Discoveries from Germany World Cinema

After an accident while climbing in Patagonia, extreme sportswoman Barbara is forced to return to her home country, which she left more than ten years ago. Unlike her boyfriend, who is unable to cope with caring for Barbara, who has been confined to a wheelchair since the fall, her mother Irene and father Hans welcome her "Bärbel" home with kissing arms. She also gets help from her sister Moni, who has even attended further training to be able to give her better support. Thanks to the support of her family and her fierce nature, Barbara is gradually getting closer to her dream of one day being able to walk again and possibly even pursue her beloved hobby.

Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, has three adult children: Juan, who is virtuous and has a sweetheart who is a woman of the people, Lucrezia, who is virtuous and wants to marry Alfonso, and Cesare, who is wicked and lusts after Lucrezia, Juan's girlfriend, and probably others. Cesare has vowed to kill any suitor for Lucrezia's love, and he has three thugs to carry out his wishes. Bodies fall into the Tiber, into the Colosseum (with lions prowling), and onto the Vatican floors.

Two bank robbers hold the clerks hostage and demand 3 million German marks as ransom. What the police do not realize is that the true criminal mastermind watches them from outside the bank, anticipating every move.

Mag wants to boost her modelling career by undergoing plastic surgery. Joined by her sister Nicole and her friend Hanna, they visit the surgery clinc. However, the surgeons have other things in mind than just a simple job...

Brazilian mission commander Sam struggles with establishing a stable connection from Earth to his lover. German scientist Joy explores planet Kepler 452b at her research facility for Alchemy Plasma, a revolutionary energy source. Their long-distance relationship faces doom, when alien Dardesh invaders attack the human outpost, 1400 light years away.

An introverted insurance executive at a car rental service is annoyed by his hyperactive, garrulous coworker, but the two end up becoming friends.

The Viennese detective children Biggi, Patrick and Luke find a key in dragon form, and their curiosity is aroused. They realize that the sinister Lady Q is interested in opening the legendary moon palace and find the elixir which is believed that promises eternal youth. The Tigers must prevent that Lady Q enters into possession of the priceless liquid.

An ordinary man's life takes an extraordinary turn for the worst after he finds himself caught in the tangled web of a manipulative mass murderer.

The tech-savvy twins Philipp and Johannes and their sister Elli grow up in a Christian environment. However, when Philipp is diagnosed with cancer, they decide to radically change their lives and really let it rip from now on. Together with their sister, they set up the YouTube channel “The Real Life Guys” and embark on spectacular adventures. Among other things, they build a rocket bathtub, a submarine they weld together themselves and a manned drone. The “Real Life Guys” infect a rapidly growing community with their zest for life. But when Elli has an accident and Philipp is diagnosed with cancer again, the twins learn with overwhelming intensity what really matters and how to embrace life in all its facets.

August 13, 1961: The passengers on the interzonal train from Munich to East Berlin learn 3½ hours before crossing the border that the Wall is being built in Berlin. They have 3½ hours to make a life-changing decision: to get off the train or keep going.

The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly it became clear how dependent countries had become on Russian gas imports for decades and what Vladimir Putin was up to. However, no country needs more gas than Germany. It was only after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine that the German government realized that Russia had long used gas as a weapon to impose its will on states. The instrument created for this purpose is the natural gas production company GAZPROM. So how did Germany become so dependent on Russian gas? The documentary shows how, over several decades and several changes of government, a broad alliance of politicians and business representatives did everything possible to secure Germany's energy supply with cheap Russian gas, while the Kremlin's foreign policy became increasingly aggressive and the warnings of experts went unheeded.

On 30 April 1945, dictator Adolf Hitler, his wife Eva Braun, and prominent members of the Third Reich live out their final hour in the Führerbunker.

Hannah Maynard, a prosecutor of Hague's Tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia, charges a Serbian commander for killing Bosniaks. However, her main witness might be lying, so the court sends a team to Bosnia to investigate.

Starring Francisca Gaál in a breeches role. Dressed as a boy, a street musician gets a job pumping gas. When s/he starts to have feelings for her patron, watch out for complications in this comedy shot in German in Budapest.

