Discoveries from Germany World Cinema

Three young prodigies and their families exploring the popular and competitive world of piano playing in China.

The young historian Elisabeth is traveling to Lyon on her own in order to explore the city tracing the life of Flora Tristan. Tristan, whose diary Elisabeth is carrying, was a 19th century socialist and feminist who influenced many contemporary activists and intellectuals yet fell into oblivion herself. Elisabeth tries to put together the clues she can find in Lyon wanting to reconstruct Tristan's life in the most sensual way.

The sisters Rosalie and Bianca stick together, come what may. In fact, they have no other choice - their mother has died and left them with a pile of debts. Taking part in a design competition is supposed to help. The organizer is the famous fashion czar Paul Petit. Just like the two budding fashion designers Rosalie and Bianca, the designer Rosenschmelz and Leon Bär also throw themselves into the contest.

The story of a male friendship in the tough show business of entertainer Frank Haller, a man full of charm and wit, and his spirited manager Jochen Below. They were at the top of the ladder of success. But when Haller's wife died of loneliness, his success left him too. Below even went to prison for his friend. But now he is free again and will take his chance.

A real and a fake Gauguin take Dupin back to the 19th century.

Martin and Sophie are no longer the happy couple they were when they got married seven years ago. They have grown apart and the sparks fly every day. In fact, they would have split up long ago if it weren't for their construction company and their marriage license. On their seventh wedding anniversary, the marital feud reaches its climax and Sophie announces that she is moving out. To calm herself down, Sophie treats herself to an hour at the "White Swan" Health & Spa. However, the relaxation comes to nothing. The owners recognize her as the woman who sold them a supposedly completely renovated house. A house that turns out to be a perpetual building site. They want their money back and take Sophie hostage.

A young woman dancer with large, flowing robes, swirls round herself quickly, making her light robe flow around her like a butterfly's wings.

The dreaded slave hunter Abu el Mot attacks the caravan and abducts the travelers, including Kara Ben Nemsi, his faithful companion Hadschi Halef Omar, the quirky scholar Ignaz Pfotenhauer and the English explorer Sir David Lindsay. Kara Ben Nemsi manages to escape with Hadschi Halef. To get help, they set off on a long journey full of impassable adventures...

A divorced thirtysomething woman fights a losing battle in Munich to attain belated self-fulfillment. The die is cast in a briskly impersonal society geared to male dominance and early training for career women.

Love Alone Can’t Make a Child chronicles the love story and emotional odyssey of Maria and Christiane who, for over a decade, have been trying to fulfil their desire of giving birth to a child of their own. The director, a childhood friend of Maria, lovingly narrates the couple's journey, showcasing their resilience in the face of ever-increasing challenges, and the intricate dynamics of a relationship under tremendous strain. More than anything else, the film continually pursues what love truly means in a long-term romantic relationship.

Suddenly the Russian Galina reappears in her ex-boyfriend Tom's life and asks him to contact his sister, who heads the crisis team at the Foreign Office. Galina offers herself as a whistleblower to Germany after hackers specifically attacked the computer systems of the Berlin Central Hospital. She has the code that can thwart further attacks, but in return she demands money, asylum and inclusion in a witness protection program for herself and her young daughter.

Even today it is considered one of the greatest military feats ever. In 218 BC, a Carthaginian army of ninety thousand men and three dozen elephants set out to cross the Alps to challenge the might of Rome. The exact route chosen by Hannibal, its charismatic commander, has been a matter of dispute ever since. Now, researchers believe they might be able to track his route. It is one of the mysteries of history, which way the Carthaginian commander Hannibal took in 218 BC to cross the Alps.

Ursula Gothe is the mother of a son, husband Richard is to be promoted soon. Her orderly life in the pretty villa gets out of joint when Ursula discovers a girl's newspaper ad. Is "Suchkind 312" her illegitimate daughter Martina, whom she had lost while fleeing from the East?

In order to win the respect of her friends and family, divorced housewife Sabine decides to perform Wilhelm Tell with a group of Asylum seekers in the Swiss mountains.

A circus film made as a deliberately escapist release at a time when the Second World War was starting to turn against Germany and its allies.

The story of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, placed in the years right after the Second World War in Germany. A tale about friendship and courage.

