Discoveries from Germany World Cinema

Linda Hessler and her husband Frank have been running a small gourmet restaurant for years. The business is going well, and with his talent, Frank has made a star. But that does not satisfy the ambitious perfectionist: he wants a second star, no matter what he wants. No wonder that the romantically inclined Linda feels increasingly neglected by her workaholic spouse - until she finds a charming admirer in the florist Peer. The passionate dancer brings new life into her life and leaves no stone unturned to win her heart.

"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.

When approached by a rich Warsaw couple to help find the ruins of a church, a villager slowly steals the identity of the woman from the capital.

As the first part of our investigation, the CORONA.FILM prologue will delve into the science behind the pandemic. Starting at the very beginning, we shine a light on the responses. The aim is not to point the finger; our aim is to tell the whole story in all its complexity, as we believe that justice cannot prevail if only one side of the story is told.

Susanne's dream vacation in Florida ends in tragedy. She learns that she has been cheated on by her husband Michael and a little later he is killed by criminals. At home in Berlin, the nightmare continues: apparently, her late husband's company is on the verge of bankruptcy.

How should one define the relationship of documentary film to reality? Does it aim at authenticity or is it rather an “exile of reality”, a “foreign homeland of reality”, where the pre-filmic, stripped of its immediacy, comes to its own right in the first place? Where in its mis-en-scène would be the line drawn to a fictional film, if drawing a line would succeed at all? These are the kind of questions this film essay on the history and aesthetics of documentary film deals with in its seven chapters.

A dinosaur clone escapes from a scientific laboratory. It swims across the Rhine River to Germany's largest lake—Lake Constance—and begins killing innocent people. All the usual clichés are used: the main scientists (a divorced couple who find each other again during the story!) have been fired before the final experiment; children go swimming at night, even though everyone knows there is something dangerous in the lake; the equipment is completely destroyed because someone shoots at the screen...

When her young son Nikolai disappears without a trace in the subway, German journalist Katharina Wagner suddenly realizes that she has powerful enemies in St. Petersburg. She has returned to show her child his father's grave – but did her husband Viktor really take his own life, or did he stir up a nest of scorpions that ultimately killed him? Katharina has few allies in her fight for Nikolai, but then it becomes clear who is truly on her side.

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.

Travelling to a remote cabin in the Alps, a shy teenage girl has to decide whether to pursue her own path on Earth, or to follow her parents-members of a cosmic cult, through a fatal procedure into a higher existence on Jupiter.

Lily wants to be run a brothel. But corrupt cops threaten her with violence. Lily needs help.

A doctor goes to meet a beautiful girl at a park bench near a wooded area. When he arrives, he finds her battered body lying next to a stream! He then finds himself to be the prime suspect. Who's the killer?

When introverted Theo meets confident Silvan, who has two horns, he’s drawn into a vibrant new world. But as small horns begin to grow from his own head, Theo must confront the fears and secrets he’s been hiding.

In 1914 a Hungarian officer inherits a Stradivarius which is believed to bring back luck to its owner. He and his Italian fiancée are separated by the First World War, and he is badly wounded.

The most secret agent Stanislas Dubois, tired of saving the world alone decides to retire and to start writing his memoirs. The enemies of humanity, progress and peace in the world found out about it and created an international network of espionage "13 columns". Unfortunately they platted a slot in the good old France. They should think better...

In Bangkok, Thailand, women punch a clock and wait for clients in a brightly lit glass box; in the red-light district of Faridpur, Bangladesh, a madam haggles over the price of a teenage girl; and in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, crack-addicted women pray to a deity named Lady Death.

In Berlin in the year 2030, young Tim Burdenski is found seriously injured on the Gendarmenmarkt. Following an emergency call from a cab driver, he is taken to hospital but dies despite a delayed emergency operation. Journalist Lena Bach begins to investigate, as the 30-year-old is one of ten so-called "millennium children" who have been followed by a television team in a long-term documentary since his birth on January 1, 2000. All of them come from the middle class.

An 3-hour project conceived by ten directors presenting the famous German legend of Kaspar Hauser, the story of a man who spent his childhood and adolescence raised on a cave by a strange man who kept him there for 18 years. One day, the man decides to take the young man out of the cave and takes him to a city where the under-developed subject will finally learn what it means to be a human being.

The history of Germany's oldest independent family-owned film studio, now run by Brauner's daughter, Dr. Alice Brauner. The film traces the life of Brauner, who was born in Poland, shaped by German history, survived the Holocaust as a Jew, and became the most important film producer of his time in the country of the perpetrators.

A filmed stage play of The Nibelungs.

There is good reason for Sir Douglas Wonderly to summon the family and a lawyer to his stately home. He wants to announce a change in his will. At the same time, a dangerous mental patient escapes from a nearby psychiatric ward. Higgins and Lane are put on his trail. But the arrest of the psychopath proves to be extremely difficult. Shortly thereafter, a mysterious hooded man is on the loose in the castle. He frightens Sir Wonderly so much that the old man suffers a shock and falls into a coma. But that's not all: the will suddenly disappears and two sons are murdered. Sir John personally intervenes to solve the case with Higgins and Lane.