After he loses his job, his father, and his girlfriend, Jan's life is a shambles. Then suddenly he meets freakish street musician Vera, and a bittersweet romance unfolds...

Loosely based on the notorious Richard Speck murders, this is the grim tale of a disturbed Vietnam vet returning home via Belfast, who invades a house shared by eight nurses and proceeds to terrorize and murder them.

The story of Marie Ward, a religious woman from a devout, aristocratic Yorkshire Catholic family who lived between 1585 and 1645 and moved to St. Omer in Walloon France, where she joined the Order of St. Clare, later returning to England to found her own order and devote her life to helping others.

Markus is a handsome and respectable architect who has a secret: he is a pedophile. Despite feeling disgust of himself, Markus can't help but feel attracted to young boys. When he thinks he won't be able to suppress his deepest feelings, he decides to isolate himself.

Artist and filmmaker Julian Rosefeldt creates elaborately staged films that investigate the power of language and the conventions of cinema as an allegory for societal and individual behaviors. With the multi-channel film installation Euphoria he continues this examination by exploring capitalism, colonialism, and the influential effects of unlimited economic growth in society.

The story of the ill-fated second wife of the English king Henry VIII, whose marriage to the Henry led to momentous political and religious turmoil in England.

Follows six very different men and their struggles with women, family and work. Yet, they are somehow connected to each other.

At an elite private Border School four students form a clique to sneak out of school after hours to meet, drink and play. By trying to escape the golden cage which their wealthy parents have stuck them in, they search for the Extreme. In the course of time their excessive games grow more and more violent and soon they turn against the weakest of the group.

The story of the rise to stardom of Joaquin Phoenix, an actor of magnetic physique, tumultuous past, socially committed, who for years has offered outstanding performances.

An African-German Author loses his memory and is used by a modern National Socialist Party as promotion-figure for more political power over Germany.

“Luxury, luxury, luxury… and not to be so alone.” Vanessa wants to spend her holiday at a comfortable resort. However, due to a booking error at the travel agents, Vanessa ends up on a barren desert island. The next ship doesn’t arrive for another week, so until then she has to cope with oddball lighthouse keeper Stanislav, and the highly unconventional and nonchalant Sebastian, who also has a right to the only shabby guest room. There’s no escape from this island – and the three gradually get to know each other over schnapps and pie. When a further guest arrives in the form of dubious businessman Felix and a body turns up in Stanislav’s cellar, the insular resort becomes the backdrop for a grotesque fight for life. In his debut feature, Matthias J. Michel cleverly repels various genre and character clichés to create an exceptional black comedy.

Bea Fiedler and Olivia Pascal star in this erotic tale set against the backdrop of the sun soaked Seychelles, and detailing the situation that arises when an incurable gambling addict loses his wife in a wager with a casino owner who runs a secret white slave trade ring.

After his owners abandon him in the woods, a puppy befriends a family of rabbits.

Documentary about Hollywood.

While they are stuck in the elevator, three employees of a TV station tell each other stories about supernatural phenomena. They tell of the “dream girlfriend” of a 16-year-old girl who fell victim to a crime 33 years ago; of a bully who turns out to be an alien; and of a comic artist who falls victim to his mirror doppelganger.

Based on the life of German toymaker Margarete Steiff, the movie shows her long way from a 10-year-old girl, confined to a wheelchair, to one of the first and most successful creators of toy stuffed animals.

A hijacker threatens to bring down a passenger plane to a crowded football stadium. Fighter pilot Lars Koch decides to shoot down the machine. The court of Berlin should decide whether Lars Koch is a hero or a murderer. The viewers become jurors, and their decision determines the outcome of the film.

Heinz Gödicke is the chief commissioner of the People's Police in the small town of Eberswalde in Brandenburg. Gödicke is called when two bestial murdered children are found in the forest. The investigator tries to get involved in the perpetrators - a rarely used method at the People's Police - and the perpetrator so on the track. The Stasi-Major Witt is no friend of this procedure and leaves the commissioner only reluctantly free hand in the investigation. The matter does not go to the authorities fast enough and is then simply put to the files. When another murder occurs, it becomes clear that Gödicke was much closer to the enlightenment of the act than everyone thought.

