Discoveries from Germany World Cinema

Dutch police officer Van der Valk is pulled away for a private investigation for a friend of the chief of police to find the missing junior manager. When he gets to know his woman, he is fascinated by the thought of running away with her.

This story of the miller Florian, who gave all his money to the war against Napoleon, is loosely based on a true story. After the war, Florian's reimbursement is challenged, and he must also pay taxes on his destroyed mill. He resists the tax collectors and takes off to Vienna, where he intends to defend his rights. On the way, he rescues the Duchess of Guastalla from assault. She also wants to go to Vienna, as His Majesty Franz II is trying to contest an heir in her favor. With cunning, luck, and dagger, Florian fights his way through a slew of nobility and their secret police.

A young man and woman meet on a bridge, both about to commit suicide by jumping into the river, and recount to each other their experiences.

Crooks Hans Georg Pauler and Ulrich Raffcyk raid a savings bank branch in a Hamburg suburb at eight in the morning and take bank employees Anna Klages and Kirstin Bauer hostage. The police initially play for time; more and more people, including reporters, turn up. Pauler and Raffcyk very quickly realize that they can exert pressure on the police via the media and the public. Their demands, half a million marks and a fast getaway car, are met after Pauler is identified and his criminal record shows him to be an unscrupulous character. After fourteen hours, the bank robbers leave the bank unmolested with the extorted money and begin their getaway. Supplied with beer and stimulants, they head for Münster, where Raffcyk's brother lives - a journey with an uncertain outcome for the two hostages.

An emotional dialogue between a man and a woman, around whom a camera circles in a 360-degree turn.

The trials and tribulations of love in a school community in the still young Federal Republic of Germany.

Stasi agent Alexander Berg has to uncover a plot of sabotage.

It's mom's birthday and her three daughters want to throw a big party. But everything turns out differently. It's not just because the divorced dad arrives a few days early and brings his much-too-young new girlfriend with him, or because the birthday girl has to stage the end of the world with her village theater group.

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across Asia: Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. Their artistic triumph onstage belies a dynamic and dramatic life backstage. The orchestra is a closed society that observes its own laws and traditions, and in the words of one of its musicians is, “an island, a democratic microcosm – almost without precedent in the music world - whose social structure and cohesion is not only founded on a common love for music but also informed by competition, compulsion and the pressure to perform to a high pitch of excellence... .” Never before has the Berlin Philharmonic allowed such intimate and exclusive access into its private world.

1972, a lonely backwater on the prairie. Bruno, the village’s longtime police officer, senses his chance to crack a big case when a real estate agent shows up at the local bar one day. Determined to expose the stranger, Bruno throws himself into the case. The only problem is that no one trusts him...

Theater director Werner Sturm was amazed when he arrived in the Bavarian market town of Oberwinkel on a vacation and came across all kinds of disguised characters: knights and maids, squires and heralds were running around, and children were shooting arrows through the air with their bows

Marc is a passionate cyclist and urban slacker who avoids work and responsibility. Marc's life changes from one moment to the next when he suffers a life-changing accident. He can either wallow in self-pity or tackle the beast called life with the help of love and willpower.

Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, former Stasi agents settle scores with former East German citizens who had resisted the regime.

Documentary looking at the culture of three motels and their owners who remain untouched by homogenization and corporatism, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Florence, Arizona; and the semi-ghost town of Death Valley Junction, California. Everyone has an unusual story to tell.

Johanna has fled Nazi Germany to visit a friend in Finland, and from there she continues on to her friend's family's estate. Once at the estate, Johanna passionately argues with her friend's pro-Nazi brother and at the same time, falls for the second, good-looking brother who shares her own anti-fascist feelings. The two are soon engaged in an active sexual relationship that continues as they travel north to an Arctic port.

Originally made with a German soundtrack for screening in occupied Germany and Austria, this was the first documentary to show what the Allies found when they liberated the Nazi extermination camps: the survivors, the conditions, and the evidence of mass murder.

