, however, political events make a hash out of his whole situation. Other architects also try to get their projects through the bureaucracy and devise countless ways to try and slip something meaningful or original past the dutiful and hard-working guardians of the status-quo.

Rita G. wanders the streets of Berlin looking for God. Hoping to find what she is looking for in the outcasts of the city--the humiliated, the aged, the immigrants, the exiles, and the handicapped--she drifts from a Jesus commune to hotels to the marriage registration office in order to find a lover who is Jesus incarnate. Yet, because she expresses her love of humanity and her religious spirit in unusual ways, she often ends up in a psychiatric clinic, and though she comes from a wealthy family, she is never given a real chance at psychotherapy or medical care.

Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer-arrogant, caustic and self-satisfied. She is constantly mistreating Marlene, her slavish assistant. Enter Karin, a 23 year old aspiring model. Petra immediately falls in love and invites her to move in. However, Karin vies for freedom and leaves Petra up to go back to her husband, causing Petra to lose control and fall into a downward spiral of irrational jealousy and hysteria.

Chronicles Danzig in the 1920s/1930s and the life and times of Oskar Matzerath the son of a local dealer, a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his birth, he decides at his third birthday not to grow up as he sees the crazy world around him at the eve of World War II. So he refuses the society and his tin drum symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighborhood, which stand for all passive people in Nazi Germany at that time.

As World War II approaches its end, eight 16-year-old German schoolboys are drafted into the army to defend a bridge to their town. Betrayed and urged on by unenlightened leaders, they come to believe that this small and meaningless bridge is worth any risk to their lives.

Tiffany is traveling all alone in a coach through a dark forest. She is on her way to a new home, an orphanage run by her wicked aunt. Suddenly, Tiffany's coach is attacked by the lords of the forest: three grim-faced robbers with black cloaks and large black hats. However, the fearless Tiffany is delighted by the three robbers and sees a way to avoid the orphanage. She tricks them into kidnapping her, whereupon she completely turns their robber lives upside down.

An inept group of middle-class German radicals plot to kidnap the director of a multinational company. Their position is compromised by the arrival of two mysterious strangers, yet still they persist with their controversial strategy.

The first of a trilogy about women in post-World War II Germany, The Marriage of Maria Braun, turns the melodramatic story of the titular heroine's climb up the economic ladder into a historical allegory about both the post-war German "economic miracle" and 1970s West Germany. During the allied siege of Germany in the last year of the war, Maria's new husband is shipped off to the Russian front before the marriage is consummated. As she struggles to survive wartime deprivations, Maria haunts the local train station, seeking out information concerning her husband. When it appears that she's a widow, Maria takes a job as a barmaid and befriends a black soldier from the occupying allied troops, who sees to it that Maria's family receives vital food and supplies. The opportunistic Maria eventually takes a job with a wealthy importer, building herself up to a position of power and indispensability.

Die elf teufel: Two fictitious soccer teams are in competition. One represents the poor workers whose mascot is Linda, while the other rich club offers its members facilities far superior to the workers' team. Its female mascot is a vamp and when the two teams finally take to the field the vamp tries to seduce the center forward for the rich man's club.
König der Mittelstürmer: A company director's son is in love with the daughter of an American oil magnate. She fears that he is only after her money, so she buys his father's company in revenge. He in turn is obsessed with soccer, while his father needs to be convinced of the importance of the game.

Grateful for a respite from his imploding marriage, Hamburg newspaperman Georg arrives in civil war torn Beirut to chronicle the bloody Lebanese war. Inside a shell-pitted hotel, Georg and colleague Hoffman, join a cynical international coterie of competitive fellow journalists. Outside, they take their lives in their own hands, dodging bullets and conducting interviews that are always just a trigger pull away from becoming executions.

A German-born woman flees from her oppressive marriage in Istanbul, taking her son with her. She hopes to find a better life with her family in Berlin, but her unexpected arrival creates intense conflicts. Her family is trapped in their conventions; they're torn between their love for her and the traditional values of their community.

Germany, 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch is the king of counterfeiters. Suddenly his luck runs dry when he is arrested by Superintendent Friedrich Herzog. He is immediately thrown into the Mauthausen concentration camp. There, Salomon exhibits exceptional skills and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of Sachsenhausen. Upon his arrival, he once again comes face to face with Herzog, who is there on a secret mission. Hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Berhard. The team, which also includes detainee Adolf Burger, is given luxury barracks for their assistance. Salomon attempts to weaken the economy of Germany's opponents. But, Adolf refuses to use his skills for Nazi profit and would like to do something to stop the operation. Now faced with a moral dilemma, Salomon must decide whether his actions are ultimately the right ones.

Two neighbors--Paula, a single woman with two children, and Paul, a conservative bureaucrat stuck in a loveless marriage--begin to fall in love. The free-spirited Paula tries to liberate Paul from his complacent life, but it's not until tragedy and heartaches beset them both that he begins to fully appreciate her love. But is it too late?

The film tells the story of a young French woman’s struggle for happiness amid the turbulence of post-World War I Europe. For an act of political betrayal, Jeanne’s father is killed by Andreas, a young Bolshevik and also Jeanne’s lover. Andreas sends Jeanne to live with her family in Paris, where he hopes to join her, but he is preceded by the sinister Khalibiev, who pursues Jeanne, proposes marriage to her blind cousin, and murders Jeanne’s uncle. Andrea’s is accused of the crime and is destined for the guillotine if Jeanne cannot convince Khalibiev to offer testimony in his defense (not realizing that he, in fact, if the murderer).

Set in 18th century Italy during the Franco-Prussian War, this film centers on a young widow who is saved from an attempted rape but then finds herself mysteriously pregnant several months later. Unaware of how this happened, she is sent away by her family and ends up marrying her rescuer, whom she doesn't know is the child's father.

Susanne is a concentration camp survivor who, despite unspeakable experiences, is filled with a new desire to live. She wants to move back into her apartment in war-torn Berlin where Hans has taken up residence. He is a former officer and surgeon in the German army who finds himself unable to deal with the haunting memories of his role in the war. Together, this broken man gathers new strength and courage.

In part one, Siegfried wins the hand of Kriemhilde by slaying the dragon and defeating Brunhilde. When Brunhilde learns that magic has been used to conquer her, she has Siegfried murdered. In part two, Kriemhilde seeks revenge for Siegfried's death and marries Attila, king of the Huns, in order to further her purpose.

Based on a true story. Can a small group of people start a proletarian revolution, asks the "Black Monk" in a leather jacket. The medieval shepherd, Hans Boehm, claims to have been called by the Virgin Mary to create a revolt against the church and the landowners. The "Black Monk" suggests that he would have more success if he dressed up Johanna and had her appear as the Virgin Mary.

Two women travel by car from Geneva, Switzerland to Kabul, Afghanistan on the brink of World War II. Annemarie Schwarzenbach is an androgynous, morphine addicted writer. Ella Maillart is an ethnologist in search of a tribe of nomads who are said to live in the caves of Kafiristan Valley.

This political thriller, set in the final years of the Cold War, recounts the struggles of a young West German woman member of a terrorist group (loosely based on the real Baader-Meinhof gang). When the group disbands, she goes into hiding with an invented identity in East Germany. She struggles with the realities of a Communist state while keeping the distant ideal of socialism.

The last few weeks in the life of novelist Gisela Elsner, who committed suicide in 1992, as related by her son, the film-maker Oskar Roehler. The novelist, renamed Hanna Flanders in the film, has as much difficulty coming to terms with her own personal development as with political developments, the demise of the GDR and German reunification.

The two brothers and their sister, brought together when their father dies, are stunned by the appearance of their sister Kyra. She suddenly vanished over twenty years ago during the breakup of the hippie commune where they were all born. Kyra discovers that her very existence has been kept secret and she starts to uncover old mysteries.

In the period of several days, Katharina's privacy and her honor are destroyed, first by the police who terrorize her, and then by the yellow press, which creates in her name the image of a politicized Bonnie Parker.

In this film, the lives of two great German scientist, Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauss, are contrasted. Both were about the same age and came from Brunswick, in Germany. However, while Humboldt came from a privileged background and traveled the globe constantly, Gauss rose from poverty to become the founder of numbers theory and rarely traveled.

Based on the true story of a secret society of students and their professor who in World War II Munich printed and distributed thousands of anti-Nazi leaflets, thereby placing themselves in extreme danger and eventually dying for their resistance effort.

During project week, a popular and unorthodox high school teacher, in an attempt to stir up his lethargic students, devises an experiment that will explain what totalitarianism is and how it works. What begins with harmless notions about discipline and community builds into a real movement: the Wave. The teacher decides to break off the experiment. But it may be too late; the Wave has taken on a life of its own and is out of control.

A German hospital nurse finds an injured English pilot hiding in the cellar, and helps him, thinking he is a German deserter. When she finds out who he is, will she have the heart to turn him in? Or will her feelings overcome border lines and sides?

Frankfurt police officer Cristoph who gets blind drunk after his girl friend breaks up with him and ends up the next morning in bed with Edgar, a homosexual auto mechanic. Cristoph is beside himself trying to figure out whether or not he and Edgar.... Unfortunately, his bedfellow refuses to tell him. Cristoph returns home confused. Things get worse when a series of mistakes causes him to lose his apartment and move to Edgar's for a while. At work the hapless cop and his team get in big trouble when the arrest the wrong person. It's then he learns Edgar's true vocation. If this weren't enough, his colleague Helen, who could be a lesbian, seems terribly attracted to him.7073

Working-class boys Karl and his younger brother Peter are Edelweiss Pirates. They oppose the Nazis, and are pursued by the Gestapo. With the escaped concentration camp prisoner Hans Steinbrück they plan acts of sabotage, until the Gestapo take them on with their full might. When they're arrested, Karl is torn between his will to survive, his feelings of responsibility, his love for his brother and his loyalty to the Edelweiss Pirates.