Maya and Tony are a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. Maya seduces businessmen while Tony copies their credit cards. It's a smooth con until one of their victims, Pierce, pulls a gun. Instead of killing them, Pierce offers the desperate couple a chance at the biggest score of their lives.

Julia Whitman and her daughter Jody flee their husband and father’s violence to a doomsday paradise. Julia meets Matthey Haley in New Zealand and falls in love despite her inner resistance. However, the shadows of the past will not let you forget. Julia's ex-husband, Charles, who follows in the footsteps of his wife and daughter, shows up on the island.

The Ballade of Tubbie, Tim, Jojo, Birdie and Marie, tells in seven chapters the story of five teenagers, who have found a substitute family in each other.

Marisa and Frank honeymoon in South Africa. A particularly favourable offer lures them to a lonely and run-down hotel. There, they are attacked by men. Frank is beaten and kidnapped, while Marisa barely escapes. She receives help from the young South African Biko, who helps her to escape the men. Marisa and Biko find out that people are abducted to be cannibalized for the trade in organs. Finally, the two try to find frank and save him.

In Hamburg's red light district Jule and his mob of macks battle Holleck's competing Viennese clan. When a sex worker is murdered both kingpins join forces to hunt the killer and keep the police from cracking down on their business.

Based on a true story. The Lucona was a ship that sank in the Indian Ocean in 1977. Allegedly, the steamer had a uranium factory on board. And there was a man sitting at home in Vienna, waiting for big bucks. The sinking of the Lucona was a long-planned insurance scam and became the biggest scandal in Austria's post-war history, as high-profile managers, mafiosi and ministers were involved in the case.

Claire lives with her wealthy adopted parents in a luxurious and isolated house in the woods. She discovers a wounded and bleeding boy her age in her family's garden shed. The boy is a young drug courier from Afghanistan; shot and wounded after serving his purpose as human packing material. Claire decides to keep the boy a secret. He slowly recovers under her care; and they fall in love. When the drug dealers return and Claire's family is due to move back to the city; they decide to flee; though Claire finds it difficult to outrun her past as an abandoned child.

Two friends, Manoj (Gihan De Chickera), a bartender, and Stanley (Dharmapriya Dias), a fruit vendor, wish to immigrate to the West to seek their fortune, but have difficulties getting their visa applications approved. They come across an application to a handball tournament in Bavaria, and not even knowing what the game is, they submit themselves and a group of friends as the "Sri Lanka National Handball Team". For appearance's sake, they begin minimal training and then seek travel visas from the German Embassy. Their plans to simply escape into the West upon arrival in Germany are thwarted by the quick appearance of the tournament organizers and an arena of fans eager to see the prowess of the Sri Lanka National Handball Team.

Ridley Scott's cult film Blade Runner, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick and released in 1982, is one of the most influential science fiction films ever made. Its depiction of Los Angeles in the year 2019 is oppressively prophetic: climate catastrophe, increasing public surveillance, powerful monopolistic corporations, highly evolved artificial intelligence; a fantastic vision of the future world that has become a frightening reality.

Goalie has just been released from prison after spending a year inside for keeping his mouth shut for his best buddy Ueli. He heads for his hometown of Schummertal, a small town where everyone knows you. He's going to start over, without drugs. Meanwhile, Ueli has gotten ever deeper into drugs, can't understand why Goalie suddenly wants to be a square. Although they've been friends since childhood, everything is different now. Goalie wants a new life but finds his past.

The personal journey of young Sita is not only an expedition into her family's burdened past during World War 2. It is also a journey to the abyss of modern European society, a trip which takes her from Berlin to Romania via Vienna and Warsaw - about losing one's homeland and discovering oneself, about hope and responsibility.

Humberto Brause takes advantage of Uruguay’s poor economy by specializing in offshore money laundering. Spanning the fifties to the seventies, the film follows Humberto as he gets increasingly in over his head with multiple shady book-cooking schemes throughout South America, leading to an ultimate life-or-death decision.

