When Ruth's husband dies in New York, in 2000, she imposes strict Jewish mourning, which puzzles her children. A stranger comes to the house - Ruth's cousin - with a picture of Ruth, age 8, in Berlin, with a woman the cousin says helped Ruth escape. Hannah, Ruth's daughter engaged to a gentile, goes to Berlin to find the woman, Lena Fisher, now 90. Posing as a journalist investigating intermarriage, Hannah interviews Lena who tells the story of a week in 1943 when the Jewish husbands of Aryan women were detained in a building on Rosenstrasse. The women gather daily for word of their husbands. The film goes back and forth to tell Ruth and Lena's story. How will it affect Hannah?
A fairy-tale about a beautiful but very haughty princess Anna who cruelly mocks each of her suitors. Finally she is forced by the king to marry a beggar. The poor life, hard work and love teach the princess a lesson and turn her into a loving and kind person.
In 2016, DEFA celebrates its 70th anniversary: the film embarks on a journey into the exciting film history of the GDR. In a comprehensive kaleidoscope, the importance of DEFA productions is illuminated, the relevance of the films as propaganda productions for the GDR, which socio-political themes were in the foreground, but also which heroes DEFA brought to the screen and celebrated as people from the people.
Lars Schelling runs a sushi bar in Berlin that was financed by the mafia. They now want their money back. Then suddenly his mother dies, and the next day he almost falls into the hands of kidnappers. Why? There's a lot of money involved that the Stasi put aside after the fall of communism to bribe politicians. And Lars possesses - without suspecting it - the code word for the Swiss bank...
The wrenching story of a woman sentenced in 1934 to ten years in prison for antifascist activities. The love between her and her fiancée enables her to survive the tribulations of her time in prison, where she is one of few political prisoners.
Anna Grawe is the right-hand woman of Bea Kober, a member of the Bundestag. When she learns that the public prosecutor's office is investigating her boss, she becomes suspicious. The connection to oligarch Parygin makes everything even more complicated. What Anna doesn't realize is that her daughter Larissa had an affair with Parygin.
Hans Fallada tells in his published after the war novel "The drinker" the story of the agricultural wholesaler Erwin Sommer, who flees from his narrow bourgeois relations under the burdens of the new times in the kingdom of the king alcohol, whose liberty and independence promises prove a lie - the only truth of the alcohol. On behalf of the WDR television play Ulrich Plenzdorf has adapted Fallada's 1944/45 novel for a film adaptation by Tom Toelle with Harald Juhnke in the main role of Erwin Sommer.
Eva Jensen is a female carpenter form Hamburg who wants to make a new start on the Baltic Sea coast in eastern Germany. She tries to buy a workshop with a view of the sea offered for sale by Heide, who rents out beach chairs. Unfortunately, Heide’s ex-husband vetoes the sale. In trying to understand his reasons, Eva comes across a painful family secret from the days of the GDR. And in other respects too, the newcomer from the West faces prejudice in the village, although her skills are urgently needed. Fish-seller Christian is also interested in the workshop, which Eva just sees as fair competition. Then they discover a common passion, kite-surfing, and unexpectedly grow closer.
The girl Jorinde and the foundling Joringel grow up sheltered in a farmer's cottage behind the moor, but the dense forest around them harbors deep secrets. One day, a sorceress, omnipresent as an owl, juniper tree or in fairy form, takes the beautiful Jorinde away. Her mother, father and Joringel are left behind in sorrow. However, determined Joringel sets off in search of Jorinde. Although the enchantress tries to convince him that his search is in vain, he succeeds in finding his beloved in an enchanted castle. There she lives, enchanted, alongside many other beauties, unattainable for reality. But it is the special power of the love between the two that enables Joringel to recognize Jorinde, who has been transformed into a nightingale, among many other nightingales. The spell expires. But peace only returns when Joringel saves his family from marauders and defeats them in battle.
Heddi is a self-confident and battle-hardened coastal fisherwoman. She only has one weak point: her daughter Eva. Eva is an environmental activist and just as militant as her mother. But despite their resemblance, Eva doesn't want to know anything more about Heddi; there has been radio silence between the two for years. But now Eva and her ten-year-old son Jannis turn up unexpectedly in the small Baltic Sea village, ostensibly for a birthday visit to Grandma Lore, where Eva spent most of her childhood. In reality, however, Eva is in big trouble: She has to serve a prison sentence for resisting law enforcement - and a repeat offender at that! - she has to serve a prison sentence. But who will look after her little Jannis while she is away?