This film portrays the private and personal struggles accompanying the Norwegian painter's artistic innovations amidst the social upheavals of the late nineteenth century. Munch, with his personal fixations on a childhood filled with "illness, insanity, and death," a traumatic affair with a married woman, and quarrels with his family, pursues his artistic experimentation under a constant assault from the ghosts of the past.

Effi Briest is a radiant beauty, a vivacious blend of naivete and intelligence, forthrightness and willful self interest. She is married when very young to a much older Prussian diplomat and carried away to a remote Baltic port where she drifts into a brief, passionless affair with a local womanizer. The full effects are felt only later, in a chilling manifestation of the Prussian legal code.

Frankfurt, 1946. David Bermann and his Jewish friends have escaped the Nazi regime and are now dreaming of leaving for America. But how will they get the money in these tough post-war times? The smooth-talking businessman focuses on what the Germans now need most: fine bed linens nicely wrapped in amusing stories. The six talented entertainers go from home to home, praising housewives with ashy chutzpah until the flattered ladies have no choice but to buy their irresistible items.

The true story of a Jewish teenager who survived World War II by living as a Nazi for 7 years.

Cassiel is an angel who watches over the lives of the people of recently reunified Berlin with Raphaella. Damiel, Cassiel's former partner who opted to return to the land of the living in the first film, now lives happily as a pizza chef with the woman he loved and married, circus performer Marion. While angels are forbidden to directly intervene in the lives of humans, Cassiel impulsively breaks this rule when a little girl falls from the balcony of an apartment block, and he swoops down to catch her. Suddenly made flesh and blood, Cassiel has earned the enmity of Emit Flesti, a sort of overseer of the angels on the physical plane. Emit makes it his business to make things difficult for Cassiel now that he's living among the humans, and after a period of alcoholism and imprisonment, Cassiel finds himself working for gangster Tony Baker, who distributes weapons and pornography on the black market. However, Cassiel has a change of heart and decides to destroy Tony's stockpile in a bid to make the world a better place.

Heinrich Faust desires enlightenment. He seeks to understand the very nature of life and how the world goes round. Driven by his thirst for knowledge, he unearths corpses and rummages in their guts in search of the soul. He soon meets the racketeer Mauricius, who takes him to the twilight zones of their small town. In a bath house, his attention is caught by Margarete, also known as "Gretchen". Later, the two new friends are entangled in a pub brawl, during which Faust accidentally kills Gretchen's brother. Faust becomes obsessed with Gretchen, who seems to embody the beauty of blooming life. He indulges himself in thinking that studying her would be reasonable as a part of his research about what makes all the difference between life and death.

Dr. Faust, a titular alchemist who is struggling with his faith amidst a devastating plague, is offered by Mephistopheles the scientific knowledge to cure and the gift of youth in exchange for his soul.

A bourgeois family escapes the noise and crowding of Berlin for a summer in the country. Laura, Paul, and their children are joining Laura's mother Anna, her stepfather Robert, her half-brother Max, and her younger sister Sophie, who has been distant for years and arrives unexpectedly. Laura and Paul's marriage is in crisis, Anna's mother is dying, and Max spends all his time with his girlfriend. The shifting constellations of the family are revealed in individual conversations and encounters. The tragic irony is, of course, the incongruity between the stability of each character's identity in their own mind and the constantly changing roles each actually inhabits.

The story of an obsessed impresario whose foremost desire in life is to bring both Enrico Caruso and an opera house to the deepest jungles of South America, the director boldly embarked on the same journey, disdaining studios, process shots, and special effects throughout.

The Future of Emily is a drama about family relationships and the dynamics that take place between three generations of females. Isabelle is a successful film actress whose young daughter, Emily, is cared for by her parents. After Isabelle finishes a film, she returns home to visit her daughter, but she is followed by her smitten costar. The situation sets off a volatile 24 hour long encounter where smoldering resentments surface and where Isabelle and her parents clash over her lifestyle and choices.

Fisher, a retired policeman, returns to Europe at the behest of his mentor, Osborne. Osborne, the author of an influential textbook called The Element of Crime, has given up his investigation into the Lotto Murders, in which a number of lottery ticket salesgirls have been killed and mutilated. The new chief of police, Kramer is a trigger-happy lunatic who objects to Fisher's methodical approach to crime solving. Osborne, meanwhile, seemingly losing his grip on reality, insists that the killer, Harry Grey, died in a car crash. Using Osborne's methods, Fisher tries to delve into the mind of Grey by following the path of a trip the killer took three years earlier, while Osborne was investigating him. Along the way, Fisher hooks up with a prostitute, Kim, who also has a link to Grey. As he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, Fisher finds himself taking on more and more aspects of the killer's persona. Set in Germany, the film is shot in sepia tones with brilliant blue flashes.

In the summer of 1940, Paris and its Louvre Museum are under German occupation. Museum director M. Jacques Jaujard and Nazi officer Count Franziskus Wolff-Metternich find common ground with their respective passion for art. The film is a meditation on the essential relationship between art, culture, and history.

Set in Germany and France in the immediate aftermath of the First World War (1914-1918), the film recalls the mourning period that follows great national tragedies as seen through the eyes of the war's 'lost generation': Anna, a bereft young German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was killed during trench warfare, and Adrien, a French veteran of the war who shows up mysteriously in her town, placing flowers on Frantz's grave.

Thirty years ago, at a scientific conference, Prof. Manfeldt presented his theory on the existence of gold on the Moon. It was greeted with laughter by the assembled academics. Today, Herr Helius has ambitious plans to build a spaceship... and take it to the Moon! Windegger, his chief engineer, will be going, and so will Prof. Manfeldt, now living in a cramped garret alone with his theory. But there are disagreements with the financiers who insist that their man Turner also accompany the flight... The unmanned Rocket H 32 brings back valuable information from the dark side of the Moon. Helius is upset by the news of Windegger's engagement to the pretty Friede. And the financiers have a secret agenda: to control the world's gold supply... Finally, the Spaceship "Friede" is ready as it rolls out on its gantry for takeoff. The staged rocket works as planned, but the acceleration is fierce. As they approach the Moon, they discover a stowaway on board, Gustav, a little boy.

Reza left Belgrade more than 25 years ago to seek a new life in Zurich. Now in her fifties, she has completely detached herself from the past. She owns a cafeteria and maintains an orderly, joyless existence. Mila, a waitress there, is a good-humored Croatian woman who also emigrated decades ago, but, unlike Reza, she dreams of returning to a house on the Croatian coast. Both of them receive a jolt when Ana, a young, itinerant woman who has fled Sarajevo, breezes into the cafeteria looking for work. Reza hires her but is annoyed by Ana's impulsive and spirited efforts to inject life into the cafeteria. Gradually the acrimony will dissipate, as Ana, who hides a tragic secret under her passionate spirit, begins to thaw Reza's chill, and their relationship will change both women in ways they never anticipated.

With a promising career in German law enforcement and a pregnant girlfriend who will soon give birth, Marc's life seems to be going according to plan--until he meets a free spirited man named Kay. They start jogging together, bringing a breath of fresh air into Marc's life, and for the first time, he develops feelings for a man. Torn between the life he knows and the exhilaration of this new adventure, Marc finds himself in a state of free fall, unable to make anyone happy anymore, least of all himself.

Persecuted in Iran because of her love for another woman, Fariba assumes the identity of a man to gain temporary asylum in Germany. She takes an illegal factory job where fellow worker Anne takes an interest in her. As the two become close, Anne begins to suspect Fariba's true identity--and both women face danger when authorities tell Fariba that she must return to Iran.

As the world celebrates the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, two East German men, Veit and Tom, are inspired to head west towards San Francisco. Despite having little money between them and virtually no knowledge of the English language, they manage to make it as far as New Mexico, where they meet a woman named Zoey. When Viet and Tom both develop feelings for Zoey, their dreams and their friendship threaten to fall apart before they can reach their intended destination.

Based on the Grimms' fairy tale "The frog prince," the youngest daughter of a wise king falls in love with a prince who vowed to her eternal fidelity. When he breaks his promise, he is transformed into a frog. Shortly afterwards, the princess is put to the test. Now it is up to her to keep that promise.

A German family , George, Anna and son Georgie are settling in for the weekend at their vacation retreat near the lake. While George and his son head out for some sailing, a courteous young gentleman named Peter appears at the door, asking if he can borrow some eggs. When he breaks them, Anna offers him some more, but the conversation soon takes an odd turn; Peter goes from pleasant to sniveling to confrontational, and he's soon joined by his friend Paul. When George returns, he demands that Paul and Peter leave, but the two strangers refuse; Paul and Peter react with violence against George and his family, and they soon have the family tied up and begin torturing them. Peter and Paul occasionally refer to the camera in a manner recalling Bertolt Brecht.

The past catches up on two men, a Jewish emigrant composer Hermann Geburtig and the German journalist Konrad Sachs. Geburtig testifies against a former concentration camp supervisor, and Sachs faces the reality that his father was an SS-Doctor.