Ben lives with his father in a dreary highrise housing estate, earning a bit of money delivering leaflets. The young man′s big dream is to one day write travel logs as a journalist. His unemployed father has been thrown hopelessly off balance with the death of his wife. Ben has since then been carrying all responsibility, taking care of the household, and making sure that all ends meet on his own. The financial pressures he increasingly stands under finally lead him to become criminal.

Germany, right after the re-unification. The people are out of control, blind hatred towards immigrants is common sense. In this time, a social-worker, with the mission to bring a Polish family to their destination (an immigration camp in a little provincial town called Rassau), gets kidnapped just as the family. Chief inspector Koern and his girl-friend start to investigate in this matter in Rassau, exploring a world of obsessive sex, mislead lust and an over-whelming irrational love to the German nation, infiltrating anyone's mind. Rascism doesn't start with shaved hair and boots but rather in the middle of society itself...

William Shatner explores the theory that the U.S. government is involved in a cover-up of visiting alien spacecraft. Based on a book by Erich von Däniken, this documentary contains evidence of extraterrestrial life here on earth. Proof discovered through photographs taken by scientists and evidence of actual voyages found by archaeologists.

Through a magical coincidence, the ambitious career woman Rebecca and the lively musical actress Maja switch bodies and have to find their way in each other's lives. What begins as a strange dilemma soon teaches them important life lessons.

The lawyer Ella Wolf and her childhood friend Florian come from the same place but live in different worlds. He stayed in idyllic Bad Friedlingen and continues to run the organic farm of his deceased parents. For him, the modern milking machine means maximum change. Ella, on the other hand, is about to take the next step in her career in a renowned Munich law firm: one more test and she will become the youngest junior partner of all time! At her best friend's hilarious wedding party, the two meet and get closer than ever! When Ella returns to her home village six weeks later, she has two serious issues in her luggage: Firstly, she is pregnant by "Flo", which nobody but her knows yet, and secondly, she is supposed to push through a destructive construction project for an important client, which of all things is fought by Florian as the leader of a citizens' initiative.

A woman accompanies her husband to a party. Both leave with other partners.

Luisa works as a couples therapist and has a loveless relationship with her husband Richard, but at the same time she is having an affair with Richard's boss Leopold. As everything slowly threatens to get out of hand, she wakes up one morning to find a second Luisa next to her, who looks just like her but, unlike the original, is somewhat naive and completely relaxed. Luisa christens her doppelganger Ann. At first, everything seems perfect, because while Ann lives out her needs and stays with Richard, Luisa can finally spend more time with Leopold. But as Richard slowly takes a liking to Ann, Luisa realizes that she is not happy with the new situation either. A serious conflict begins to brew between the two halves of her personality...

The subject of male prostitution gets a distinctly zany and offbeat twist in Stellungswechsel (AKA Special Escort), Maggie Peren's tale of five male underdogs who promulgate themselves as female escorts in the city of Munich. Of that group, we meet policeman Gy, in hot water with his insurance company and enduring the vicissitudes of an on-again, off-again romance with comely Daphne; twentysomething Lasse, who lives with his mom and is pathetically henpecked by her; Giselher, a chronically unemployed former manager; Frank, a philologist who spends his days as a house husband; and Olli, a deli proprietor whose business is rapidly going under. These five conjure up the wild idea of charging for liaisons with emotionally needy women, but the scheme doesn't exactly go as planned - as none can even begin to anticipate the eccentricities or oddities of the female clients who turn up in response to their offer.

Druids have existed far longer than hitherto assumed, since the 4th century BC. Their traces are found all over middle Europe: from the northern Balkans to Ireland. Their cultural achievements were equal in almost every way to those of the Romans and Greeks: They could read and write and spoke Greek and Latin - for centuries, they were the powerful elite of their culture. Only one single Druid is known by name to history: Diviciacos - an aristocrat of the Aedui and personal friend of Julius Caesar. Diviciacos was a politician, a judge and a diplomat, but he lived at a time when the Celtic lands of Gaul were conquered by the Romans. Greek and Roman contemporaries distrusted the actions of this forbear of the famous comic book druid Getafix: They imagined him in bloody rituals in somber woods.

