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No one in nature has mastered the art of deception like mantises. These seemingly innocent creatures are among the most feared predators in the insect world. Find out how they live, how they breed and who their biggest enemies are... They're killers. They kill their prey with incredible precision. They fight kung-fu style and are considered a symbol of vigilance in Japan. Who are they? Mantises, of course. They have an unmistakable, uniquely bendable head in the shape of a triangle. Two large eyes unerringly measure their prey. The thoracic part of their body is greatly elongated and studded with sharp protrusions that can stab an unfortunate victim with the speed of a switchblade. Mantises have a reputation for being stealthy creatures, especially as they are rarely seen. They are perfectly adapted to their environment, whether moving among leaves, flowers, tree bark, sandy soil or even flowering orchids.

The supermarkets are full of cheap fruit and vegetables. Most produce comes from Spain, but Italy is also an important supplier. How can countries produce so cheaply? The film uncovers catastrophic working conditions.

A photo that you hold in your hand immediately after clicking? 70 years ago this was an almost magical innovation! The story begins in the post-war period with the brilliant American inventor Dr. Edwin Land. Polaroid’s instant photography is born, a phenomenon that subsequently shapes whole generations of snap shooters and photographers, attracting a wide array of wildly experimenting artists. Half a century and a digital revolution later, the demise of Polaroid seems unavoidable. But the presumably dead keep on living. What follows is the miraculous resurrection of a cult object in a world dominated by Smartphones. SUBITO is not just an originally narrated film about the origin and importance of instant photography, it is also a highly amusing insight into popular culture and the untiring human enthusiasm for technical novelty. Renowned film artist Peter Volkart ventures into feature film length for the first time with this fascinating and sprightly narrated documentary essay.

When Leipzig pianist Kyra Steckeweh realized that her repertoire almost exclusively consisted of music composed by men, she began searching for pieces written by female composers. Her research in archives, libraries, and publishing houses quickly brought to light a variety of remarkable piano pieces that have been buried in history and rarely performed.

Documentary film about the steel entrepreneur Hermann Röchling.

The peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a dictated peace. With him, however, the German Empire recognized Soviet Russia. And so German-Soviet relations took their course. The film tells the story of the eventful history of both countries and the people in them. It is a story with repercussions right up to the present day, as their images continue to have an impact. Their myths, enemy images and projections continue to shape mutual perceptions. A history of ideologies - their fight against each other was to the death, the extermination of the other - here racial, there political-ideological - was meant existentially. It was about annihilation. Then again, at other times, it was about coexistence: in friendly enmity - hostile friendship.

The self-produced NITRO documentary "Werner - The Phenomenon" accompanies Werner's father and comic artist Brösel - alias Rötger Feldmann: It illustrates how the comic artist brought the Werner phenomenon to life.

To make an object based on a photograph means adding dimensions such as space, time and continuity. Roasting skewers, hairpins and nails were the tools of self-liberation in the photo series Zerstörung einer Illusion ("Destruction of an Illusion") by Karin Mack, which was produced in 1977 with a self-timer and her hand processing work in the darkroom. Forty years after its creation, it is a new perspective that transforms and sets into motion the examination of the self-image and role as a woman into a three-dimensional object. Light and rotation create an illusory horizon of perception inherent in filmmaking and make the living shadows dance in the delirium of the real. (C. P.)

Kaspar is dealing with the loss of his mother by playing with his imaginary friend Pixi. When Pixi offers him a way to see his mother again, Kaspar embarks on a journey that takes him into a dark world he may never return from.

People who dare to question important themes today, are often silenced or labeled as suspicious and dangerous. Where once democracies valued and encouraged debate society is dividing itself with stark lines between the left, the right, the good or the bad. What is strangling debate? How liberal is the West? Should we ignore or embrace other perspectives? A critical, thought-provoking journey through ancient tribal conflicts, in a new era wherein world views clash and free speech crumbles under pressure to conform.

Her love couldn't save the eternal city.

The British royal family has always been a symbol of Nazi resistance. However, time and again, information from different sources has surfaced about the Windsors’ secret sympathy for the Nazi regime. The newest finds have even fueled the suspicion that, in the summer of 1940, the abdicated King Edward VIII may have leaked sensitive war-related information to Hitler’s regime with the hopes of securing their support for his plans to reassume the throne. The Royals, the British Aristocracy and the Nazis presents video footage and recently surfaced photos to evidence the contemporary royal family’s and leading British aristocrats’ sympathy for National Socialism. It focuses particularly on the decisive roles of Edward and his American wife, Wallis Simpson, who was unsatisfied with her status of a shunned duchess — and introduced Edward to the NS scene.

Every year on Earth, hundreds of millions of hectares of vegetation are swept away by flames. During the summer of 2018, Europe experienced a foretaste of the foreseeable consequences of climate change, with record temperatures and extreme drought leading to forest fires on an unprecedented scale, particularly in Sweden. How can we better prevent and control these fires, over 90% of which are man-made? Climatologists and specialists are joining forces to provide the best possible response to this threat. From increased prevention among young people, to innovative detection systems and the planting of cypress trees to block the flames, methods are being studied to combat this scourge from France to Spain and Germany.

