Günter Rohrbach

Fernsehgeschichte(n). Deutsch

Documentary about the history of German television.

I Don’t Just Want You to Love Me

A documentary about the life and work of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

U-96, The True Story of 'Das Boot'

The international success of the film Das Boot by Wolfgang Petersen made U-96 one of the most famous submarines in cinematic history. But the true story of one of Hitler's most fearsome U-boats and its crew goes far beyond fiction. For the first time, this documentary sheds light on the reality behind the fiction through exclusive interviews with the makers and actors of Das Boot, as well as the last survivors of the time. In doing so, this documentary explores how Hitler's propaganda images may have influenced the visual and narrative force of Das Boot.

Das Boot Revisited: An Underwater Success Story

In 1981, a film about the misadventures of a German U-boat crew in 1941 becomes a worldwide hit almost four decades after the end of the World War II. Millions of viewers worldwide make Das Boot the most internationally successful German film of all time. But due to disputes over the script, accidents on the set, and voices accusing the makers of glorifying the war, the project was many times on the verge of being cancelled.

Loriot 100

Documentary about German comedian Loriot alias Vicco von Bülow, who would have been 100 years old in 2023.

Fassbinder

A film portrait of the influential Bavarian actor, director, and screenwriter who publicly confessed his homosexuality, which chronologically covers all the important stages from Action-Theater to the director's early death, supplemented with anecdotes.

How Holocaust came to Television

At the beginning of 1979, after more than 30 years of collective repression, a dramatized and emotional US television miniseries ensured that the German population was suddenly reminded of the terrible Nazi crimes against the Jews. What is now expressed with the hitherto unknown word Holocaust, hits many millions of people in the heart. The unexpected echo and the audience reactions were fierce. Even before the TV broadcast neo-Nazis blasted in vain transmitting towers in Germany to prevent this. From the creation and the shooting over the broadcast to the tremendous reactions, documentary filmmaker Alice Agneskirchner tells the story of this emotional television event, which led to a paradigm shift in the perception of German Nazi crimes.

Melting Ink

In 2020, the author Anatol Regnier published Jeder schreibt für sich allein, a book that examines the life and work of writers in Nazi Germany. In collaboration with Regnier, Dominik Graf, Constantin Lieband, and Felix von Boehm have adapted this book into a polyphonic essay film of the same name – almost three hours in duration – that takes a meticulous look at the contradictory biographies of Hans Fallada, Gottfried Benn, Erich Kästner, Ina Seidel and Will Vesper.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's World on a Wire: Looking Ahead to Today

A retrospective look at the making of "World on a Wire".

Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz: A Mega Movie and Its Story

A documentary about the making of the television mini-series by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, including interviewees with the principal actors.

Return to Beethoven Street: Sam Fuller in Germany

A documentary on the 1973 Sam Fuller film Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street.