The Pope is in town and the night of his stay is anything but heavenly for some of Berlin′s inhabitants. Rich and poor, down-and-outs and policemen, street kids and taxi drivers - in their search for a little bit of happiness, they all end up on an amusing and at times harrowing odyssey through the labyrinth of the big city.
Master painter Hans Moll and his wife, the television announcer Ms. Wellinek and her husband, and the German-Russian Jew Yevgenia have many things to live on: food, drink, an apartment. What they do not have is work. They all discover the yearning for a chance to start all over again and bring themselves back to life.
A German Platoon is explored through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After half of their number is wiped out and they're placed under the command of a sadistic captain, the platoon lieutenant leads his men to desert. The platoon members attempt escape from the city, now surrounded by the Soviet Army.
In this sun soaked adventure for the entire family, a group of five orphaned children form their own makeshift family while attempting to operate outside the rules of society. Though they must sometimes steal to survive, their loyalty to one another means that they will always have a brother or sister to count on.
Two westerners, a priest and a teacher find themselves in the middle of the Rwandan genocide and face a moral dilemna. Do they place themselves in danger and protect the refugees, or escape the country with their lives? Based on a true story.
A road movie comedy about the longing for freedom and the realization of dreams: Hilde, Karl and Philip live in a Bremen residential home for people with disabilities. While the two boys work in a workshop where they make toy "waddling ducks", Hilde peels buckets of potatoes as a kitchen assistant. Bored with the daily routine, the trio decide one day to escape from the home and go on vacation to Cologne. After a few adventures, Philip loses his wheelchair and has to "hop" around Cologne from then on. Eventually, the friends miss their train back to Bremen - and head to Paris instead. Enno, their cynical caretaker, is tasked with bringing the runaways back. A wild chase begins.
The 2nd of three self-contained shorts by Helke Sander from her series of shorts entitled From the Reports of Security Guards & Patrol Services.
Marie is a 13 year old girl and blind. When she meets Herbert something wonderful begins.
Two very different love stories cross each other in warm and magical way. A humanistic and yet mysterious film about love and death near the German/Danish border.
Sams in danger, it is said, when Mr. Taschenbier's son Martin brings the Sams back into the household, which, however, is kidnapped shortly afterwards by the sports teacher because of his special skills.
In Hamburg, an aged sorcerer is searching for a replacement. Freddie, who's about 12, finds the wizard's book of spells and knows enough to read a few lines to his friend Emma. She repeats the lines adding exasperation about Mickey, a boy who's often mean to her. The next morning, Mickey finds himself in Emma's body, and Emma finds herself in Mickey's body. The wizard tracks down the book, takes it back, and disappears, leaving Freddy with no way to reverse the spell, which becomes permanent in 54 hours. Freddy, Emma, and Mickey must work together to search out a solution, while making discoveries about sex roles, courage, friendship, and each other
Little Fritz Fuchs and his friend Roman Zenkert are about to recover Hannibal's legendary Alpenschatz. However, as an avalanche in the cave goes down, the jammed Fritz is ignored by his "buddy" ignominiously. Decades later, Fuchs is overtaken by his past. Because the nasty Zenkert still wants to get by all means in the possession of the treasure. After many entanglements and entanglements, the second treasure hunt in the mountains leads to a heated finale.
After the accidental death of her husband, Lisa Bergmann no longer sees any meaning in life. Until one day three angels named Raphaela, Wally and Asmodeus appear.
A couple of school kids from difficult social backgrounds put on a play at school - an ambitious staging of Goethe's Faust II.
The Second World War is over and now begins in post-war Germany, the reconstruction. Jakob Formann sees his chance here and begins a rapid rise as an entrepreneur.