Set in Germany. Cahit is a middle-aged drunk who works at a dead-end job. Sibel is a suicidal woman half Cahit's age, stuck at home with repressive relatives. When a chance encounter at a psychiatric hospital represents a way out, Cahit marries Sibel so that she can escape her family. At first, things go as planned. Sibel moves in with Cahit and the two live, eat, and party together. However, when Cahit accidentally kills one of Sibel's lovers, Cahit is sent to jail and Sibel moves back to Turkey.

Follows the lives of 3 teenage siblings in Kreuzberg, Germany, born to a German mother and a Turkish father. The two brothers are drifting in opposite directions: one feels connected to the German culture and is a normal student with normal problems; the other is considered a failure, self-identifies vehemently as a Turk, and accepts an uncertain future in a foreign country by joining military service. Their self-conscious sister is looking for ways to escape the confines of her environment.

Nina is a vulnerable 17-year-old, alone in a world of social workers who run her life. She finds an ally in reckless Toni, a tough young woman who grabs what she wants to survive. Together they experience a fleeting moment of intimacy, an instant of happiness. Meanwhile, Francoise has returned to Berlin where her baby daughter was kidnapped many years previously. In the street she spots Nina and becomes convinced that she has found her long-lost child.

In 1772 Germany, Johann Goethe aspires to be a poet. After failing his law exams, he is sent by his father to a sleepy provincial court to mend his ways. Unsure of his talent and eager to prove himself, Goethe soon wins the praise and friendship of his superior, Kestner. But then Lotte Buff enters his life and nothing is the same as before. However, the young lovers are unaware that her father has already promised Lotte's hand to another man.

In an attempt to protect his people a rabbi creates a golem statue made of clay, brings it to life where it performs acts of heroism and violence.

Alex's proud, socialist mother falls into a coma for eight months. When she wakes, her heart is weak, so Alex has to keep the secret that the Berlin Wall has fallen and capitalism has triumphed. What begins as a little white lie turns into a major scam.

Lola manages her personal life with the same ruthless efficiency she uses to succeed in the business world. She keeps her relationship with her boss Elise secret, as well as the existence of her older sister Conny, who has a long history of mental illness. But when she receives the news that Conny has attempted suicide, Lola's secrets begin to unravel into the workplace. As she tries to do what's best for her sister without jeopardizing all she's worked so hard for, Lola slowly finds her own grip on reality slipping away.

Set in post-war Munich. After being released from prison, Franz Walsch, a small-time crook returns to the underworld and seeks out old acquaintances. He briefly reunites with his girlfriend Joanna and joins up with a Bavarian hit man who killed his brother. Together they plan a supermarket robbery, but the heist ends up being a trap when they are betrayed by Joanna and Franz's new lover Margarethe.

A biopic of the influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist. Arendt's reporting on the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in The New Yorker, controversial both for her portrayal of Eichmann and the Jewish councils, introduced her now-famous concept of the 'Banality of Evil.' Uses footage from the actual Eichmann trial and weaves a narrative that spans three countries.

An aspiring law student Lucca and her new friend Valerie have a chemistry that blossoms between them as the two women embark on a wild adventure to deliver the ashes of a recently deceased friend, Herma, to her final resting place--against the wishes of Herma's family. Invigorated by Valerie's free spirit, Lucca rebels against her father's plans as her dreams for the future evolve.

Based on a true story, The Harmonists portrays the rise and fall of a successful vocal group in Germany that was disbanded in 1934 as part of the mounting persecution of Jews. The Comedian Harmonists did comic and romantic songs in intricate harmony, and were extremely popular, but as the Nazis became more powerful, the group were forbidden to sing songs by Jewish composers--and finally, because three of their members were Jewish, they were banned from performing in public.

Beginning in 1960, The film focuses on the life of Hermann Simon as he leaves his village of Schabbach to settle in Munich. Over the next ten years, Hermann becomes a talented musician, falls in love with an enigmatic cellist, struggles as an acclaimed avant-garde musician, and marries the girl next door. It also tells the story of a group of people in Munich (mostly music and film students). Every episode focuses on a different character from the group, although the main storyline and character, the young composer Hermann, continues. The movie tells a story in many different levels about love, friendship, misfortune, loss, art, politics, history with important historic events of the decennium in the background.

Chronicles the friendship between two very different women. One, Olga, is a lecturer in literature and separated from her stage director husband, and the other, Ruth, is the socially withdrawn wife of a well-known peace expert. As the two women become closer, their husbands become annoyed at their own loss.

Set in the 18th-century, this film tells of a Bavarian village that loses the secret of making its unique ruby glass. The townspeople turn to madness, murder, and magic in a desperate effort to recover the pure ingredient they have lost. During the filming, Herzog hypnotized his actors in order to help convey the atmosphere of hallucination, prophecy and the visionary.

A romantic fantasy about an angel who wishes he was mortal and is willing to fall from the sky if it means a chance to fall in love. Set in modern day Berlin, the film follows angel Damiel's path from heavenly flight to earthly delight in a manner that's comical, touching and entertaining.

In a series of 22 tableaux set on a soundstage, Syberberg makes use of puppets, props, a thundering Wagnerian soundtrack, and rear-screen projection to evoke Nazi Germany, the origins of the Third Reich, and the disturbing aftermath that followed. Neither a feature film nor a conventional documentary, OUR HITLER is a seven-and-a-half-hour fever dream on coming to terms with Nazism. Originally distributed this controversial film was hailed by Coppola as a work that made all other films of the time trivial or obsolete.

The year is 1931, and young Heini Volker has a problem. His unemployed father demands he joins Berlin's young communists. But his heart belongs to the Hitler Youth. How Heini resolves this quandry is the story of Hitlerjunge Quex, a movie that became central to the moral instruction of young Germans throughout the Nazi years. Produced in 1933, just months after Hitler's ascension to power, Hitlerjunge Quex drew from the real-life story of Herbert Norkus, a Hitler Youth killed by communist street-fighters in 1932.

Fruit vendor Hans cannot please his family. His mother harps on his failures. His wife is openly discontent. He must peddle produce to his beloved ex-girlfriend, and he is mocked by his customers for being shorter and fatter than his wife. He is withdrawn, crushed, and humiliated. He turns to drinking and violence, but his rage causes his wife and daughter to leave him. While desperately begging for their return, Hans suffers a debilitating heart attack. His family comes back, but Hans is unable to work and must hire help for his fruit stand. Hans' first employee is his wife's ex-lover, whom he fires for embezzling. He then hires a friend and hero from his legionnaire days, Harry, out of pity. Harry is hardworking, diligent, and clever. He turns Hans' business around and enlivens his home life. Harry's success also begins to displace Hans with his fruit stand, with his wife, and even with his child. Hans becomes useless, a nothing exactly what his mother, his wife, and those around him set him up to be.

Daniel, a young teacher, decides to spend his summer at home in Hamburg. At the local flea market, he meets Juli, who is immediately attracted to him, a fact to which Daniel seems oblivious. On the same day, Daniel meets Melek, a young Turkish girl, with whom he is immediately smitten. Ignoring his earlier plans, he sets out in pursuit of her across the Balkans. Along the way he picks up a hitchhiker, who just happens to be Juli.

Germany 1958. In those years, "Auschwitz" was a word that some people had never heard of, and others wanted to forget as quickly as possible. Against the will of his immediate superior, young prosecutor Johann Radmann begins to examine the case of recently identified teacher who was a former Auschwitz guard. Radmann soon lands in a web of repression and denial, but also of idealization. He devotes himself with utmost commitment to his new task and is resolved to find out what really happened. He oversteps boundaries, falls out with friends, colleagues and allies, and is sucked deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of lies and guilt in his search for the truth. But what he ultimately brings to light will change the country forever.

Leopold Socha is a sewer worker and petty thief in Lvov, a Nazi occupied city in Poland. One day he encounters a group of Jews trying to escape the liquidation of the ghetto. He hides them for money in the labyrinth of the town's sewers. What starts out as a straightforward and cynical business arrangement turns into something very unexpected, the unlikely alliance between Socha and the Jews as the enterprise seeps deeper into Socha's conscience.

Based on a true story, an extraordinary tale of a simple Jewish man who rises from a life of obscurity to defend his heritage. With Hitler on the brink of power and the world on the road to war. A journey from a humble village in Poland to the giddy excesses of 1930's Berlin and the risks he took to fight for his people.

While Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels infamously declared Berlin 'free of Jews' in 1943, 1,700 Jewish Berliners managed to survive in the Nazi capital. [This film] traces the stories of four real-life survivors who learned to hide in plain sight. Moving between cinemas, cafés and safe houses, they dodged Nazi officials and a dense network of spies and informants. Yet their prudence was at odds with their youthful recklessness, prompting them to join the resistance, forge passports, or pose as Aryan war widows

Trapped in a Polish ghetto with thousands of other Jews facing starvation or deportation to the death camps, Jacob is detained one evening at the local Gestapo headquarters. Eavesdropping, he overhears a radio report about a nearby Russian victory. At first he is silent, but circumstances compel him to pass on the good news of hope. In order to be believed, he feigns access to a hidden, strictly forbidden radio. Quickly he becomes a one-man bulwark against despair, a reluctant hero, but a tragic figure still-- a man ultimately powerless to see or change the fate of his people.

Since the earliest days in her childhood, Lara has had a difficult but important task. Both her parents are deaf-mute, and Lara has to translate from sign-language to the spoken word and vice versa when her parents want to communicate with other people. Getting older and more mature, she becomes interested in music and starts to play the clarinet very successfully. Since her parents are deaf, they cannot share Lara's musical career. The day comes when Lara has to decide between her parents and her own ambitions.