UKI’s storyline unfolds as we follow a defunct replicant REIKO dumped on Etrashville - a vast dump for tech - who tries to pull themselves back together with the help of Etrashville's transgenic inhabitants. Parallel to REIKO’s trajectory is that of an infected city where we are made aware of the reckless schemes of the biotech enterprise, GENOM Co.

Young Fynn has one dearest wish - to liberate the Sleeping Beauty. His uncle August has told him the story of Princess Myrose and how she was cursed by the wicked Fate Fairy Maruna when she was a baby and causing her to prick her finger on a spindle on her 15th birthday

Klaus Gremme, a retired instructor with the combat swimmers at the Baltic Sea, sets off for Lake Constance to meet his son Thomas and his grandchildren. They don't know anything about him because Klaus left his wife and Thomas when the boy was still very young. Klaus takes up residence with Mona, a single mother whose house is across the street from Thomas'. The reunion with his son turns into a fiasco, but Klaus doesn't give up and develops an elaborate plan to win Thomas and his family over after all. In the coming weeks, however, the ex-fight swimmer constantly clashes with his esoteric, pacifist landlady Mona. She and her children, the overweight Linus and Claire, who has Down syndrome, slowly grow fond of the lone warrior. In the end, the rapprochement with his own family seems to have failed. But Klaus may have found a new, completely different family in this search.

The Detour is about a young woman travelling through Europe in search of herself and the truth of life. It is based on meetings between goatherd Joanna and Austrian author and playwright Thomas Bernhard. Joanna is lost after her boyfriend dumps her at a Women's Relief Centre in Rotterdam. She works in a library and visits the theatre, where she first sees a play by Thomas Bernhard. Bernhard's philosophy permeates Joanna's thoughts. When Camille invites her to visit the French Pyrenees, she accepts. On the way, she decides to visit Bernhard in Austria. She attempts to start a relationship with him and thereby finds herself.

A run-down former radio producer persuades two quarrelsome 1950s stars to try their comeback on nationwide television...

Karin is a brilliant student whose good looks give her an added advantage in assuming the role of a prostitute and exploring Berlin's thriving sex industry. Hired posthaste by nefarious Madame Clavius, the pretty blonde sets about gathering information for her thesis when she discovers that her old friend Madeline has been financing her luxurious lifestyle by working as a call girl in the very same brothel. The situation turns sinister when Madeline reveals to Karin that she has fallen in love and longs to start a new life, but any girl who tries to leave Madame Clavius soon turns up dead. When Madeline admits to considering suicide, Karin hatches a plan for both of them to make a clean break from the brothel and avoid Madame Clavius' deadly wrath.

Sandra, a pub landlady, meets Otis, a travel agent. The two initially clash as they learn more about each other from overheard phone calls than they would like. But they get talking, discover an amazing affinity and find each other to be valuable love advisors for their personal relationship problems. When Sandra's husband Christian meets Otis' best friend Bill by chance one day, the emotional chaos is perfect.

Playboy Red Mitchell suffers from chromosome malformation X+YY, a dangerous deformity of the libido. At night, driven by inner turmoil, he roams the streets of the city and murders women. Preferably young, pretty girls who become his victims after he has seen them naked in his imagination with his X-ray vision and then undresses them in real life to kill them. But he soon leaves traces behind, and a cunning detective who suspects his chromosomal drive is on Mitchell's trail...

They sew our clothes, tan leather for shoes and bags. Twelve hours of work, every day. Despite this, the people in the supplier countries are often desperately poor. How does this poverty come about? Manfred Karremann explores this question using the example of Bangladesh, where much of what we use every day is produced. Bangladesh is the second largest textile producer in the world after China. The main reason for the poverty: goods are produced incredibly cheaply in Bangladesh. About nine cents an hour is paid for the dangerous work in a tannery. The seamstresses in the textile factories get a little more. Just enough to survive. Because that's what it's all about for the men, women and children who do any job, for any wage.

Three young men working at a filling station fall in love with the same woman.