The story of the steel melter Martin Hoff, whose factory delegates him to a drama school, corresponds to the real life of the actor Manfred Krug. Like his (film) hero, Krug works as a steel melter, does artwork, sings and acts, and is sent to drama school. Like his hero, who behaves anarchically and conspicuously, Krug is soon expelled from school.
The story of a Leipzig family from 1987 to the Monday demonstrations in 1989. After the death of her father, a high-ranking officer in the People's Police, the daughter joins the resistance movement around St. Nicholas Church. Phenomena such as obedience, followership, spying and resistance are illustrated in this haunting film based on individual people. A film that provides food for thought for the discussion about the fall of the Berlin Wall and recapitulates contemporary history.
"Captain" Werner Träsch is quite astonished: the fresh wind of social change is also blowing among the tradition-conscious Berlin garbage workers. His boss, Dorn, has got it into his head that women should finally be employed as refuse collectors.
1942. The members of the Voß family, mother, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, and a son-in-law, are living in a house at the river. A fellow soldier of son Paul, who fights at the eastern front, delivers his greetings and an embroidered Russian blouse for Emmi, Paul′s wife. Daughter Agnes, whose husband is also fighting in the war, receives a fur vest from the junior partner who is stalking her. Obviously, the vest is also loot from the eastern front. When the family receives news that Emmi′s husband has been killed in action, the war finally enters the house at the river. Emmi commits suicide while Agnes′s husband returns as a cripple from the war front. At home, he has to learn what a price his wife had to pay for the "Russian fur".
Karl Erp is a middle-aged man with two children and a boring marriage. After starting an exciting affair with his intern, Miss Broder, he leaves his loveless marriage and moves in with his lover. Under pressure from Miss Broder’s mother, Karl once again promises marriage. He finds, however, that the excitement that drew him to her in the first place doesn’t carry over into their daily lives.
Sabine Wulff is almost 18 when she is released from the juvenile detention center. She doesn't want to return to her unsupportive parents or to her former boyfriend Jimmy, who got her into trouble by persuading her to steal cigarettes. She instead chooses to begin an honest life by getting a job and renting her own room.
Kasper Mai, an export merchant and comrade with a “clean” record, discovers he is the prince of Hohenlohe-Liebenstein. His royal grandmother designates him as the heir to her estate. A private trip to her reveals that she does not want a NATO airbase built on her land. The GDR and his grandmother thus find a common interest, and a clever lawyer from the East works against other family members looking to settle their debts with the estate money.
15-year old Klaus Kambor, called Kurbel, is living in a village in Lusatia and already thinks of himself as an adult. He can hold a lot of rhubarb wine and has already kissed a girl. But with his new method of lawn mowing, which he thinks is brilliant, Klaus makes a big mistake: He causes a wild fire in the forest. Then he does not react adult-like at all, but shirks the responsibility, which leads to the break-up with his girlfriend Daniela. Furthermore, Klaus does not realize that several of the places he likes the most in his environment are now going to be sacrificed to mining. When Klaus becomes friends with the teacher Konzak and with the construction worker Jule, he feels understood for the first time and starts to take more responsibility.
East German film about the history of Red Orchestra, a real life German pro-Soviet spy ring created after the rise of Hitler that turned into a resistance movement led by a leftist Nazi officer, Harro Schulze-Boysen, and Arvid Harnack.
Kathe Kollwitz was 47 years old, and already a well established artist in Germany and abroad when Peter, her youngest son, volunteered to join the German army in WWI and was killed two weeks later. This painful tragedy changed Kollwitz's life and art forever.
Adam, Evchen, and Manni are looking at the moon through their home-made telescope. Evchen isn't interested, and dismisses the moon as a lump of cheese. Manni, who is a big fan of technology, sees satellites and a car driving over the moon's surface. But Adam hears the moon speak, and hears it ask for flowers to cover its surface. From then on, Adam is determined to breed a kind of flower that can grow on the moon.
