Enno Patalas

Mythos Metropolis

Documentary by Eckhart Schmidt.

Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood

Featuring interviews with daughter Nicola Lubitsch, film historians Enno Patalas and Jan-Christopher Horak and filmmaker Tom Tykwer (among others), Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin documents the life of the legendary filmmaker from his birth in 1892 to his departure for Hollywood in 1923. The documentary is sprinkled with excerpts from Lubitsch's rarely-seen early work (both as actor and director) and offers fascinating insights into the German film industry in the silent era.

Tracing Battleship Potemkin

Documentary detailing the extensive number of shots long lost from constant film re-cutting of 1925's great silent cinema classic Battleship Potemkin in the last 80 years, and how many of those shots have been returned.

The Metropolis Case

A documentary about Fritz Langs "Metropolis" by Enno Patalas.

Voyage to 'Metropolis'

A documentary about the making of the final version of "Metropolis" by restoring all material from different sources.

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat and top hat who feeds him.

Germany in Autumn

The film does not have a plot per se; it mixes documentary footage, along with standard movie scenes, to give the audience the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The movie covers the two-month time period during 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped and later murdered by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction). The businessman had been kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the original leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state.

People at the Espresso Bar

Vesely’s study on changing urbanity claims that "the Espresso has a democratic touch." Italy has expanded into Munich and instead of beer hall cellars, there are Cappuccinos, ice creams and tables in the open.

Metropolis Refound

Argentinian film historians find a complete print of Fritz Lang's “Metropolis” (1927) at Buenos Aires Film Museum and take it to Germany for its restoration.

...Geist und ein wenig Glück

Documentary about the current state of German cinema. Produced for German television.

The Shipwrecker

Three actors portray scenes from the life of Sterling Hayden, with a particular focus on his appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Inspired by Hayden’s memoir “Wanderer.”