The focus is on a relationship between a couple, played by the directing duo, and Daniel, with whom they end up in bed one after the other. It's an open-hearted game of love, fascinating to look at, and at the same time it's true, it questions everything.

At the end of World War II, Red Army soldiers bent on brutal revenge for past atrocities attack a German city. Compassion comes from an unlikely source. Based on a true story.

A student from Munich, Sonja Martin, inherits a castle in Mallorca from her aunt. What she doesn't know is that the lawyer of her deceased aunt has turned the castle into a luxury brothel.

Two unscrupulous organ mafiosi get stranded in the middle of Nuremberg. Their million-dollar organ shipment burns up in a car accident and they are forced to get new goods. However, they don't reckon with Andreas, Dany and Markus, who have been unbeatable martial arts aces and macho men since the 80s and who once again enforce law and order with a vengeance.

The true story of Otomo, a black man seeking work and asylum in the German city of Stuttgart. However, all he finds is racism, police trouble and his final destiny.

Lilli, daughter of a large family, finds job at a jewelry shop, and is taken to Montecarlo by her boss to, under a false identity, make the jewels appeal to rich customers.Only they are stolen,seemingly by the young man she has fallen for..

For Gerd Klein, it is supposed to be his last fight as a professional boxer, but he collapses dead on the floor. His wife Maria suspects that something is not right and puts pressure on the powerful people behind the scenes. Shortly afterwards, she is also dead. Street kid Max happens to witness her murder. Seeking help, the 14-year-old turns to police detective Christian.

Detective Peter Flowers has to deal with Nola, the "most beautiful and corrupt woman in the world"...

Based on the true story of a cobbler who bought a second-hand captain's uniform, assumed command of a troop of guardsmen, declared the town of Köpenick under military law, arrested the mayor and confiscated the town treasury.

The Return of The Neanderthal Man is a screwball comedy with a Freudian twist. The story of a young woman's quest to find the perfect mate, who is embodied in a 10,000 year old Neanderthal Man. A tongue in cheek look at relationships in our modern age, The Return of the Neanderthal playfully examines all of our preconceived notions about love and romance and turns them inside out and upside down.

Comedy tells the story of an Afro-German punk who starts working as a presenter on a teleshopping channel in order to save the trailer park where she lives with her community.

Ebba, a successful food chemist, has a terrible dream in which she gives birth to a healthy bear cub. For her, this is a sign from fate that something is wrong in her life. She and her husband Markus are actually a good team, both privately and professionally. They have a daughter who is studying in New York. She hardly knows anything about her. They go on a short trip to the Baltic Sea with a couple they know. Ebba discovers Arne's little circus on the beach. The Dane flirts with her and offers her a vacancy as a dancing bear in his traveling circus. She accepts the offer and goes on tour with him.

A famous journalist wants to adopt a 13 years old orphan boy but their relationship are not perfect.

(Pseudo) documentary film about sexual life in the late sixties and early seventies, from the series of Oswalt Kolle's sex education films that caused scandals in the late sixties and early seventies.

Willi, who works at a gas station, put in a personal ad for his friend Peter so the student wouldn't have to spend his vacation in Upper Bavaria alone. At first, Peter isn't too thrilled about this. But then he meets the attractive Christine, who seems to have responded to the ad. The two spend some wonderful days together. But then it turns out that Christine is already engaged. Disappointed, Peter turns away from her. But the two cannot forget each other.

On a road trip across Italy, recent high school graduates Ira, Malin and Ka pick up the intriguing backpacker Zoe. As the four girls stumble across an abandoned village, they start to experiment with the limits of their newly found freedom, away from the expectations of their parents and teachers.