For thirty years, Karl Achilles has been working at the chemical collective in Bitterfeld. But now his last day as a master at the plant has come. He is about to retire; even if Karl, who finds ending his working life difficult, wanted to stay on, it would not be possible. Karl’s colleagues have arranged a farewell dinner for the retiring master at an outdoor restaurant. But on his last day of work, before the farewell dinner, he meets all sorts of people: both colleagues and people, who do not work at the plant. A mosaic of the biography of a person who found fulfilment in his work and now has to look for the meaning of his life anew.
A wild story set in eighteenth-century Prussia. Alexander can do everything that a real devil of a fellow must be able to do: ride, shoot, love and devise clever plots. As a result, he is able to climb the ladder from herder to chamber master, where he makes a fool of the feudal lords.
Experiences and problems of an air squadron: Commander Milan has reached the age limit for pilots and must come to terms with the fact that he will have to give up flying from now on. Lieutenant Lenz loses control of the plane during a flight and is seriously injured during the parachute rescue, in the worst case scenario he remains paralyzed. He doesn't want to tie his girlfriend Anka to him, but she sticks by him. Young Kullas comes into the squadron to replace Lenz. His predecessor's accident makes him afraid and he tries to find out what courage means to him. Lieutenant Herzog loves the teacher Sigrid. She returns his love, but it is difficult for her to choose a "hero" once again. Two years earlier, her husband was killed defusing a bomb. But Herzog does not want to give up his job. The fifth, Captain Wendland, is a party secretary. He takes flying just as seriously as his concern for his comrades.
A high-rise building in the center of Berlin in the GDR on July 11, 1982. The final match of the soccer World Cup is being broadcast on television. Five episodes revolve around this event: Soccer fanatic Kneutzsch is torn between the exciting match and the rather irritated woman by the unexpected visit of a lady to whom he has written a marriage announcement ... Dr. Kobermann - on painkillers - has mistaken the bathroom door for the corridor door and locked herself out. Her husband is sitting in front of the TV with headphones on and doesn't hear her ringing, so she seeks refuge in her nightgown with a neighbor, a flautist. After his ex-love Carmen leaves him and wants to return home, the exiled Andrés follows the game - in the knowledge that his father, thousands of kilometers away, is also watching...
Irene Klaussen, a brilliant, tomboyish Berlin student, falls for new classmate Peter Lemke. To prove herself, she follows him, first to a school dance in a borrowed gown, then to a year’s stint on a remote oil‐plant construction in Granow. Ostracized at first, she wins respect under FDJ secretary Anton by mastering every trade and helping him study for engineering school. After returning to Berlin, she discovers Peter’s infidelity and, disillusioned, goes back to Granow, finding true partnership and purpose with Anton.
August 1961. The former Foreign Legionnaire, King, has collected a gang of hooligans, with whom he creates mischief in the GDR. After some careless work on a construction site, an event during which two people lose their lives, they move to a campsite on the Baltic Sea. With sputtering mopeds, loud radios, and occasional outbursts, the gang makes the vacationers' lives living hell. Unfortunately for them, Lieutenant Czernik discovers the connection between them and the accident at the construction site. To stop them from fleeing to West Berlin, Lieutenant Czernik and the police need to arrest them, one at a time, with King as the last.
Stefan's mother is interviewed by a television crew at her home. On the subject of how a single mother, who is actively involved in the work process, copes, the son, who is present, only gives snotty answers. Stefan works as an apprentice bricklayer and helps to build the French Cathedral on Berliner Platz der Akademie. On the day of his 18th birthday, he tells his mother that he is moving out. In his new surroundings, Stefan meets Christel, a telegram messenger, with whom he falls in love. An attempt to spend a night together in his mother's spare apartment fails, as Christel immediately wants to tie him down. Stefan's mother also arrives earlier than expected. She still hasn't given up on her son. There is a lot of trouble when she catches him working as a toilet attendant in a pub.
This biographical film is set in 1937, with Fallada suffering the effects of living under a microscope. The film details his decline, as he is intermittently imprisoned and threatened in order to motivate him to write for the Fatherland. Even the attention of his kind, patient wife and loving children begin to feel oppressive to him. This is one of the few films to take a serious, in-depth look at the tribulations of a creative artist pulled in all different directions by the real world.