The story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German clergyman of great distinction, who actively opposed Hitler and the Nazis. His convictions cost him his life. 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. The Nazis hanged him on April 9, 1945, less than a month before the end of the war. Bonhoeffer's last years, his participation in the German resistance and his moral struggle are dramatized in this film. More than just a biographical portrait, Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace sheds light on the little-known efforts of the German resistance. It brings to a wide audience the heroic rebellion of Bonhoeffer, a highly regarded Lutheran minister who could have kept his peace and saved his life on several occasions but instead paid the ultimate price for his beliefs.
Police chief Krause celebrates Christmas every year with his two sisters. However, this year everything will be different.
Krause and Elsa are stunned: their sister Meta wants to get married. She chose the Cologne taxi driver Rudi Weisglut, whom she met two years earlier during Krause's cure on the Baltic Sea.
Four-part german limited serial about the baden revolution in 1848 and 1849.
Based on the research for his non-fiction book "Der Baader-Meinhoff-Komplex", "Spiegel" journalist Stefan Aust wrote the screen play to Reinhard Hauff’s controversial feature film that re-narrates the startling trial against the RAF terrorists Baader, Meinhoff, Ensslin, and Raspe. The trial that started in May 1975 in the Stammheim maximum-security prison extended over 192 days and ended with a lifetime sentence for all defendants.
A nearly illiterate woman becomes one of the founders of Poland's Solidarity union.
The 14-years old Mona becomes pregnant. Problems in the family are the result.
Urged by her mother, Anke left her baby for adoption ten years ago. For years afterward, she did not speak to her again. Now the soon-to-be attorney from Hamburg travels back to her home village to make up with her dying mother. She learns that her daughter Christina lives with Alex, a past love of Anke's and Christina's real father. Old wounds break up again and long forgotten feelings of hate as well as love flare up again. Anke leaves her fiancé to face up to her past. She decides in favour of her child and of a life with Alex.
Every year, 17-year-old Wolfgang from Hesse spends his summer vacation with his grandfather in Fischerhude in Schleswig-Holstein. In the north, he always meets his childhood sweetheart Nanni, whom he wants to marry soon. But the two of them are not destined for happiness. The war throws a spanner in the works. Love must fail.
Australian geologist Graves meets Juliane in a Hamburg variety show. She mistakes Graves for a killer and lures him to gangster Tanzmann. When the mistake is discovered, they only have ten hours to find the real killer...
A maniac is once again on the loose in Berlin. A young woman narrowly escapes from the fiend. She is uncooperative with the police, as if she knows the perpetrator and wants to protect him. In fact, her brother and even her husband, one an internist and the other a gifted plastic surgeon, soon become the focus of the murder investigation, as the previous victims have been "expertly" killed and their mouths neatly dissected...
Two stay-at-home dads who meet at the playground realize that their daily routine is stifling their creative talents. Without telling their wives, they organize a service that connects retired women with families in need of babysitters. The business is so successful that it quickly becomes too much for them to handle.
Five friends go to a ski lodge on Christmas Eve in a good mood to spend the Christmas vacations together. At the same time, three gangsters attack a department store - the robbery ends in disaster. The three perpetrators manage to escape, but one of them is badly injured. Unfortunate coincidences drive the gangsters into the friends' ski lodge, where Christmas Eve turns out to be less than harmonious...
Jana is faced with a mystery: Why is her partner Roman behaving so strangely? At first she thinks she has a mistress. When she spies on her, the far more painful truth comes to light. Roman has been leading a double life for years. She feels like a woman trapped in a man's body. Do the spouses have any future at all now?
Vera and Siegfried have taken out a large loan and mortgaged their house and livelihood so that Vera can realize her lifelong dream of becoming a fashion designer. Unfortunately, her dream is shattered. Vera wonders how she's going to teach the down-to-earth Siegfried, who runs a hairdressing salon in Prignitz. But then everything changes...