Dr. Claudia Harding is a scientist at the Maritime Institute in Hamburg and, after years of research, has found the site of a sunken ship containing a precious emerald. She travels to Grenada and meets the charismatic skipper Richard "Rick" Bertold. Although he has a doctorate, he now prefers to live as an adventurer and treasure hunter. Together with the crew of the salvage ship, they set off in search of the ship. But Claudia soon realizes that there is a traitor on board.

A strangler is loose on a British estate, and he not only strangles his victims but brands an "M" onto their foreheads before he decapitates them.

An extreme athlete falls while climbing and ends up living with a doctor who performs surgery on himself. He turns out to be an alcoholic who loses his medical license shortly thereafter. In her attempt to help him overcome his addiction, she loses touch with her friends.

Five "older" actresses vying for the same role decide to walk out on their audition. They end up on a road trip full of adventures and revelations.

Adnan is obsessed with going to his ex-wife's housewarming party. Unfortunately, he isn't invited.

A Turkish man‘s body is found floating in the Isar. A case for the Migra Division headed by Zeki Demirbilek, AKA “Inspector Pascha”. On their first big case, the team quickly manages to get on the wrong side of Munich’s Doner King, Güzeloğlu, who’s about to marry off his daughter. Her future husband and father-in-law just arrived at their house in Munich for Kiz Isteme, a Turkish tradition, to establish the groom’s suitability, when Zeki and his team barge in.

A young girl, seeking to unravel the mystery of her father's death, travels through the Amazon jungle into a nightmare of danger.

Vienna in 1931. Fanny, the daughter of a Vienna police trainer, meets the Chinese police officer Ma Yunlong, who is completing specialist training in Vienna. The shy acquaintance quickly turns into great love. Against the will of her parents, Fanny travels to China on her 18th birthday to marry Yunlong. At his side, Fanny begins a new life in the Middle Kingdom, which is characterized by deprivation and painful turns due to the multiple political upheavals.

Between 1924 and 1934, six children grow up in an apartment building in the Munich suburbs. Among them is the rather inconspicuous and melancholy Leo Knie, who has been in love with the pretty Marilli Kosemund since early childhood. Marilli is not averse to the young man's advances, but she wants to be conquered. But that is exactly what shy Leo finds difficult. So he escapes into harmless dancing with his buddies, pursues other girls - rather unsuccessfully - and resigns himself to his predetermined fate.

East Berlin, early 1970s: the funny, somewhat eccentric repair mechanic Roland and the cashier Christel quickly become a couple. After some back and forth, they get married and their first child is soon on the way. But the young couple's everyday life is not always free of conflict: Christel has taken an evening course to get ahead professionally, while Roland takes care of the child and household after work. Will their love withstand the strain? In "Standesamt - Eintritt frei", director Manfred Mosblech tells a subtle and cheerful everyday GDR story about two young people who are searching for the right path for themselves between professional life, friendships and marriage.

Matti is 11 years old and dreams of a family vacation in his father’s native country, Finland. He manages to get what he wants by telling a whopping lie. But once they get there, Matti, his younger brother Sami and his parents find themselves without a place to stay, no money and no car in the middle of Finnish wilderness. Only a miracle can save them – or Uncle Jussi, who has been struggling to compete with Matti’s father his whole life. This movie based on Salah Naoura’s award-winning children book offers entertainment for people of all ages.

A sexologist gets involved with the lovely and love crazy young baroness of Gluecksburg. Originally hindered by an occupational accident, he recovers completely after a blood transfusion. Hilarious and sexy!

For months, the corrupt Viennese policeman Albert Schuh unsuccessfully investigates the murder case of his former friend and colleague. Then he gets a young, overambitious partner. The German colleague Thorsten Richter is a set of correctness and ambition, and thus the exact opposite of the Viennese, the "benefits" from the criminal scene is quite open. Since the two can not stand, the dispute does not stay out. The Austrian stops the German an unnecessary undercover job on an erotic chat line and determined alone on.

The trembling starts in his neck when Markus gets closer to the images that have chased him for 49 years. Now he steers his motor home south, as far away from his past as possible.

Ruth Beckermann documents the process of uncovering former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim’s wartime past. It shows the swift succession of new allegations by the World Jewish Congress during his Austrian presidential campaign, the denial by the Austrian political class, the outbreak of anti-Semitism and patriotism, which finally led to his election.