Winter 1942: Like thousands of other German soldiers, Asch and Vierbein have ended up at the Eastern front. Although Vierbein finds a new friend in Kowalski, the squadron commander captain Witterer, a true army veteran, gives them a really hard time. Witterer’s pointless orders reflect the bad habits of many former superiors. And again, Vierbein has to bear the brunt.

In the aftermath of a bloody gang war, the youngest daughter of the victorious Arab clan begins to plot against the men of her family. She kills brothers, nephews, friends and enemies, until she is the undisputed boss of the Berlin underworld. But on her path to the top, she has made powerful enemies...

For Count Egge, there is only one meaningful way of life: living in the magnificent natural surroundings of his mountains. Only hunting matters to him; he even neglects his own children for its sake. Inevitably, this leads to conflicts that result in tragic alienation within the family. These conflicts continue even after the youngest son, Willy, is found dead and Count Tassilo, the eldest, breaks with his father, whose stubbornness he can no longer bear.

Little Marie Kerstner has disappeared after a daycare outing in the woods. Chief Inspector Oliver von Bodenstein and his colleague Pia Kirchhoff investigate and unexpectedly come across two bodies. First, senior public prosecutor Hardenbach is found dead, apparently shot with a load of buckshot from his own hunting rifle. Shortly afterwards, a dead young woman is discovered at the foot of a lookout tower. It turns out that the dead woman is Isabel Kerstner, the mother of the missing girl. Isabel had made many enemies in her short life and the suspects for her murder are queuing up. But what did the dead prosecutor have to do with Isabel and where is her daughter? Only gradually do von Bodenstein and Kirchhoff realize the true dimension of the case.

The Second World War is over and now begins in post-war Germany, the reconstruction. Jakob Formann sees his chance here and begins a rapid rise as an entrepreneur.

A 14-year-old girl is caught while trying to pick a doctor's pocket. The doctor ends up taking her in and turning her into a sophisticated lady, whom he marries off to a wealthy man.

A poor peasant woman lives in a cabin in the woods. She grows two rose-trees in front of her house, one with white roses and one with red. When the flowers bloomed she had two children, both girls. She named them both after the trees, Snow White and Rose Red respectively. They have an adventure involving a bad dwarf and a bewitched bear.

The film recounts the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog on their first holiday together at the seaside. In an old smugglers' cave, the children happen to overhear a radio message that refers to the abduction of George’s father Quentin. The professor has set up a laboratory on Kirrin Island where he’s doing research on a new energy generation method. Someone has obviously taken great interest in the valuable research results. But neither the police nor George’s mother Fanny believe the children. They are now on their own and discover a conspiracy that almost takes their breath away.

A dying merman asks a friend to give his remains to his daughter, hiding amongst the humans. Tasked with this dangerous journey, the merman secretly heads to the land of humans. He is chased by a new civil servant recruit fueled by curiosity and hatred.

Jochen Wenzel, a young teacher, married with two kids, one day surprisingly falls in love with a young male colleague, Tom Leuthner and they begin an unusual affair (= "Eine aussergewöhnliche Affäre"). While Ina, Jochen's wife, worries about Jochen's distanced behavior without having a clue of her husband's affair, Jochen and Tom seriously fall for each other. Torn between his family and his new love, Jochen has to make a decision. Written by Smoothhoney

Thomas Brasch was born as a German-Jewish emigrant in England in order to move to the young GDR with his family at the beginning of the 1950s. His father Horst is primarily interested in helping to build the new German state. But Thomas prefers to realize himself as a writer and in doing so discovers his potential as a poetic rebel. His very first play was banned and soon afterwards he lost his place at the film school. When the tanks of the Soviet Union roll through the Czech capital Prague in 1968, Brasch and his girlfriend Sanda and other students try to call for protest in the streets of Berlin - and fail. His own father betrays him to the Stasi and allows Thomas to go to prison. After being paroled, he continues to try his hand at poet writing about love, revolt and death. In the GDR, however, you don't want to have anything to do with someone like him.

Biology student Harry is kicked out of his research program. He does not understand why. What Harry don't know is that he has a double.