Lisa, a lonely woman living in Berlin, is raped and takes revenge, while she simultaneously begins an affair with a strange silent guy.

A documentary that looks at the problems for young modern Israelis returning to the Germanic countries of central Europe, and in particular how this impacts upon older generations of their families, who had to leave countries like Austria and Germany.

The clash of two worlds in the present-day Europe. As the indigenous population seeks to defend the status quo against escalating immigration, the newcomers are burdened by their own displacement. Forced to flee their homes, they are trying to adapt to the strange new environment.

In 1990, when Bischofferode entered the market economy, potash production in East Germany was in third place in the world's export ranking and in West Germany in fourth place. Bischofferöder Kalisalz is of a special quality and the plant therefore had loyal customers in Western Europe, especially in Scandinavia, even before the fall of the Wall. In the West, there is a major competitor - BASF subsidiary Kali und Salz AG from Kassel. The film reconstructs the mega-deal in one of the world's most important raw materials markets. The so-called potash merger was the biggest economic deal of German reunification, which has cost the taxpayer almost two billion euros to date. The Free State of Thuringia - the federal state with the best potash deposits in Germany - is still the big loser of the mega-deal today. Thuringia may be rich, but it loses almost all its potash mines, along with Bischofferode, and now has to spend millions of euros each year to rehabilitate and secure its mines.

A lonely forest, a car, a father and a son. Of all the places where they could speak on this special day, this is probably the most desolate - because it is the place that suits them best.

Every encounter with an image, every interaction searches for its own form. She is the other gaze is a collaboration with five female visual artists of an older generation who have been part of the Viennese art scene since the 1970s and engaged in the women's movement. In dialogue with the filmmaker Renate Bertlmann, Linda Christanell, Lore Heuermann, Karin Mack and Margot Pilz share their early works and artistic practices. They remember how their self-determination evolved between artistic ambitions, economic constraints, adaptation and resistance to the prevailing patriarchal social structures. In their role as feminist pioneers, the protagonists are a great influence on the contemporary art scene and the self-understanding of younger artists today. With their voices and narratives, they become collaborators passing on feminist thinking and artistic experiences.

Summer. Erik is driven by ideas, principles and expectations of himself and his life. He doesn't want to miss out on anything, wants to catch every wave. Always in search of art and love. With melancholy ease, Erik searches for security, which he believes he will find with Chiara. If it weren't for her boyfriend Peter. Together with the two of them, Erik drifts off to the provinces of Lower Saxony, Leipzig and Berlin. The attitude to life of Generation Y, condensed into a love triangle, staged directly and spontaneously.

After Juliane's boyfriend ends their long-term relationship, she embarks on an almost restless search for something new to fill the void, while her best friend Tom has his eye on her. The sun is shining in the park and it's beautiful. The film deals with expectations of relationships and the attitude towards life of modern people in the big city.

Franz Christian Gundlach, known as F. C. Gundlach, influenced an entire generation of photographers, such as Andreas Mühe and Kristian Schuller. Wim Wenders interprets Gundlach as a "visionary of photography". For F. C. Gundlach, who was born in 1926 in Heinebach in northern Hesse, Paris marked the start of his career: he had his first exhibition there in 1951. He quickly rose to become a star photographer. He moved to Hamburg and made his mark on fashion photography with fashion spreads for women's magazines such as "Film und Frau" and "Brigitte".

One night at a German pub can bring you philosophic arguments about being a machine, the difference of Indian and African elephants and gambling addiction.

Alsace is a very special region in the heart of Europe, where true natural treasures can still be found in great diversity. Between the Rhine and the Vosges mountains, the warmth and colorfulness of the Mediterranean meet an icy mountain range. Very different habitats lie in the middle of the cultivated landscape. The flying stork, symbolic animal of the region, takes us to these natural oases with their typical animal families: the dwarf mouse in the Ill meadows, the green lizard in the hot dry grasslands and vineyards near Rouffach, the chamois on the rocks and alpine pastures of the High Vosges on the Hohneck and finally our own stork family in the Schlettstadter Ried. The documentary observes the animal families in their struggle for survival from spring to late summer, providing an insight into the most exciting and beautiful moments. Right up to the big moment: when the young leave the family and start an independent life.

What happens if a beloved person disappears, leaving you no choice other than radicalism or the blind faith in a stranger.

Essay film about the poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926).

A gambling-addict father takes his nine-year-old daughter to sports. On the way, he stops at a betting shop, leaving the girl waiting in the car. When he returns, nothing is as it was before.

This is a story between dream and reality, waiting for happiness and living in a prison and finally getting it and breaking free.

Almost 200 million women are "missing" in Asia - the result of targeted abortion of girls and dubious population policies. An investigative documentary about women who are not allowed to have daughters, about desperate attempts by men to find a wife somewhere, and about the abuse of women as pawns of politics and business.

When their best friend dies, Tara and Noah find out that Louis is not the person they used to know..

The last letter.

In this work, sixteen Bloody Marys are woven together, mostly from amateur and high school musical productions found on the internet and interlaced with the artist’s own rendition and the original Bloody Mary from Rogers and Hammerstein’s stage musical South Pacific.