A coming-of-age movie about how hard life is and how great it can be...It's the story about Karl "Charlie" Kolostrum, a young guy who tries to get along with his life but hasn't learned to live as an adult yet.

Two young officers, Saint-Avit and Morhange, get lost in the desert and find themselves prisoners of the beautiful Antinéa, queen of the city of Atlantis. Saint-Avit, blinded by his love for her, obeys her when she orders him to kill his comrade... With L’Atlantide, Pabst offers a psychoanalytic reading of Benoit’s novel, with a dominant female figure who enslaves her lovers before destroying them. The film’s fantasy dimension is disturbing, L’Atlantide bathes in a humid nightmare atmosphere, between the desperate search for a missing friend and the apparitions of an underworld lost in the desert. A long, discursive flashback suggests the Parisian origins of Antinéa, born from the marriage between Clémentine, a pretty, light-thighed French Cancan dancer, and an Arab prince seduced during a theatrical performance. But again, it's impossible to know whether these are the ramblings of an old alcoholic or the strange truth.

It was one of the greatest natural disasters of all time. On the morning of Boxing Day 2004, a massive tsunami hit the coast of the Indian Ocean. More than 230,000 people died, including many holidaymakers from Germany and France. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, survivors tell their stories. How has the disaster affected their lives to this day?

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.

After a singing performance at a wedding, Laura receives the offer to perform at a song contest.

The landowner Fried von Barring marries the beautiful but extravagant Gerda von Eyff. Fried’s father, who was initially opposed to the marriage, seems to have softened his stance, until he is proven wrong. Without her husband’s knowledge, Gerda carries out costly renovations on the house, throws lavish parties, and seizes every opportunity to spend lavishly. Fried is forced to take out loans, and arguments between the couple become increasingly frequent, to the point where even a new pregnancy can no longer resolve their differences.

Vienna, 1922. Due to a sudden financial tragedy, a young woman begins accepting checks from an older, rich gentleman for companionship in order for her to keep attending college. Their relationship is purely platonic, but eventually she begins a romance with the tutor of the older man's sons who has a completely wrong impression as to the nature of her arrangement with his employer.

For years, Martin has been working on his great play about cloud castles, flying pirates and a feisty princess. His secret role model for the leading character is his good friend Isabel, a cheeky young woman who is waging war on genetically modified seeds around the world. And she is leaving tomorrow to go to the middle of Africa for the next three years.

Melanie is in her mid-thirties and works for the Brandenburg police. Her precinct is the province north of Berlin. Melanie likes it when anybody likes her. If it gets political, she keeps herself out. But that's no longer so easy when her best friend Lydia, an ex-daily soap star, makes herself important as a populist influencer with right-wing slogans in her home village and a street disappears overnight. Its bumpy cobblestones were the last evidence of a dark time when building material for the Wehrmacht was mined at the Kiessee, today a bathing area. Forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners toiled here. Elementary school teacher Anja considers it a thoughtless mess that this stone memorial to history should simply be asphalted. With brown homeland paroles, Lydia heats up the mood in the village and earns good money through clicks on the Internet. When the violence escalates, law enforcement officer Melanie, who is addicted to harmony, has to decide which side she is on.

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 documentary film about Tibetan traditional medicine.

As the title "The Queen's Heart" suggests, this early German black and white version of Mary Queen of Scott's eventful reign and death focuses on her emotional perception rather lyrically, with some songs, mainly by her.

The Bachmann family's life is falling apart at the seams. Little Florian needs his dad - Peter Bachmann. Peter, his wife Maria and daughter Sophie have been unaware of his existence until now. A test begins. Can Maria forgive her husband for his infidelity? Should they really take the strange child into their family? When they finally decide in favor of Florian, they learn that he is no ordinary child. He is a boy with Down's syndrome. They are shocked. Once again their love is put to the test. Will she be big enough to accept Florian?

After seven months in prison for kleptomania, Amelie looks ahead with hope and puts everything into a new start. But then everything turns out differently than hoped. Her husband asks for a break in their relationship, and she is to be excluded from her daughter's wedding because her future father-in-law fears for his re-election as mayor. Amelie feels lost—until the empathetic taxi driver Baris unexpectedly takes her in...

After many years abroad, Georg Bachler returns to his home village. There, old rivalries with his brother Otto, who has now risen to become the village emperor, quickly resurface. Otto's ambitious plans are just as much a reason for this as Georg's old love, Lisa, whom Otto hopes to marry, and not just for love.

Peter Bechtle is a man in his mid-thirties. He is a manager of a large company and wants to try a project in Africa. The work will be led by the industrial magnate Brasser, but strange surprises await him. The IPO is rigged and some murders are committed.