A young engineer is supposed to do surveyings for a projected nuclear power station in an economically under-developed region and encounters strong opposition by the population. He realizes that the inhabitants are influenced by strange parapsychological occurences released by an elderly man, who also seems to dominate Walpurga, a young woman the engineer falls in love with.

Student Philip grew up with his grandma, now he has to look after her: Dementia! Philip moves Grandma into his shared flat. His friends play along, Grandma blossoms - at first... Complex characters, the courage to face uncomfortable truths: The drama portrays the problems of people with dementia and their relatives sensitively and honestly.

The film is set in Berlin in 1965. Τhe old woman welcomes the Commissioner at her doorstep with the words “I have been waiting for you for 30 years”. She has been maintaining for years the grave, where now by accident, this skull was found. The skull, has a rusty nail in it. In a long monologue, the woman confesses for the first time, her tragic life story.

Lars is experiencing exciting adventures again. First he discovers a sunken ship with Robby, then he drives away evil bandits and finally a strange bird appears at the North Pole: It's Caruso, the singing penguin.

A man enters the car and drives it to a local car dealer where he hopes to sell it. It seems that he has moved back from Canada and cannot afford the tax on the car. The dealership is manned by two. One appears to be the worker of the pair - keeping the cars clean and running. The other is a cookie cutter version of many auto salesmen to be found everywhere in the world. He is Shmuel, the apparent owner of the lot and has seen the same car in a German dealer's catalog priced at €50,000. He conferences with Siso, the worker of the pair, whose financial support he needs and convinces him to invest in the purchase of the car. In the typical car dealer fashion, Shmuel makes a deal to buy the car from the "ignorant Arab" for €5,000.

Lindy, a young English orphan able to realize a dream: being invited by Prince of Monaco to his palace where Princess Caroline will give away a kitten. Claus notes at the beginning are more boring than expected, but finally manages to interview the Prince and his family well. A German newspaper sent a reporter to the Principality to somehow cover the event, with him traveling the stewardess Jacqueline. Claus ends up falling for the stewardess and enjoy your stay in the French Riviera.

When her mother dies in an accident, 17-year-old Jessy takes responsibility for herself and her two younger sisters. One day, her father Harald, a battle-hardened ex-military soldier who once left his wife and children for combat missions, turns up at the door. Accustomed to his own style of command, he finds it difficult to accept his new role as a househusband and father of three daughters and to empathize with the girls' emotional world. The children initially do everything they can to get rid of their father, who in turn doesn't like the fact that his eldest is having a fling with the class crush Sascha.

This film is about the difference between law and justice. A national socialist is accused of having stirred up some people against foreigners. A judge has to decide whether he has done so or if his statement comes under the constitutional given freedom of speech. This is compared with a trial in the third Reich. A young woman is being accused of having a relationship with a jew. The film confronts two views of law: the judgement is only based on the current law or the judgement may be influenced by socio-political events and sense of justice.

The norms of hospital practices are turned upside-down in this complex drama about how many rights are denied patients who do not conform. At the beginning of the story, a man is found lying on the side of the road and is brought in to the police station as a probable vagrant, but he has no memory and seems to have lost his powers of speech. Perplexed and defeated by their unsuccessful attempts to make him talk, the police send the man over to the hospital for examination by psychiatrists. After some time, it becomes apparent that he understands everything going on around him and is simply refusing to talk. This sets off a series of antagonistic actions on the part of the hospital staff, suspicious about his "purpose" in remaining silent. Although some explanation is discovered as to why he is this way, the supposedly sane doctors and staff come off looking like they may need treatment themselves.

It could be as simple as this: He is Death and a young woman is on his list. With polite words, he tries to convey the ominous message gently to Jela Becker. But the vivacious young lady never dreamed of surrendering to death without protest. how could she She's only 31! Her husband and nine-year-old daughter Lucy need her. Death hesitates for just a moment - enough time for Jela to flee...

In a town by the North Sea, Mirabel dreams of a better life while toiling in the fish factory. When the village syndicate wins the lottery, the hitting and stabbing begins.