Discoveries from Germany World Cinema

For decades, the villagers of Haselbach have argued and fought with those of Banzing. But this should finally come to an end: The local councillors decide to reconcile the two villages and the mayors want to seal the peace by marrying off their children. They agree that they don't want to marry each other and that their fathers are only acting out of greed. When they decide to revolt against their elders, they are unexpectedly supported by a "stranger" who brings the reason for the dispute between Haselbach and Banzing out of the dark: the Holledauer Schimmel. Plots are forged, tender bonds of love are forged and in the end everyone ends up where they belong.

When his grandmother Ella becomes increasingly confused and his grandfather Sönke simply doesn't want to part with his pub, the Dorfkrug, 47-year-old Ingwer Feddersen sees the time has come to return to his home village Brinkebüll. The village tavern isn't what it used to be - but that's also true for the whole village. Ingwer wonders when exactly was the point in time when the village of Brinkebüll went downhill? Was it in the 1970s when the hedges disappeared after the land consolidation and then the birds too? When larger and larger farms were built so that smaller ones had to give way? Is it perhaps his fault because he left his grandfather alone with gastronomy to study in Kiel? Based on Dörte Hansen's 2018 novel of the same name.

It is no wonder that Met audiences have gone wild over Karita Mattila’s sizzling Salome. Indisputably one of the greatest Salomes of our time, Mattila utterly incarnates Oscar Wilde’s petulant, willful, and lust-driven heroine. With Strauss’s groundbreaking music magnifying the degenerate atmosphere and building the erotic tension, this is one opera that is as shocking today as it was at its premiere in 1905.

The Duty to Remain Silent (German: Die Pflicht zu schweigen) is a 1928 German silent drama film directed by Carl Wilhelm and starring Marcella Albani, Vivian Gibson, Angelo Ferrari. It was based on a novel by Friedrich Werner van Oestéren. The film's art direction was by Max Heilbronner.

The story of Austrian, Johann "Jack" Unterweger, who wrote a book about his criminal past while serving a life term in prison for assault. In 1974, Unterweger murdered 18-year-old German citizen Margaret Schäfer by strangling her with her own bra, and in 1976 was arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

Alex Gaul is convinced that he will soon make it big as an actor. Until then, he'll just have to continue playing the porn stud. His seriously ill grandmother's last wish to see him on television forces him to do something quickly. his resemblance to Zacharias Zucker, whom his grandmother adores, gives Alex a daring idea: he could swap places with the home movie star? but the bitchy Zucker can only be convinced by a skillful knockout blow. The problems for Alex are only just beginning. He has to protect his cover with increasingly absurd and daring actions and at the same time prevent the charming hotel employee Yve from mistaking him, Alex, for Zucker, making her unattainable for Alex. But soon even Alex no longer knows whether he is him or Zucker.

After the violent death of a prostitute, her father tries to find the people who are responsible for the fall of the young woman.

The film presents the political events surrounding the Anschluss in March of 1938 through the lives of Carola Hell, a popular young actress at the prestigious Theater in der Josefstadt, and Martin Hofmann, the Jewish journalist she plans to marry. When we encounter the couple in the lovely springtime weather their future is full of promise. They are determined to stay clear of politics. Yet in the climate of the time, nobody of her prominence or his religion can remain apolitical. Although Martin's journalist friend, Drechsler, calls to inform them that the Nazis plan to take over Austria soon, they concentrate on their work and their private happiness and dismiss the warnings.

An exchange program for "safe tourism" takes German police officer Sophie Maibachs (Anke Retzlaff - "Across the Border") to Tenerife. However, she also has other intentions there. Five years ago, her father (Michael Roll) died in a hit-and-run accident. There are many indications that the person responsible also lives in Tenerife.

Ukrainian Marija works in Germany as a 24-hour carer to support her family back home. Here she looks after Curt, who suffers from dementia, around the clock. When Curt's controlling daughter stays away due to an accident, Curt begins to think Marija is his deceased wife. In order to have her peace of mind, Marija plays along with the game and she realizes that this makes Curt feel better. But there is also Curt's son, who is more interested in Marija than in Curt.

After Tristan und Isolde (2016), Parsifal (2017) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (2018) this is the fourth installment of the exclusive, multiyear partnership between Deutsche Grammophon and the Bayreuth Festival, in which the Yellow Label is the exclusive audiovisual partner of the mythical Wagner festival, releasing each edition's new production on Blu-ray. This year, we are proud to release on Blu-ray the celebrated production of Lohengrin which was premiered on 25 July 2018, featuring an illustrious cast including Piotr Beczala and Anja Harteros in their house debuts, as well as the acclaimed return of Waltraud Meier to the Bayreuth Festival. The New York Times praised Piotr Beczala’s Lohengrin as “outstanding”, Anja Harteros [making] her impressive Bayreuth debut” as Elsa, and Ortrud “played with dominant presence by the incomparable Waltraud Meier”.