A native of Sennwald, Anna Göldi arrived in Glarus in 1765. For seventeen years, she worked as a maidservant for Johann Jakob Tschudi, a physician. Tschudi reported her for having put needles in the bread and milk of one of his daughters, apparently through supernatural means. Göldi at first escaped arrest, but the authorities of the Canton of Glarus advertised a reward for her capture in the Zürcher Zeitung on February 9, 1782. Göldi was arrested and under torture, admitted to entering in a pact with the Devil, who had appeared to her as a black dog. She withdrew her confession after the torture ended, but was sentenced on June 18, 1782 to execution by decapitation. The charges were officially of "poisoning" rather than witchcraft, even though the law at the time did not impose the death penalty for non-lethal poisoning.
Up to now, Nickel (9) and his single dad Thomas have been managing very well together. Then Nickel goes on a school excursion and brings the little piglet Rudy back with him in his rucksack. Once he´s home, he makes a terrifying discovery: dad has a girlfriend! Worse yet, she´s moved in with him and brought her daughter Felicitas (12) along! Nickel makes a deal with Thomas: if those two stay, then so can Rudy. When life becomes unbearable for Nickel, he flees with Rudy to ‘Porkland’, followed by Feli and pursued by two dumb crooks. It’s the beginning of an adventure that ends in the swamps of the Oder Valley, where Rudi saves the lives of the two children and finds a new home.
The relationship between Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the great German writer, and Christiane Vulpius, a village girl, is one of the instantaneous and fiery passion. They lived together for 28 years, 18 of these living in sin, 10 a married couple. Christiane's rival, Charlotte von Stein, a former favorite of Goethe, begins plotting and scheming against her. Christiane puts up with countless insults and humiliations like having to 'disappear' with their son into the servants' quarters and to stay at home on official occasions. Goethe marries her when she saves his life during an attack by plundering Napoleonic soldiers. Her new social position as Goethe's wife is resented and envied by all. When she is openly attacked by the snooty, jealous people, Goethe is only half-hearted in coming to her defence. But she stays with him for he is her great love, even when she turns to the charms of many youthful admirers...
A literature professor is happily married, but he feels the need for more romance in his life
The firefighter Erik wants to make a proposal to his girlfriend Sofie, but at the crucial moment sparkles the attractive Melissa in between. When Sofie learns that Erik had a fleeting affair with Melissa on Carnival, a world collapses for her. But the two gather again, as Erik promises high and holy that such a thing will never happen again. To underline the seriousness of his intentions, he makes her an unconventional offer: he "gives" her an infidelity. He should not have done that, because suddenly he threatens to lose Sofie to his best friend.
The two friends Marie and Hannah spend a vacation together in Italy. While Hannah has just been divorced, the fun-loving Marie throws herself into an affair with the Viennese surgeon Xavier Gruber. However, he only wants a vacation flirtation without consequences - and leaves her the business card of car mechanic Xavier Martin, which he received by chance, when he leaves unexpectedly. Back in Germany, Marie begins to write ardent love letters to the supposed doctor in Vienna. The shy mechanic is initially amused, but eventually falls in love with the letter writer and confesses his feelings to her without clearing up the misunderstanding.
It is FC St. Pauli's most important match and the fans flock to Hamburg's Millerntor Stadium in droves to support their heroes for ninety minutes. Finally, the chance to win promotion to the first Bundesliga is here. Magnus, Kowalski, Arne, Dr. Hennings and Baldu are not going to miss out - completely different people, united by their unconditional love for FC, who make their personal happiness dependent on this one game. But nothing has been won yet. Arson attacks follow, relationships fall apart, harsh suspicions do the rounds. And... Kick-off!
After a successful bank robbery, Erik and Bingo have to part again. While Erik is stuck in a demolition house with his booty and broken foot, Bingo believes Erik has settled with the money. The accomplices become bitter rivals.
Nele is studying pharmacy in Berlin so that she can take over her father's pharmacy in Bad Homburg, or so her dad thinks. Hans-Peter has no idea that his daughter has dropped out of university and is restoring furniture instead. Nor does he know that his wife Franziska has applied for a job as an exhibition curator in Berlin. Suspecting that she is having an affair, Hans-Peter follows her - to the city that he associates mainly with bums, dog poo and traffic jams...