Peter (39) has slipped into the role of the houseman over the years, because his wife Elisabeth (42) is traveling a lot for work and he takes care of the children Robby (15) and Laura (8). Peter learns that Elisabeth wants to go to Africa with her family. Due to the death of his mother Hedi, the soul situation Peters gets more and more out of balance. When he also learns that Elisabeth has already given her boss half a promise to go to Africa for two years, Peter feels ignored and ignored. It begins a blessing of blame, in which he gets into an emotional dead end.
The Federal Republic of Germany. Journalist Rohmann, seriously injured in a car accident, is dying in hospital. Before his death, he bequeaths his unfinished novel to his friend, the famous writer Frank Seburg, and asks him to complete the work he started. Frank Seburg examines the materials collected by Rohmann. It turns out that the journalist was trying to uncover the mystery surrounding the deaths of several West German officials. According to the official version, they all committed suicide. Seburg was unable to fulfill his friend's request to reveal the true causes of their deaths. The fight against the followers of fascism proved too much for him.
In a senior citizens' residence in Berlin, six residents are betting on the Lotto jackpot of € 30 million. But what should one do with so much money in his old days? Lebemann Conrad wants to hit the spot again, while the gay couple Otto and Jakob are fulfilling their dream of sailing. The good-natured Rosi is unabashedly exempted from her children, while the adventurous Karin finally wants to travel the world, if need be even without her sullen husband. But although almost all can fulfill their dreams, fate holds after the lottery luck also a few setbacks.
The writer Sofie lives with her daughter, her son and her motherly friend Rosa in a pretty Leipzig city villa. Her life seems to have a firm grip on the single mother - if it were not for this writer's block that prevents her from completing her new romance novel. To make matters worse, her childhood sweetheart Vincent emerges completely unexpectedly. Vincent, Rosa's son, left her 15 years ago overnight. She has never heard from him since. Therefore, she tries to keep secret from him that she connects far more than a broken love ...
BRD 1982: Hubertus and Sebastian never want to become like their fathers. The music and their shared love for punk princess Debbie are the only ways to escape the stink of floor wax and stinginess. When a cool rockabilly band is looking for an opening band for their tour, it's clear: this is the chance to escape all constraints! But Hubertus' father tries everything to prevent the musical attempts of his son. When they are invited to audition, the situation escalates.
A bus of refugees from the war is stopped by soldiers. They search the passengers and take away a young woman. The villagers observe the alarming scene and look on, indifferently. The teacher is the only one who tries to show some solidarity with the young woman.
Karin, a well-known and loved midwife in her early forties, receives a high-order decoration from the state. While still overwhelmed with happiness about this honor, she is faced with a difficult decision when she encounters a young women who claims to be her daughter.
Jutta and Eric were once lovers and aspiring chefs in the Spree Forest region of East Germany. Too prone too brilliant but risky improvisation, Jutta fell into obscurity; Eric defected to the West and became famous. Now he has returned to enlist her aid of crucial cooking contest - does this portend rekindled romance or cynical exploitation?
Diagnosis burnout: The successful career woman Toni Lehmstedt can be referred to a psychiatric clinic after a physical breakdown. Urs Egger's free adaptation of the biographical novel of the same name by Miriam Meckel with Grimme award winner Marie Bäumer in the leading role.
When he reaches age 18, Peter is released from the children's home where he grew up, but this does not mean he is truly ready for adult life.
During the Napoleonic Wars, German writer Ferdinand von Rauch, who had enthusiastically joined the French revolutionary troops years earlier, is sent to scout the terrain of a small Thuringian village. Unexpectedly, he encounters not only his lover Stella, whom he left years ago but still loves, but also his wife Cäcilie. Stella has taken a position as a companion to Cäcilie with her sixteen-year-old daughter Lucie. Both women, who have been unable to fulfill their longing for love for years, now lay claim to Ferdinand. And the man reciprocates both their love, not wanting to give up either of them.
Their mother has died. Siblings Susanne and Thomas are shocked. And overwhelmed. Little by little, it dawns on them that their grumpy father has long been unable to move without help. Full of remorse, Susanne and Thomas search for a solution that is affordable - and leaves the old man with his dignity...