Post-war Germany in 1946 while people are struggling to make ends meet, the film follows Hermann, a war veteran who finds employment at a train station. As he falls in love with an agricultural worker and starts comitting thefts, his fragile psyche seems to fall more and more out of balance.

Just now, Adam Krustenstern was the recognized head of the development department of his company, but it was taken over by a global player. A wave of dismissal swept away most of his colleagues. But Adam was invited to the company's guesthouse for a weekend. It seems to be about his professional future. But target agreements or requirement profiles are not mentioned. For relaxation and holidays. But also from Challenge and High Engagement. Adam is under pressure to prove what he can do. But whom? And how? Nothing of what he has represented so far seems to mean something.

A chemist and his assistant make a groundbreaking discovery. They manage to make butter directly from pasture grass without having to deal with either the cow or the use of dairy products. An industrialist attempts to seize the invention.

Essay film about German family life in the postwar decades, refracted through TV quiz shows and their hosts' biographies.

Remake of a 1929 German film by the same title about a man and a police dog.

On his 80th birthday, show legend Frank Elstner ventures into unfamiliar territory. It is not he who is asking the questions this time, but: Anke Engelke, Jan Böhmermann, Barbara Schöneberger, Michelle Hunziker, Thomas Gottschalk, Günther Jauch and Jean-Claude Juncker.

The daily lives and struggles of a group of workers in a small German town. They face poverty, unemployment, and various hardships, but also find moments of hope and solidarity. The film portrays their efforts to survive and support each other in difficult economic conditions.

16-year-old Oliver falls in love with young Sina, who is also his father's secret lover

Berlin, A Polterabend (i.e. a party on the eve of a marriage) is taking place in a café. An American has persuaded his German friend to marry him, after just one month of knowing each other. But while Anke has decided to create a family for her and her baby, Bruce has reservations. The party's member consist of various immigrants that happened to be there, each with his own problems and Anke's mother who objects to the marriage and is expelled by her own daughter.

The first film adaptation of Jerry Cotton. FBI agents Jerry Cotton and Phil Decker are tracing a group of six murderers. Disguised as a vagabond Jerry Cotton infiltrates the gang. Kitty, the leader's girlfriend, soon becomes Jerry's most important helper. With her help, he's able to prevent a bomb's explosion in a school. The deadly attack on a rich collector he can not prevent. The gangsters flee with the loot and a hunt to the death begins ...

An increasing number of people in Germany no longer want anything to do with their state. A mixture of idiosyncrats and anti-system activists are turning their backs on the Federal Republic. How did the "Reichsbürger" movement become radical? What are their motives? What emerges is a European community of anarchists, businessmen, esotericists and adventurers - between a self-declared fight for freedom and obstinacy.

The Merry Farmer is based on the 1907 operetta of the same name.

An unemployed artist must choose between a flower seller and a Hungarian dancer and defend himself against suspicion of shoplifting.

German musician Alexander Hacke explores Istanbul's rich music culture and attempts to create a portrait of Turkey through music genres. On this journey, he encounters a mosaic that covers countless genres from rock to arabesque, electronic to hip-hop.

A young man practices medicine without a licence.

Felicitas Woll lives through the ups and downs of a relationship: Eva and Luis exchanged only a fleeting glance in hot summer Lisbon and knew - this is the real love! They threw themselves headlong into a passionate liaison, got married and had their first child. Everything was perfect. But now the two are on their way to the divorce lawyer. The big feelings have long since expired - at least that's how it seems ...

Diary of a Disease - prophesied that all psychiatric experience speaks against the described spontaneous healing. The next depression is determined.

Pachegg comes to Eglau in the Alps as the new forester. A poacher begins to wreak havoc there. Pachegg also gets into trouble with the attractive widow of a sawmiller who is having the leased forest cut down. Pachegg is more attracted to the pretty Ulli, daughter of the head forester Höllrigl. The girl is an enthusiastic hunter, but only with a camera.

A young Italian girl living in the Dolomites falls in love with a member of a tourist party skiing on the nearby mountains.

The story of a young couple who live in a small town with their four-year-old daughter. The husband is so caught up in his work as a policeman that he gradually becomes increasingly alienated from his wife and daughter who become ever closer to one another as they discover the new town. It is only a matter of time before the conflicts within the family manifest themselves.

For Reminiscence of a Moviegoer, filmmaker Christiane Büchner works extensive interviews with the late Werner Dütsch, a commissioning editor at the German television station WDR, and massively influential figure in postwar West German film culture, into a moving portrait of cinephilia through time.

TV special that celebrated the comedian and filmmaker Vicco von Bülow’s 65th birthday. The special is a mix of retrospective and tribute to his incredible body of work, filled with humorous moments, interviews, and highlights from his career.

Felix, a young projectionist, daydreams himself out of the loneliness of his projection booth and into a fantastic universe in which the characters in the films become his own. His dreams, wishes and reality become one in the fuzzy reflection on the projection window. A surreal play by Peter Patzak.