Tells the story of a German businessman who rescued more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanking Massacre in China by courageously negotiating a safety zone to protect innocent civilians from the Japanese Army. Drawing from John Rabe's 1937 diaries as source material, Florian Gallenberger has crafted a portrait of a man revered as a saint in China to this day and yet never rewarded for his courage during his lifetime.

American judge Daniel Haywood presides over the trial of four German jurists accused of "legalizing" Nazi atrocities. But as graphic accounts of sterilization and murder unfold in the courtroom, mounting political pressure for leniency forces Haywood into making the most harrowing and difficult decision of his career.

A Jewish businessman, Suss Oppenheimer, gains a post as treasurer to the Duke of Wurttemburg by showering the corrupt duke with treasure and promises of even greater riches. As the Jew's schemes grow more elaborate and his actions more brazen, the dukedom nearly erupts into civil war. Persuaded by the Jew, the Duke all but scuttles the constitution and alienates the assembly by lifting the local ban on Jews in Stuttgart. In a final outrage, the Jew rapes a wholesome German girl and tortures her father and fiancee. When the Duke succumbs to a sudden heart attack, the assembly of Elders try the Jew and sentence him to death for having "carnal knowledge of a Christian woman."

Set in 1919 but based on a real incident from 1906. A coal mine collapses on the frontier between Germany and France, trapping a team of French miners inside. Workers on both sides of the border spring into action, putting aside national prejudices and wartime grudges to launch a dangerous rescue operation.

Set in the last days of World War II. Cigarette factory worker Kalle must travel hundreds of miles without a truck to bring a load of carbide back to Dresden, where his chain-smoking co-workers will use it to weld their ruined factory back together. Dogged by every possible mishap, Kalle braves an odyssey by road and water, dodging dogs, mines, policemen, Red Army soldiers, a conniving U.S. Army officer and the attention of a nymphomaniac widow, in order to return with his precious cargo.

The story of an elaborate plot to control the lineage of the throne of the Duchy of Baden. Countess Hochberg conspires to kidnap the rightful heir, Kaspar Hauser, and replace him with a changeling. Imprisoned for twelve years in a dark cellar until, one day in 1828, Kaspar appears on the streets of Nuremburg. Taken under the wings of a succession of benefactors, he is transformed into a gentleman even though he faces the threat of betrayal by the forces that rescued him.

Follows the lives of an aimless group of friends who spend their days outside their Munich apartment smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and sleeping with each other. Their lives take an interesting turn when a Greek immigrant moves in and evokes extremely hostile reactions from the men in the group who beat him up when he begins dating one of the German women.

"'Kolberg' was Joseph Goebbels' last and most defiant cinematic manifesto. Filmed over late 1943 and 1944, it drew upon the historical resistance of East Prussian townsmen against Napoleon in 1807 in arguing its case for total war against the Allies. Its bone-jarring climax, showing Kolberg bombarded into rubble and flames by French artillery fire, unmistakably evokes Allied bombing raids across Germany at the time. Even as the Nazi regime was entering its last phases, it devoted lavish resources to staging 'Kolberg's' spectacular battle scenes, detonating tons of explosives and diverting thousands of Wehrmacht soldiers from the front. Released amidst the chaos of early 1945, 'Kolberg' was shown in a handful of Germany's still intact movie houses; today this apotheosis of the Nazi cinema survives as National Socialism's final statement to posterity."

Story of a musician's life in a German death camp and his ability to adjust after liberation by Soviet soldiers.

This gritty, violent teen coming-of-age drama centers on two girls who become fascinated with the neo-Nazi youth movement.

A modern retelling of the Grimm's "The frog king." Out of impulse, 15-year-old Anna kisses a frog which then turns into a prince. But the curse is not solved that easily.

Desperate to escape the "cold Swedish minds" of her homeland, beautiful Astree falls under the enchanting spell of the Caribbean love serenade "La Habanera" and into the arms of Puerto Rican land baron Don Pedro de Avila. But ten years later, when Astree's old flame Dr. Sven Nagel arrives in Puerto Rico on an errand of mercy, all is far from heavenly. Astree is trapped in a loveless marriage to Don Pedro and the island wind that once conveyed the music of romance now carries death in the form of an outbreak of airborne tropical fever. While racing to find a cure for Astree's fever stricken son, Dr. Nagel must elude both the island authorities that would have him jailed for revealing their fatal cover-up and a psychotically jealous Don Pedro who would rather see Astree dead than reunited with her lost love.

Viktor is a professional hit man, but when bizarre circumstances lead him to cross paths with a mysterious woman, he decides to risk everything for love. Now as the police close in on him, only the most daring plan will allow for their escape.

Twenty six year-old Karl Marx embarks with his wife, Jenny, on the road to exile. In 1844 Paris, he meets Friedrich Engels, an industrialist's son, who investigated the sordid birth of the British working-class. Engels, the dandy, provides the last piece of the puzzle to the young Karl Marx's new vision of the world. Together, between censorship and the police's repression, riots, and political upheavals, they will lead the labor movement during its development into a modern era.

Franz, a small-time pimp from Berlin, strikes up a friendship with Bruno, another criminal recruit. Despite ther persuasive methods, Franz refuses to join the organization. Instead, he teams with Bruno on a small wave of shoplifting and murder. But Franz's prostitute girlfriend is distrustful of the gangster -- and when Bruno begins planning a bank robbery, she makes some arrangements of her own.

Set in Budapest in the 1930s. Restaurant owner László hires the pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona, who inspires András to write his only composition. The song becomes a hit but its fame comes with consequences, as a Nazi officer who is stationed in the city also becomes captivated by Ilona.

Part of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Entire History of the German Federal Republic trilogy. Lola, a seductive cabaret singer and dancer in the 1950s, is romantically involved with Von Bohm, a morally upright building inspector. Recently appointed Building Commissioner, Von Bohm is committed to eradicating corruption. Consequently, he's given quite a shock when he is called into inspect the brothel where Lola works and discovers her there. With that, Von Bohm is left to question whether he is more loyal to the woman he loves so passionately or the career he believes in so strongly. The other entries in the trilogy are Veronika Voss and The Marriage of Maria Braun.

A thrilling post-MTV, roller-coaster ride about two star-crossed lovers who have only minutes to change the course of their lives. Time is running out: Lola has just received a frantic call from her boyfriend Manni, who's accidentally lost a small fortune he was to deliver to his mobster boss. If they cannot find a way to replace the money within twenty minutes, Manni will surely suffer severe consequences.

Murat from Turkey, living in Berlin Germany, slowly discovers his homosexuality. His older brother Osman wants him to finally lose his virginity in a heterosexual manner thus causing Murat to run away. In a bar, Murat meets a tranvestite, Lola and also Bilidikid, who thinks Murat is enamoured with Lola. Eventually Lola is revealed as Murat's actual brother disowned by Osman years ago.

Abandoned by their Nazi parents at the end of World War II, five German siblings, led by fourteen year-old Lore, embark on a harrowing journey across their war-torn country. When the group encounters the mysterious Thomas, a Jewish refugee, Lore finds herself racked by conflicting emotions--her innate contempt for his kind and her burgeoning sexual desire.

When a serial killer is stalking the children of the city, everyone, including the criminal underworld, want to see him brought down.

Based on a true story and set in eighteenth-century Vienna, this film introduces Maria Theresia von Paradis, a gifted piano player and friend of Mozart, who lost her eyesight as a child. Desperate to cure their talented daughter, her parents entrust Maria to Dr. Mesmer. With the doctor's innovative technique using magnetism, Maria slowly recovers her sight. But this miracle comes at a price as Maria progressively starts to lose her gift for music.

When her domineering father collapses of a heart attack during their vacation in Rome, virginal spinster Martha encounters the man of her dreams, the sadistic engineer Helmut. Their marriage soon becomes a chamber piece of matrimonial terror.

When her domineering father collapses of a heart attack during their vacation in Rome, virginal spinster Martha encounters the man of her dreams, the sadistic engineer Helmut. Their marriage soon becomes a chamber piece of matrimonial terror.

After her father's death, Marie of Burgundy is the richest heiress in Europe, but the sharp-minded woman resists the citizens of Ghent who try to force her into a marriage with nine-year-old Charles, the French King Louis' son. Meanwhile, Maximilian, the young Austrian archduke, stubbornly opposes his father Frederick who also wants him to marry the young duchess. Nevertheless, Frederick has the merchant Fugger negotiate the marriage between Maximilian and Marie in Ghent.

The film, set in 19th-century imperial Vienna, concerns the romance between a young girl and a lieutenant. A powerful baron misreads the lieutenant's ardor, assuming that it is being directed towards his own wife. A duel follows which, no matter how it turns out, will spell tragedy for at least one of the characters.

The story of the real-life love affair between Jewish poet Else Lasker-Schueler and Nazi poet Gottfried Benn as told largely through their poetry. The poets' relationship epitomizes the idea of the "ill-fated romance" as Else is forced to leave the country because of the very ideology that Benn believes in. She drifts from country to country until she lands in Jerusalem to stay. He realizes his mistake when the Nazis condemn his artistic school as degenerate.

An actor of the Art Theatre Company of Hamburg, who subordinates everything to his success, befriends a principal figure in the Nazi power machinery and is drawn into a poisonous circle of evil from which he can no longer escape.

The story of a 21st century city run by a "super trustee" and his collaborators who live in a paradise-like garden. Workers are totally enslaved by machines and condemned to live underground. In the midst of this misery, a young woman, Maria, arises and attempts to inspire the workers to throw off their oppressors.