Hannes Röper is looking forward to life after his last day at the cash-in-transit company “Secura,” where he has managed operations for ten years. Unfortunately, a driver calls in sick, so Röper takes over his route and gets robbed. Inspector Ellermann and Röper’s boss are firmly convinced that this string of unfortunate coincidences was actually a setup. So Röper sets out to track down the perpetrators on his own.

The single mother Leonie has great worries: Since her ex-boyfriend left her a huge debt mountain, knows the young cosmetics saleswoman hardly how to make a living. In her distress, Leonie decides to catch a millionaire. She is on the verge of falling in love with her new colleague Oliver. What Leonie does not suspect: The alleged temporary worker is in truth no less than the son of her employer - and thus a "real" millionaire

In 18th century Europe, King Friedrich II of Prussia leads his army through the seven-years-war with neighboring states, and after numerous near defeats, eventually brings a victorious army back to Berlin.

Superstar Alexander Marcus is on top of the world, worshipped by his fans. Wherever he and his companion Globi show up, there's excitement. Nobody knows that Alexander has become addicted to the dangerous drug egoin, thanks to his evil new manager. After a high dosis and bad trip, his career is destroyed, Globi vanished, and Alexander hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital...

Evelyn, the daughter of American travel agent John P. Hoover and great-grandniece of the famous Viennese dancer Fanny Elßler, is herself a professional dancer. However, unbeknownst to her, her wealthy father is bribing critics and audiences—some with free tickets, others with money. When Evelyn overhears a conversation about her supposedly mediocre talent, she discovers her father's manipulation. She then escapes to Vienna with a tour group organized by her father's company. She hopes to pursue a career as a dancer there—like her famous relative once did.

Everything seems to be going according to plan for graduate engineer Oliver Berger. He has only just landed a lucrative contract for his employer when he is already entrusted with the next major project. He willingly puts up with constant trips abroad and working through weekends. Meanwhile, his wife Lena and his ten-year-old son Moritz wait for him at his apartment in Erfurt or at the weekend house. Berger has never worried that his marriage might suffer as a result of his job. So he is all the more stunned when Lena leaves him at the drop of a hat. Suddenly, Berger is a single father.

Franziska sees police recovering a dead body and recognizes the woman as the one who had her make-up done by Franzika only days before. The hobby-detective suspects foul-play and starts investigating the self-help group for singles the dead woman was a part of.

The story of Henry Carsten (Alan Longmuir from Bay City Rollers), his life as a race car driver and his relationship with Maxe (Olivia Pascal). Also features Rollers members Stuart Wood and Duncan Faure in the supporting cast. The Rollers provide the soundtrack to the film with 10 new songs.

Mid-forties Franziska is pregnant. Instead of looking forward to it, her husband Andreas opens up that he separates from her because he can no longer endure her neurotic control rage. As much as Franziska always wanted a child, as a single parent she sees no perspective. But then she meets the pregnant, 19-year-old Lilli. The funky woman whirls Franziska strictly regulated everyday life together and shows her how wonderful life can be, if you allow it

Attorney Caroline, the sensitive Judith, the housewife Eva and the affluent entrepreneur Estelle have been friends for 15 years. Once a year, the ladies go on a weekend break, but this time the trip is not a good star: After the death of her husband Arne wants the mourning Judith completed his pilgrimage started to Lourdes. As faithful friends, the three others join her. However, it does not take long for the strains of the tour to cause many a quarrel.

A young couple in love: Rebecca (32) and her boyfriend Julian (34) are expecting their first child and are full of pleasant expectation. As Rebecca gives birth to a healthy boy their luck seems to be perfect. But instead of the unconditional motherly love she was expecting she is thrown into an emotional turmoil. Helplessness and desperation reign and her own baby is a stranger to her. With every day that passes her inability to meet the demands of motherhood become more and more apparent. Unable to admit this to anyone, not even Julian, she falls into a deep darkness - to the point that she realises she is becoming a threat to her child. Now only unconditional love can bring her back on track…

Three elderly ladies, Carla, Lilli and Meta, who, after their hard earned holiday money is stolen by bank robbers, decide to steal from their local bank. Along the way their are romances, arguments and a few other unexpected surprises.

The tormented loves of the young Ottavio, first for the countess Gamiani and then for the writer Georges Sand.

The filmmaker Anton travels to Munich, where he and his friend Fietje want to make a film about the female bosom.

On a cold, wintry night, Lena shows up on the doorstep of the Rossberg family mansion. She claims her car has broken down, but her arrival is intentional. Lena is in pursuit of Anselm Rossberg, an aged Auschwitz guard who lives with his daughter, Maria. Anselm and Maria both deny Anselm's past, but Lena is determined to get him to confess, even as her own weapon is turned on her and she is forced into a moral dilemma.

Day in, day out, Mr. Grimm is busy with his job as the Reaper, harvesting people's lives. One day, his monotonous existence is interrupted by the doorbell. It's a little girl. She wants her cat back. Little does she know that she's the next life on Mr. Grimm's list.