During a business lunch, a hearing-impaired woman becomes an “earwitness” to a murder plot, which she reads from the lips of a man at the next table. She informs the police, but initially ends up with a corrupt policeman who lulls her into a false sense of security, but in reality has been working with the man who hired her for some time. Her life is in grave danger, but the policeman is reluctant to eliminate the witness, especially as he has fallen in love.
Shokov is the last cosmonaut of the "Mir" station. On board: the secret satellite weapon "Medusa". A corrupt minister wants to sell them abroad. Shokov, fearing for his life, causes galactic chaos.
There is great sadness in the small village Everywhere. Since the Golden Thaler is no longer owned by the village, nothing grows there except cabbage and discouragement.
A comedy about a man who conquers his dream woman with the help of a dialable telephone box, but fails due to the broken technology of his alarm clock. Anton is a lonely stranger. Every morning he sees a girl going to work. He is too shy to talk to her, but finds a way to get her around.
72 years old Martha Jellneck lives alone in a small apartment in Hamburg. Since she's hampered in walking, she never leaves her home. Her only contacts to the outside world are the young social worker Thomas and a neighbor boy who walks her dog. When Thomas tells her one day that Franz Laub, another one of his clients, has his birthday, she becomes suspicious: that was also her half-brother's name and day of birth - only that he died in WW2...
On their 35th anniversary, Barbara dreams of Provence’s lavender fields, but her husband won’t budge. Secretly, she joins a French class with free‐spirited teacher Alexander and classmates Mehmet, Richard, Simon, and Miriam, learning life as much as language. As Barbara blossoms in newfound friendships, her family notices her spark reignited, and she resolves to seize her own happiness.
Although members of the Hitler Youth chant anti-Semitic paroles in front of his house during the Purim festival, Rabbi Singer is still profoundly convinced that Germany will stay a safe country for him, his family, and his fellow believers. But several years later, his son David is banned from going to school because he is a Jew. Shortly after, Rabbi Singer and his wife are deported. Now, young David also fears for his life. In constant fear of being detected, he tries to find a way to leave Germany.
Inspired by the German folktale, Wilhelm, a file clerk, falls in love with a huntsman's daughter. In order to marry, Wilhelm must prove his worth as a hunter and gain her father's approval. Naive and desperate, he makes a deal with a devil named Pegleg.
When the head of Herbi Zidinger is discovered on the head of a scarecrow, Chief Inspector Franz Germinger Jr. is immediately on the scene. His sister discovered the skull, so Germinger Senior quickly learns about the murder and, as usual, gets involved in his son's investigation. The father-son team soon have three suspects.
Heidi M. is in her late forties and has a small store in the pulsating center of Berlin. She goes out in the evenings with her friend Jacqui, but when she is unexpectedly confronted with romantic love, old wounds are opened.
A poetic attempt to show the state of mind of people critical of the regime in Prague who vacillate between their love of their homeland and their desire to emigrate, illustrated by the example of a philosophy professor who has to work as a gravedigger and luggage transporter at the airport.
Alex (Thierry Van Werveke), a pest exterminator who lives with his grandmother, picks up a stranded woman (Kate Valk) who claims to be the American daughter of a spy.
A Scottish woman with her nephew travels to Russia in the Paris-Moscow express. On the same flight in the 13th carriage, the old icons are returning from France to Russia. Thieves try to replace real icons with fake ones.
Literary adaptation: a handsome youth of humble origins rises in society through his connections made as an elevator attendant in a luxury hotel.
Two-Headed Calves is Johannes and Marie’s wedding video. For Johannes, the marriage is supposed to mark the start of a new life, and in the end it does, just differently than expected.
A German Film Award winning short feature.
The film takes place in a small cafe on the forecourt. When Gerard, one of the regular visitors, appears in the cafe to inform him that he is leaving, the usual course of the cafe's life suddenly breaks.