Lenz is a daydreamer. Charming, visionary and – as it is good manners for a thirty-year-old in Berlin – radically incapable of decision making. After an intense party night, Lenz wakes up next to Ira, completely deranged. Lenz is in love. As well as Ira. The summer of love begins: fooling through the nights of Berlin, beers at the canal, talks about sex and childhood. Everything is beautiful. Up until the moment when Ira asks this one question that changes everything: „Do you want to have kids?“ Now is the time for Lenz to do what he knows best, when things get tricky. He runs off. Anchorless, he stumbles through the summer and has to take up with the heroes of his daydreams, who keep examining him about his feelings. Meanwhile, his friend Kenn covers Lenz with affectionate incomprehension. When autumn arrives, Ira eventually confronts Lenz and he has to face the big “whatsoever”.

The story takes place in a town on Adriatic coast. Mother wants to marry her daughter to a wealthy doctor, but her plan proves to be challenging as they're both seduced by a handsome smuggler.

A film about an amour fou between a young doctor and a former teacher. She, daughter of German Jews who emigrated to France, returns to Germany one day: she escapes from her bourgeois life in France into the memory of her childhood.

Gigi Poltera's best days are behind him – just like "his" EHC Arosa. While the hockey club is facing bankruptcy and forced relegation, the soon-to-be 50-year-old is working his way through the valley as a postman. Twenty years ago, he was one of the stars in Schanfigg – as part of the championship team of the local skating club. The stars of yesteryear are now called upon to fill the gaps in the team. Gigi's friend Sturzi decides to make a comeback and persuades his former teammates, who have put on weight, such as the village priest, to join him. Gigi also digs out his skates in the hope of winning back his ex-wife Jenny and impressing his son, who is considered a talented goalie.

If children don't learn from an early age that people are different, when will they? The documentary focuses on four children at the inclusive Berg Fidel primary school in Münster. Director Hella Wenders spent three years following David, Jakob, Lucas, and Anita with her camera at school, at home, and in their free time. While the idea of an open school is currently the subject of lively debate, this sensitive portrait film gives the children a voice. They talk about themselves and share their dreams and concerns with us. The viewer is impressed by how naturally they interact with each other and becomes part of a small world that functions in a miraculous way.

Maren Eggert and Matthias Brandt star in this drama about a family, trying to start a new life, which fails because of the mother's mental disease. After a difficult time, Martina and Stefan Schneider move into their new house. Although the couple and their son Daniel seem to be happy, Martina suffers from a mental disease. When Evelin and Klaus Garbers become their new neighbors, they soon make friends with the Schneiders. However, Martina thinks that Evelin and Stefan have an affair, so she gets into a panic when Evelin announces her pregnancy. Martina believes that her husband is the baby's father...

The passionate story of the femme fatale, seductive and dangerous, a myth and a fantasy, through her representation in art.

TV post-war drama about a gruesome chapter of the Nazi era. Nadja Uhl reveals "wild" euthanasia in psychiatry. Oldenburg, 1948: For Margaret Oelkers (Uhl) and her two little sons, the pension is not enough as a war-wittwe behind and in front. But the authorities are working hard, not even because of their lack of credentials on the employment of their killed in the war. After an energetic appearance at the office, she is briefly put into the psychiatry of the Wehnen nursing home as a trainee. The consequences are bitter: one attests to their schizophrenia, takes away the children and brings them to the sister in the country. For a year, Margarete was kept in the hospital against her will, and forced to do so with electric shocks. After her release, she was placed under the guardianship of her neighbor Erich Windhorst (Martin Wuttke), a man with an SS past...

72 years old Martha Jellneck lives alone in a small apartment in Hamburg. Since she's hampered in walking, she never leaves her home. Her only contacts to the outside world are the young social worker Thomas and a neighbor boy who walks her dog. When Thomas tells her one day that Franz Laub, another one of his clients, has his birthday, she becomes suspicious: that was also her half-brother's name and day of birth - only that he died in WW2...

Yekaterinburg, Russia, July 17th, 1917. Czar Nicholas II Romanov and his entire family are brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks. This tragic event puts an end to the long dynasty that had ruled the country with an iron hand since the coronation of Michael I Romanov in 1613.

Adrian Zumbusch is an extreme phobic and hypochondriac rolled into one. His life is like one long panic attack. The news that he has leukemia and only three months to live is like a liberating blow. Now that he has nothing left to lose, he blossoms and daringly throws himself into a wild life - and into love. He finds the perfect woman in doctor Katja Lorenz, who has a weakness for hopeless cases. But then it turns out that the diagnoses have been mixed up. The fatal diagnosis was not Zumbusch's at all.

An underdog elf, driven by his unwavering passion for the holidays, becomes the North Pole's only hope of saving Christmas from a vengeful hacker.

King Wenzel is worried about his succession. He gets older and his son, Prince Marius, shows no interest in state affairs. One day, during a walk in the forest, Marius is trapped by a demon. He agrees to release him and let him join his father if he finds true love in a limited time, with a bear skin making him monstrous...