Models is a revealing and devastating portrait of a trio of aspiring real-life Viennese models. Vivian will stop at nothing to be a magazine cover girl; Lisa fills her time with routine plastic surgery and cocaine binges; while innocent Tanja focuses on the mystical through tarot cards, yoga, and raw animal energy. Using long, meticulously composed, and voyeuristic shots, Seidl delves deeply into the lives of the models, exploring how sex and career intertwine.

Martha is the chef who fusses and obsesses over each dish before it leaves the kitchen. The demands of her job and her natural shyness keep her from meeting new people. When her sister suddenly dies, Martha adopts Lina, her eight-year-old niece, completely changing both lives. Martha gets unexpected help from Mario, Martha's hunky new sous chef, who is not only a whiz on the chopping block but knows sundry magic tricks and jokes to keep Lina's spirits afloat. Just as Martha starts to grow attached to the girl, Lina's erratic father shows up demanding that he take her back to Italy with him.

A factory worker goes berserk one day killing the boss' son and then throwing himself into the machinery. Trying to clear her husband's name, the murderer's widow journeys through ludicrous arenas of yellow journalism and left-wing politics.

During WW II, young German boys of privilege or exceptional ability come to special academies to be trained as future leaders in the Nazi party. In one such Napola, Friedrich, a working-class 17 year old with exceptional boxing prowess, becomes friends with Albrecht, the Governor's son, a sensitive young writer opposed to Nazi ideology and the war. Before long, Friedrich must choose between his own bright future in the Third Reich and Albrecht's moral imperative.

German artist Kurt Barnert has escaped East Germany and now lives in West Germany, but is tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and the GDR-regime.

An adventure drama, based on a true story, about a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps, the north face of the Eiger. Set in 1936, Nazi propaganda urges German alpinists to conquer the mountain, and two reluctant young climbers, Toni and Andi, attempt a daring ascent, closely followed by two Austrian climbers. All goes well at first, but then the climbers lose their advantage over the mountain and the race against time and forces of nature begins.

Rather than depict Dracula as a shape-shifting monster or debonair gentleman, Murnau's Graf Orlok is a nightmarish, spidery creature with a bulbous head and taloned claws. This is perhaps the most genuinely disturbing incarnation of vampirism.

It is 1850 in the beautiful, perfectly-kept town of Wismar. Jonathan Harker is about to leave on a long journey over the Carpathian Mountains to finalize real estate arrangements with a wealthy nobleman. His wife, Lucy, begs him hot to go and is troubled by a strong premonition of danger. Despite her warnings, Jonathan arrives four weeks later at a large, gloomy castle. Out of the mist appears a pale, wraith-like figure with a shaven head and deep-sunken eyes who identifies himself as Count Dracula. The events that transpire slowly convince Harker that he is in the midst of a vampyre. What he doesn't know, however, is the magnitude of danger he, his wife and his town are about to experience as victims of the Nosferatu.

In this second installment of the "Paradise" trilogy, for Anna Maria, a woman in her fifties, paradise lies with Jesus. She devotes her summer vacation to doing missionary work, so that Austria may be brought back to the path of virtue. On her daily pilgrimage through Vienna, she goes from door to door, carrying a foot-high statue of the Virgin Mary. When her husband, an Egyptian Muslim confined to a wheelchair, comes home after years of absence, her life is turned upside down.

A group of young German recruits are on assignment to build a wooden bridge in the town of Ingolstadt. The young men seek relief from boredom with alcohol, acts of brutality and sexual escapades with the local women. Alma and her friend Berta welcome the excitement that the new arrivals bring to their lives, but while Alma picks up passing soldiers, Berta searches for true love.

Fassbinder's distinctive version of Jean Genet's Querelle de Brest is presented within the smouldering, surreal landscape of a single set. The action revolves around Querelle, a sailor whose magnetic charm and physical beauty ensnare all around him. The dark romantic mystery-thriller plot is the vehicle for Fassbinder to portray carnal and spiritual love not as opposites but parallels, his central character emerging from self-serving narcissism into a world where pain and communion are one. Acting as chorus-commentators are Seblon, the film's only intellectual voice - a mouthpiece for Fassbinder and Genet - and Lysiane, a Utopian Everywoman. In a brothel in the port of Brest, proprietor Nono is known for gambling with his customers for sex with his wife, Lysiane, or Nono himself. An argument about homosexuality soon leads Querelle to murder his fellow smuggler, Vic. Querelle then loses on purpose to Nono and discovers he enjoys this new relationship. Meanwhile, fellow sailor Gil, who looks like Querelle's brother, murders one of his colleagues after the man publicly attacks Gil's manhood. Wanted by the police for both his own crime and Querelle's, Gil goes into hiding. Querelle soon discovers Gil's hideout, and a bond develops between the two murderers, a friendship that will lead Querelle to the greatest love, and the greatest treachery, of Querelle's life.

Two friends decide to leave Germany in search of a treasure they believe to be hidden in the Rio das Mortes area of Peru. However, the fiance of one of the friends threatens to shoot them both if they embark on this childish adventure.

In the cold Berlin winter of 1943, hundreds of women stood, and waited, in defiance of the Nazis. While countless Jews were being sent to concentration camps for execution, Jewish husbands of Aryan wives suffered a different fate; they were separated from their families and imprisoned in a factory on a street named Rosenstrasse.

Sasha, confronted with the everyday prejudice of his homophobic family, struggles with his urge to come out. When his piano teacher Gebhard Weber plans to leave the city, the young man is heartbroken. The only person in whom he can confide his feelings is his best friend Jiao. After a failed audition, Sasha swears never to play piano again, but a consoling telephone call from Gebhard changes his mind, and causes a turn of events. The next morning all secrets are exposed and only his brother's intervention prevents Sasha's father Vlado from shooting Gebhard dead. But the gun still goes off...

An unsuccessful, frustrated writer develops megalomaniacal delusions about his own talents. Unable to write enough to keep his publisher's royalty advances coming, he seeks out a woman he imagines is a prostitute and interviews her and then takes a look at the "gay scene," where he quickly becomes a celebrity.

Schultze is a recently retired miner who, like his father before him, entertains polka audiences with his accordion. When he discovers the fiery energy of Zydeco music on his radio, the rigid monotony of his daily routine takes a spicy turn. Schultze learns to play his accordion with a new snap and style. His new-found fascination ultimately leads him on a life-changing journey to the Louisiana delta.

Two sisters share a complex and compelling relationship. Anna seems dependent, emotionally and economically, on Maria. Successive inward turns of the screw, however, make it unclear who exploits and dominates whom.

Sissy: Princess Elisabeth (Sissi) follows her mother and sister Helene to Austrian court in Ischl, where the engagement between Helene and the young emperor Franz Josef will be announced. But when Franz meets Sissi, he falls in love with her instead.
Sissi: The Young Empress: Sissi is slowly adapting to life as Empress of Austria but finds it hard to live with her mother-in-law. The Arch-Duchess Sophie constantly interferes with how Sissi brings up her first-born daughter, creating tension for all.
Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress: Sissi is diagnosed with potentially fatal tuberculosis, and Franz has to allow Sophie to remove their daughter on doctor's warning. Sissi starts to lose the will to live when she is exiled to recovery-inducing climates."--Container.
Forever My Love: Director Ernst Marischka presents the original Sissy Trilogy in a condensed English-language dubbed version that follows the Princess's story from courtship through marriage."--Container.
Victoria in Dover (The Story of Vickie): "Upon learning that her trusted advisor, Lord Melbourne, plans to marry her to a German prince, Princess Victoria decides to leave London. On her way to France, she meets a man in Dover and fall in love with him.

Sunny is the lead singer of band trying to establish itself in the East Berlin music scene during the 1970s. They play regular gigs in small towns, but Sunny feels out of touch with the audience and her life as a whole. She begins a relationship with amateur saxophonist and philosopher Ralph who writes her a song. However, Ralph's obsession with death and his unfaithful lifestyle is not for Sunny. After getting into a quarrel with a band member who harasses her, she is thrown out of the band. Abandoned, Sunny struggles to regain control over her life.

Miriam appears to have the perfect life. But when her 15-year-old son invites his girlfriend to join the family on their Baltic Coast vacation, Miriam grows jealous of the teenage girl's open sensuality and is drawn into an extramarital affair with a German-American man, an affair that threatens to tear her family apart.

The true story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine, Sophie Scholl, the fearless activist of the underground student resistance group, The White Rose. The last six days of Sophie Scholl's life is dramatized, from arrest to interrogation, trial, and sentence in 1943 Munich. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to her comrades, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility that is both haunting and timeless.

When Zinos hires a gourmet chef for his struggling restaurant, it drives away his low-life regulars. In the meantime, his girlfriend, Nadine, moves back to China, but a hip new clientele brings the restaurant back to life. When he goes to China to get Nadine back, he leaves the restaurant in the hands of his criminal brother. When Zinos discovers that Nadine has a new boyfriend, and his brother has gambled away his restaurant, he knows he must work with his brother if he is to get it back.

Haghi is a criminal mastermind whose ubiquitous spy operation is always several steps ahead of the police and the government's secret service. Enter Agent 326, the daring and dashing young man, who thinks his disguise as a dirty, bearded vagrant is fooling the unknown mastermind and his minions. But Haghi is well aware of 326's existence and what he looks like. Enter Sonya, a Russian lady in Haghi's employ. Haghi wants Sonya to subvert the efforts of the government agent, but doesn't count on her falling in love with him. Meanwhile, Haghi is anxious to get his hands on a Japanese peace treaty in the possession of the cunning Doctor Masimoto, whose mistress is also in his employ.