It was supposed to be a cozy Christmas evening with the family. Labor Director Walter Lörke was particularly looking forward to it. But then his daughter Anne surprised him with her future son-in-law Thomas Ostermann. And that's not all: Lörke is to become a grandfather. This doesn't suit him at all, especially as the young man clearly shows his critical attitude towards the state whose ideals Lörke has fought for all his life. An argument ensues - on Christmas Eve. Lörke leaves the apartment in a rage. But he is driven by unrest: He wants to know what kind of person his future son-in-law is and why he has such a negative attitude towards the state. It turns out that Thomas has had bitter experiences with the opportunistic attitudes of many adults and that, although he was the best student in his class, he was not admitted to university because of his critical opinions.
Russian soldier Grisha escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp in the spring of 1917. He is caught and is to be shot as a spy. This decision is controversial. The dispute continues. Grisha is executed on the orders of the army high command.
Based on a true story from 1936: Klara Baumann, a working-class woman, communist and mother, flees her German homeland for neighboring Czechoslovakia. When a party courier is arrested in Berlin, Klara agrees to return to Germany with illegal material. On behalf of the central courier service, she returned to Germany illegally many times, risking her life, in constant fear of being caught. When the illegal party cell in a large Berlin factory is arrested, Klara distributes the latest issue of the Red Signal on her own. She wants to prove to the Gestapo that she has imprisoned the wrong people. Authentic story of a communist and mother who flees her German homeland for neighboring Czechoslovakia in 1936.
Film by Michael Verhoeven.
A woman goes through a weekend full of ups and downs after a shocking diagnose, according to which she has less than a year left to live.
Film by Ralf Kirsten.
The evil and powerful King Magus brutally subjugates the people of his kingdom. Anyone who does not want to submit is turned into an animal and locked in a cage. Magus kidnaps the girl Hanna, whom he wants to marry. But Hanna refuses, and her lover, the shepherd Elias, goes to the castle to free her. He learns from Magus' servant Pravos that a mirror gives the king magic power and immortality and that he can only be defeated by water from the Moon Lake. Elijah sets out on his journey to the Moon Lake. Will he withstand the dangers and finally achieve victory over the king? Wrid he be able to free Hanna and the whole kingdom?
Abel Hradscheck, the owner of an inn in the Oderbruch country, faces financial ruin. For this state of affairs, Ursula, his wife and former actress, is by no means free of blame. She is a "newcomer" to the area and even after eleven years in the area, still a "stranger". A Cracow company announces that a money-collector is on his way to the innkeeper. Mr. Szulski arrives and the debts are settled - with money supposedly stemming from an inheritance. The next day, Szulski departs but according to the maid and the stable-boy, behaves in a very strange manner. Soon afterwards, his carriage is discovered in the Oder River, but there is no trace of the drowned man. Hradscheck's neighbor starts casting suspicion on the innkeeper. The Counselor of Justice, who heads the investigations has the spot under the pear tree dug out. A dead body is exhumed...
Their mother has died. Siblings Susanne and Thomas are shocked. And overwhelmed. Little by little, it dawns on them that their grumpy father has long been unable to move without help. Full of remorse, Susanne and Thomas search for a solution that is affordable - and leaves the old man with his dignity...
On a forest road in the Brandenburg March, village teacher Potsch accidentally encounters the distinguished Professor Menzel, who got stuck there in his car. In the conversation that ensues, Menzel and Pötsch quickly discover that they both are great admirers of the early 19th-century writer Max von Schwedenow who was born in the area.
In the crisis-ridden Germany of the 1920s, the desperate Frieda Hausmann pretends to be her deceased husband Wilhelm so that she can support her family by employing him as a porter.
Three decades ago, they performed as the pop quartet "Altmarkspatzen" and felt great in front of the spotlights of the television cameras that had just come into fashion. Now a surprising telegram brings the four sisters Carla, Christiane, Constanze and Corinna together again after a long time. They are called to their father's bedside. Memories are awakened, lifelines are traced and confessions are made. The four women are speechless in the face of lies, for which their mother is also fatally to blame.
Founded in 1954 as the “Deutsche Hochschule für Filmkunst”, today's “Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen” is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The documentary traces the history of the university. Graduates of the school have their say and excerpts of student films from five decades are presented.