Johan is a hard-working father and husband of a family in a Mennonite community in Northern Mexico. Against the law of God and man he falls in love with another woman, and although he is honest with his wife about the affair, his actions create conflict.

Storm: Hannah Maynard, prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, is leading a trial against a former commander of the Yugoslavian National Army who is accused of the deportation and later killing of dozens of Bosnian-Muslim civilians. When a key witness commits suicide, it looks like the case will unravel, but Hannah refuses to give in. Hoping to uncover new findings, she travels to the witness' burial in Sarajevo and meets his sister Mira, who she senses has much more to say than she is willing to admit. Despite threats of violence, Mira reluctantly agrees to testify at The Hague. She and Hannah must both risk life and limb to make it to the court, only to discover that there are traitors among their own ranks.
Toyland: Germany 1942: In order to protect her son, Marianne Meissner tries to make him believe that the Jewish neighbors are going on a journey to "Toyland." One morning, Marianne finds that her son has disappeared, along with the neighbors. "Toyland" is a film about guilt, responsibility, and lies big and small.

Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck. After they are harried and beaten by the thugs who have been Eva's pimps, they join Bruno's neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin. That winter on the barren prairie, Bruno works as a mechanic, Eva as a waitress. They buy a trailer. Then, bills mount, the bank threatens to repossess the trailer, Eva wants privacy, and the promise of a happy life deserts Bruno.

Set in early 20th century Germany and Spain, Tiefland is about a dancer who becomes the romantic bone of contention between a humble shepherd and an imperious marquis who is starving the people and diverting their water for his own uses.

Animal Love is a darkly comical glimpse into the strange and eccentric world of animal lovers on the fringes of modern society. Meticulously shot in Diane Arbus fashion, Seidl's protagonists sublimate their emotional needs and desire for intimacy through their four-legged friends. A compulsive tour of the underside of human nature.

As fascist troops descend on Paris, German refugee Georg ... flees to Marseille, where he assumes the identity of a dead writer and obtains a transit visa for passage to North America. Awaiting his escape in a make-shift emigré community, Georg's life intertwines with those of a young refugee and his widowed mother, and a lovely, mysterious woman in search of her own missing husband ... , causing Georg to imagine new beginnings.

A young dreamer whose blind father runs the bathhouse has convinced his father that the bathhouse is filled with customers. His brother is a ruthless industrialist who wants to destroy the building and erect a futuristic city in its place. But that struggle is soon replaced by the movie's dominant storyline, Anton's falling in love with a beautiful 18-year-old girl. Aside from a few random words, the film is without dialogue, a silent film with musical accompaniment.

Europe 1990: the Berlin Wall has just crumbled. Katrine, raised in East Germany but having lived in Norway for the last 20 years, is a 'war child'--the result of a romance between a Norwegian woman ... and a German occupation soldier during World War II. She enjoys a happy family life with her mother, her husband, daughter and granddaughter. But when a lawyer asks her and her mother to testify in a trial against the Norwegian state on behalf of the war children, she resists. Gradually, a web of concealments and secrecy is unveiled until Katrine is faced with losing everything she's built for herself, and her loved ones are forced to take a stand on what matters more: the life they have lived together or the lie that it's based on.

This intimate personal portrait of Ulrike Ottinger begins at the lakeside city of Constance, where she was born and started her career. Describing key moments in her life, including the impact of student protests in Paris and her move from painting to filmmaking, Brigitte Kramer traces Ottinger's artistic development. Excerpts from her films explore her luxuriant cinematic style combining fact and fiction in opulent, idiosyncratic images. Interviews with collaborators and friends offer further insights into Ottinger's singular body of work. A close-up of the woman director who, along with Margarethe von Trotta and Helke Sander, helped launch New German Cinema on world screens.

Vividly depicts the lives of five German friends forced to navigate the unconscionable moral compromises of life under Hitler. Level-headed, highly decorated officer Wilhelm goes off to the eastern front with his sensitive younger brother Friedhelm. Deeply in love with Wilhelm is Charlotte, a nurse who looks forward to serving in the Red Cross.

Takes you into Hitler's bunker, in 1945, during the brutal and harrowing last days of the Third Reich. Seen through the eyes of Hitler's infamous secretary Traudl Junge, optimism crumbles into grim realization and terror as it becomes clear that Germany's defeat is inevitable. As the Russian army circles the city, the dimly lit halls of the underground refuge become an execution chamber for the Fuhrer and his closest advisors.

A gifted young teacher takes a job teaching natural sciences at a grammar school in the country. Here he makes the acquaintance of a woman and her troubled 17-year old son. The teacher has no romantic interest in the woman but they quickly form a strong friendship, each recognizing the other's uncertainties, hopes and longing for love. When the teacher's ex-boyfriend comes to visit from the city, he quickly realizes that nobody in the village knows that the teacher is gay and harbors a secret affection for the teenage boy. His jealous actions set in motion a series of events that will test the inner strength and compassion of the teacher, the woman and her son to a breaking point.

Ten years after the fall of the Third Reich, former screen star Veronika Voss lives in relative obscurity. One rainy night, she encounters Robert Krohn, a young sportswriter who is unaware of her former fame. Fascinated by her personality and seductive charm, he continues seeing the faded actress, and eventually comes to discover the dark secrets behind her tragic downfall.

Franz Jägerstätter, the only Catholic layman who was a formal conscientious objector to entering into Hitler's German Army and who was legally executed for his refusal on August 9, 1942, was Beatified as a martyr October 26, 2007 by the decision of Pope Benedict XVI. This film is based on Gordon Zahn's book In Solitary Witness, and other materials that had come to light the twenty years since Gordon, himself an American Christian conscientious objector in World War II, discovered Franz's story.

In Germany, the elder Frau Traude Krueger gives piano classes in a prison for a few prisoners and the security guard Mutze. When she sees the rebel and aggressive Jenny Von Loeben playing piano, she immediately identifies her potential and offers to teach her for a competition. Frau Krueger finds that Jenny was a prodigy when she was a child; abused when she was a teenager and has been imprisoned for murdering and decapitating a man. Along the period they work together preparing for the exhibition, Frau Krueger discloses secrets about her love in World War II while the self-destructive Jenny has four minutes of glory and recognition of her talent.

The film tells the story of a Tourette's sufferer named Vincent who is institutionalized by his father after the recent death of his mother. Vincent escapes from the hospital with his new friends Marie and Alexander, a Bach-loving neurotic. Together they set out on a Europe-wide road trip to honor the dying wishes of Vincent's recently deceased mother; to have her ashes spread at sea. In pursuit is Vincent's tempestuous father and the sensitive psychologist who is responsible for their care and wants to help her runaway patients.

A multi-millionairess returns to the poor hometown that ostracized her after her teenage pregnancy, and promises to alleviate the town's massive debt in exchange for the life of the man who betrayed her.

At six, Vitus is both incredibly talented and wonderfully precocious. When it becomes evident that he has an exceptionally high IQ and can play piano like a young Mozart, expectations run high. His parents love him, his grandfather understands him, but no one knows the truth, that his real genius is in his heart.

Sent away by her mother to a horse farm in the German contryside, rebellious teenager Alex keeps up her bad girl ways but is gradually enamored with the horses--and the riding instructor, Nina. As Nina maintains her boundaries and tries to help Alex find purpose and maturity in her life, the arrival of Kathy presents new challenges as Alex grapples with her longing for love and connection.

A poet imagines scenarios in a wax museum fairground that involve Jack the Ripper, Ivan the Terrible, and Haroun al-Raschid.

(What you don't see)
Anton arrives at a summerhouse with his mother and her new boyfriend, on an seemingly innocent mini-vacation. As Anton explores the new environment, he meets Katja and David who seemingly live alone in a neighboring house. Gradually and unsuspectingly, they draw Anton into a dangerous vortex of emotional confusion, where sexual overtures, subtle seduction and surprising violence all play a part. Anton finds himself on the other side of an appalling reality he could not have imagined.

It is a sweeping family saga of conflicting loyalties, betrayal, love and hope, set in 1980s East Berlin. Uwe Kockisch Hans Kupfer, is a Stasi officer whose youngest son, Martin, falls in love with the daughter of a dissident singer. Their love affair sets events into motion which affect both families over a turbulent decade. The Kupfers and the Hausmanns could hardly be more different.

Tells the tale of reluctant hero Fred Stiller, a cybernetics engineer who uncovers a massive corporate conspiracy. At risk? (Virtual) reality as we know it. Originally made for German television, this recently rediscovered, three-and-a-half-hour labyrinth is a satiric and surreal look at the world of tomorrow from one of cinema's kinkiest geniuses.

While enjoying a romantic stay in a remote cabin, Maria and Hans come across the tale of Dr. Krafft, who lost his wife in an avalanche. On the anniversary of her death, Dr. Krafft appears at the cabin and the couple offers to help him in his search.

Centers around the illegitimate son of the seriously deranged Ben Nicholson. Despite being their slave, [Whity] becomes the obsession of each member of the family as they try to enlist his aid in disposing of one another.

Set in present day Berlin, Germany. Inge is a 67-year-old seamstress who has been married to her husband, Werner, for 30 years. Werner has helped raise their children to adults. However, when Inge repairs 76 year-old Karl's clothes, Inge rediscovers passion and her sexuality. She is torn between Werner, the man who committed his life to her, and Karl, the man who she has now fallen in love with.

Franz Woyzeck is a hapless, hopeless soldier, alone and powerless in society, assaulted from all sides by forces he cannot control. Abused and tortured, both physically and psychologically by commanding officers, doctors and his unfaithful wife, Marie, Woyzeck struggles to hold on to his humanity and his fragile sanity. In the film's shattering climax, he is finally driven over the brink into madness and murder.

Following a near-death experience, a young woman flees her East German hometown and failed marriage to start over in Hanover. By chance she finds work with an ambitious and determined executive and enters a ruthless world of big business and cut-throat boardroom deals. But just as she seems poised to fully realize her ambitions, she finds herself haunted by truths from the past that threaten to destroy her new life.

Jonas invites his best friend, Philip, to come along with him on a trip though Berlin for the summer. They haven't seen each other since they spent time together in London. So they pack up their Mercedes camper and take off across uncharted territory, stopping to take photos and enjoy a laid-back road trip. The fact that Philip is gay has never been an issue for either of them. However, when they pick up a hitchhiker named Boris, who shows Jonas some interesting spots and starts to make moves on Philip, the friendship of the two starts to fray. Maybe three's a crowd after all? by the end of the summer, things between Jonas and Philip won't ever be the same again.

"It took Hitler less than ten months to conquer Europe. This two-part series is an astonishing 'play by play' told by three of its major players: France, England and Germany. Inspired by newsreels, each country reveals the 'truth' to its citizens. Between September 1939 to June 1940, we view how each side saw the inexorable plunge Europe took into chaos."--Container.

Features vintage newsreel footage, photographs and a rare home movie to look beyond the pages of Anne Frank's diary. Includes interviews with her friends, family and protector, Miep Gies.

Auschwitz: inside the Nazi state' is the result of three years of research, drawing on the close involvement of world experts, recently discovered documents and nearly 100 interviews with camp survivors and perpetrators, many of whom are speaking on the record for the first time. Their stories are brought to life through the innovative use of archive footage, dramatic recreations of key ... moments, and their ... testimony.

The story of the war's most concentrated aerial attack on London in 1941 and how the city nearly perished under the German barrage. Approximately 43,000 people died and over 1 million houses were destroyed during the blitz.

Documentary on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young German theologican who was one of the first to openly resist Adolf Hitler. Features photographs, archival footage, and interviews with family members, friends, students, and associates of Bonhoeffer, including the last interview with Bonhoeffer's close friend and historican, Eberhard Bethge.

This supplemental disc chronicles the career of international film director Rainer Fassbinder.

Goes behind the scenes in the making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, the story of one man's attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Filmmaker Les Blank captured the production, made perilous by Herzog's determination not to use models or special effects.

Family, friends, and students of Dietrich Bonhoeffer recall his efforts to unite his fellow German Christians against the Third Reich. Includes archival photographs, excerpts from his letters and poems, and footage of his final days in a concentration camp.

Draws inspiration from ... Markus Imhoof's ... personal childhood relationship with a young Italian girl during the aftermath of World War II. His Swiss family took her in as a refugee, but she was ultimately sent back to Italy. Imhoof delves into this life-changing experience of personal loss, and highlights parallels with today's refugee crisis--the largest mass displacement of people since WWII. ... He takes audiences through the Italian warships of Operation Mare Nostrum, refugee camps in Southern Italy, and asylum hearings with Swiss authorities, which reject refugees at all levels. What emerges is a stark picture of ... [a] process that fails to address a human tragedy: a crisis caused by economic imbalances turning the rich countries of the North into the 'Eldorado' that so many of the less fortunate try to reach at all costs.

Profile of the German physicist who was responsible for shaping the course of American anthropology, by bringing discipline and order to a field that had previously dealt in subjective "race classification." Includes reflections and anecdotes by scholars and students, excerpts from journals and letters, and archival photographs. Discusses the Kwakiutl Indians, the principal subjects of Boas' field work.

The heart-wrenching, yet often heroic story of the millions of men, women and children who fell victim to Hitler's Final Solution.

"Today, Europe's fastest growing Jewish population is in Berlin. Germany is considered one of the most democratic societies in the world, assuming the position of moral leader in Europe as it embraces hundreds of thousands of refugees. None of these developments could have been imagined in 1945. Through personal stories 'Germans & Jews' explores the country's transformation from silence about the Holocaust to facing it head on. Unexpectedly, a nuanced story of reconciliation emerges. What began as a private conversation between the two filmmakers and friends, Tal Recanati (Jewish) and Janina Quint (non-Jewish German), grew into a cultural exchange among many. We realize that the two people are inextricably linked through the memory of the Holocaust."--Film's website.

Traveler Justine Shapiro's journey starts in Berlin where she learns about Germany's experience during World War II. From there she hitches a ride to Niebull before continuing onto the incredible beaches of Sylt. After a stop in Hamburg, she moves to the grand city of Nuremberg before completing her trip climbing Mount Yenna

Munich and the Foothills of the Alps--In Munich, Steves' visit boisterous markets and go-for-Baroque palaces. Heading toward the Alps, we tour the fairy-tale castles of "Mad" King Ludwig and climb to the highest point in Germany. Then he cross into the Tirol to conquer a desolate, ruined castle.
Germany's Romantic Rhine and Rothenburg--Cruising the Rhine, Steves dodges riverboat traffic and the legendary Loreley, then tour the still-lived-in castle of Burg Eltz. In medieval Rothenburg he joins the night watchman for a tour of the town's lamp-lit ramparts.
Germany's Black Forest and Cologne--Rick teams up with his wife and kids to appreciate the Gothic artistry of Cologne's cathedral. Then it's time to enjoy the good life, dipping into a classy mineral spa, devouring chocolate-cherry cake, and exploring Germany's most romantic forest.
Berlin: Resilient, Reunited and Reborn--Steves climbs the Reichstag's new glass dome, sway at a modern-day cabaret, swoon over great art, and pop a few chocolates in the now thriving eastern sector, then he visits Potsdamer Platz, Europe's newest Times Square.
Belgium: Bruges and Brussels--From Europe's grandest square in big-city Brussels, we travel to the quaint lanes of Bruges. We climb a bell tower to get up close and fortissimo at a carillon concert. Then passionate chefs--creators of Europe's finest chocolate--give Steves a taste of their art.
Amsterdam and Dutch Side-Trips--Amsterdam stimulates all the senses, with Rembrandts and stately architecture from its Golden Age, and titillating street life from its modern age. Side-tripping into the countryside, Steves climbs windmills and tour the world's biggest flower market.
Little Europe: Five Micro-Countries--Steves goes through Europe's tiniest countries: Vatican City, San Marino, Andorra, Liechtenstein and the fairytale princedom of Monaco.

A documentary on the German motion motion picture and its use as propaganda tool by the Nazis. Includes clips from more than 20 films made between 1933 and 1945, including Jud Süss and the Rothschilds.

Take a glimpse at the toxic mind of Joesph Goebbels, Hitler's henchman who was an enigmatic genius. The filmmakers allow Joesph to speak for himself (in the voice of Kenneth Branagh) via the extensive diaries that he kept from 1924-1945.

This motion picture is about the brilliant Spanish painter Goya. He, as a painter in the court of King Carlos IV, comes to attain wealth and a notable reputation. Although he has fallen in love with a beautiful Duchess, he also finds himself becoming more and more drawn away from the castle to portray the desires and nightmares of the common, Spanish people. After meeting a singer in a tavern who is hauled before the Inquisition for singing revolutionary songs, the nightmares of his paintings threaten to become a reality.

Though almost forgotten today, Veit Harlan was one of Nazi Germany's most notorious filmmakers. Millions across occupied Europe saw his films, the most infamous of which was the horrific anti-Semitic propaganda film Jew Suss, which was required viewing for all SS members. Harlan was also the only artist from the Nazi era to be charged with war crimes. Included are never-before-seen archival footage, unearthed film excerpts, rare home movies, and new interviews.

A massive chronicle of life in Germany, from 1919 to 1982, as reflected in the fluctuating fortunes of the members of one family, initially peasant-farmers, in the fictitious village of Schachbach in the Rhineland. An extraordinary succession of mostly ordinary events and characters--history seen from ground level--vividly acted by a huge cast of both professional and nonprofessional actors.

Never a robust man, Adolf Hitler was increasingly dependent on his personal physician throughout his time as fuehrer. As a result, the enigmatic and despised doctor, Theodor Morell, may well have played an important role in shaping the course of history. Examine the many aspects of this fascinating tale. Recent findings suggest that the world's most infamous dictator, a teetotal vegetarian, was ruling in an "altered state," but how big a part did Hitler's drug dependency play in the decisions he made? And can any of the blame be assigned to Morrell?

The video discusses the life of Hildegard of Bingen and her contribution to her time. She was an abbess, spiritual counselor, physician, theologian, writer, reformer, preacher and composer who lived in twelfth century Germany and through her writing, preaching and actions, confronted the major religious and political issues of her day.

Examines the life of Hildegard of Bingen, a German nun and abbess; also an intellectual, writer, composer, and artist. This film, like each of the biographical profiles in this series, weaves together excerpts from the personal writings of the individual, dramatic artwork, expert commentary, and a narration focusing on the relevance of each pioneer to contemporary times.

The astonishing true story of Hitler's private secretary coming to terms with working for unspeakable evil after remaining silent for nearly 60 years. In 1942, Traudl Junge was an apolitical 22-year-old chosen from a clerical pool to work as one of Adolf Hitler's private secretaries. Working day-in, day-out for Hitler, Junge viewed him as a surrogate father figure, private and polite, nothing like the crazed rhetorician of his speeches. Shielded from the knowledge of Hitler's acts of atrocity and convinced she was in the center of information, she was actually in a blind spot. As the Nazi regime teetered on destruction and Hitler plunged further into madness, Junge witnessed everything up to the final chaotic days in the bunker.

The life-affirming tale of 10,000 children saved from Hitler's grasp and placed with foster parents and hostels in Great Britain at the outbreak of World War II. Includes archival footage and decades-later rememberances of both the rescuers and the rescued.

A documentary about 56 year-old Fini Straubinger, blind and deaf since her teens who dedicated her life to help the similarly afflicted.

In 1975 Rome, Claude Lanzmann filmed a series of interviews with Benjamin Murmelstein, the last President of the Jewish Council in the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, the only "Elder of the Jews" not to have been killed during the war. From Nisko in Poland to Theresienstadt, and from Vienna to Rome, the film provides an unprecedented insight into the genesis of the Final Solution. It also reveals the true face of Eichmann.

Growing up in post-WWII Germany, all Dieter Dengler, the son of a Nazi slain during the war, dreamed about was becoming a pilot. At age 18 he emigrated to the United States and worked odd jobs until he was accepted into the Navy and began pilot training. He was sent to Vietnam around 1966 and on his first mission was shot down and taken prisoner. There, the Vietcong tortured him until Dengler engineered a hair-raising escape and eventually returned to the U.S. His story is recounted here via interviews with Dengler, archival footage and new footage seamlessly spliced together.

The program traces anti-Semitism from its earliest manifestations in antiquity to the recent ominous outbreaks in Germany, Russia, and elsewhere.

Regional princes and the powerful Catholic Church wield a fast, firm and merciless grip over 16th-century Germany. But when Martin Luther issues a shocking challenge to their authority, the people declare him their new leader - and hero. Even when threatened with violent death, Luther refused to back down, sparking a bloody religious revolution that shakes the entire continent to its core

This comprehensive documentary traces the footsteps of the Martin Luther and reflects upon the places which have become inseparably connected with his name. The program features footage from the 2003 theatrical film, "Luther," along with interviews with experts discussing his life and work. Also includes an interview with the actor Joseph Fiennes, who played Luther in the 2003 film.

Documentary footage filmed by Allied Forces army cameramen when they entered the Nazi death camps in 1945 and only recently discovered in the archives of the Imperial War Museum in London. Scenes from Bergen-Belson, Dachau, Buchenwald, and other camps.

Documentary with film excerpts about the stormy relationship between frequent artistic partners, director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski.

A documentary record of the trials of the Nazi leaders at Nuremberg, Germany. Includes scenes from films made by the Nazis which were presented as the documentary evidence of the atrocities committed at concentration camps.

Historian Klaus Miller interviews survivors of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals because of the German Penal Code of 1871, Paragraph 175.

Following the liberation of the Nazi death camps in 1945, thousands of hidden artworks created by inmates were discovered, offering profound insights into life inside the camps. Artists and Holocaust survivors explore the meaning of these artifacts in the greater context of the Holocaust.

People, monsters, sensations. The beguiling images this film transform this mythical Viennese attraction into a cinematic experience. A captivating succession of intention and coincidence, an amusement ride through time and space. An complex film that makes us think and laugh.

The Red Cartoons anthology showcases the varying styles and thematic concerns of a group of artists who worked at East Germany's DEFA studio from the '50s until 1992. The 16 shorts on Red Cartoons come primarily from the '70s and '80s and average three minutes or less. Some resemble whimsical comic-book one-pagers; others are more like editorials. And watched in chronological order, they tell the story of the mounting frustration in the GDR in the years before the Berlin Wall fell. In Hans Moser and Thomas Rosie's "Hello," for example, a man travels from the city to the country to the mountains to the beach to the desert, looking for a solitude that proves less than satisfying when he finally finds it. And in Otto Sacher's "Star And Flower," a man on the ground neglects a flower because he wants to reach a star, while a man in the sky does the opposite. These are simple, universal ideas: critiques of dissatisfaction that sympathize with the irritated while also reminding them that restlessness is a common human condition, not a uniquely socialist one But others of these Red Cartoons make a more political point, especially the work of Klaus Georgi and his occasional collaborator Lutz Stutzner. Georgi's "The Full Circle" depicts people wearing gas masks because of the pollution emitted by a gas-mask factory. His "Consequence" shows an audience applauding an anti-pollution film, then heading out to their exhaust-spewing automobiles. Georgi and Stutzner's collaborations "The Breakdown" and "The Monument" take direct aim at the establishment: the former through the absurdist image of a tiny car towing a convoy of bloated political leaders' vehicles, and the latter through a vignette of a statue changing position after it receives a phone call from the party. And Stutzner's 1990 "Island Joke" exemplifies what these DEFA animators do so well, by encapsulating the ridiculousness of a failing state in a scene of three freezing, naked men using a bolt of cloth to make a flag they can salute.

Through rare archival film footage this video details the horrors of the war between the Germans and the Russians on the Eastern Front during World War II.

A look at one way in which Nazi Germany worked to eliminate the weak and purify the Aryan race by killing or sterilizing mentally and physically disabled people. The video shows propaganda films intended to justify and gain public support for their actions by reason of cost, natural selection laws and mercy.

The Nazi extermination of Jews is examined through interviews of survivors, witnesses and perpetrators and through footage of the sites of the death camps and environs as they appear today. Those interviewed include Jewish survivors of the death camps and the Warsaw ghetto uprising, Polish farmers and villagers who lived near the camps and Nazis who worked in the camps and the ghettos

This film, based upon ground-breaking research, introduces the viewer to three of the greatest Christian scholars of the twentieth century: Paul Althaus, Emanuel Hirsch, and Gerhard Kittel, men who were also outspoken supporters of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Parti. In 1933 Althaus spoke of Hitler's rise as "a gift and miracle of God." Hirsch saw 1933 as a "sunrise of divine goodness." And Kittel, the editor of the standard reference work of the Jewish Background of the testament, began working for the Nazis to find a "moral" rationale for the destruction of European Jewry.

This film, commissioned by Adolf Hitler to record the 1934 Nazi party rally in Nuremberg, is the "most powerful piece of propaganda ever produced". Included are many scenes of gatherings, marches, and parades. The viewer will also hear speeches given by Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, and Hess as well as samples of monumental architecture designed by Albert Speer.

Under the Pavement Lies the Strand deals with the aftermath of the 1968 student rebellions in Germany as experienced by two fervent participants. Though the country experienced sweeping reforms in the years following, two radicals-turned-successful Berlin stage actors and lovers are grappling with their growing insignificance and the demands of adulthood. After a night of intense debate about the past and their future, the couple begins garnering support to fight a new abortion bill. However, their rekindled zeal is soon complicated by an unexpected pregnancy.

This film documents the historic journey of Prince Maximilian zu Wied, a German aristocrat, and the Swiss artist, Karl Bodmer, to the American West in 1832-34. Retraces the two-year expedition to the upper reaches of the Missouri River (present-day Montana), and evokes the experience by using Bodmer's original paintings, extensive location photography, and words from Prince Maxmilian's diary.

Explores southwestern Germany along the Rhine River, from Lake Constance to Cologne, with side trips to the Black Forest of legend and lore, the rich wine region, historic Bonn, the string of castles at Koblenz, Heidelberg, and more.

Showcasing the diversity of southeastern Germany, the tour takes flight in the countryside and winds up in Munich, Germany's capital city. Aerial views are enhanced by an informative narrative and a soundtrack that includes folk tunes and Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube Waltz."

The German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt caused an uproar in the 1960s by coining the subversive concept of the 'banality of evil' when referring to the trial of Adolph Eichmann, which she covered for the New Yorker magazine. Her private life was no less controversial thanks to her early love affair with the renowned German philosopher and Nazi supporter Martin Heidegger. This thought provoking and spirited documentary, with its abundance of archival materials, offers an intimate portrait of the whole of Arendt's life, traveling to places where she lived, worked, loved, and was betrayed, as she wrote about the open wounds of modern times.

This program chronicles the history of the Berlin Wall, from its construction in 1961 to the opening in 1989. The film examines the lives of ordinary citizens caught in the politics of the Cold War, the extraordinary efforts of East Berliners to cross to the West, and the birth of the freedom movement in East Germany's Protestant Church.

As a Jew born in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon during World War II, filmmaker Pierre Sauvage relates the story of how the village successfully shielded 5,000 Jews from the Nazis. The documentary is followed by an interview with Sauvage, conducted by Bill Moyers.

A documentary using archival films to cover the history of Germany from 1918 through 1933.

Svetlana Geier re-translated five novels by Dostoevsky that are referred to as "The Five Elephants." Born in Ukraine in 1923, she witnessed first-hand the impact of Stalin's purges and watched Nazi forces occupy her country. It was her gift for languages that ultimately saved her, but it forced her to make a choice that forever altered her life.

Interviews with Leni Riefenstahl, now in her nineties, flash- backs and modern film sequences tell the story of the most famous woman film director of all time. Known for her films made during the Third Reich, Riefenstahl's story is a controversial one. Best known for her film Triumph of the will, the film made of the 1934 Nazi Party Congress, it proved to be her undoing.

Through actual film footage, depicts the horror and heroism of World War II.

The documentary chronicles the history of World War I utilizing contemporary film footage.