Discoveries from East Germany World Cinema

24 hours at the Berlin traffic accident standby service. The frequency of accidents on the streets of the capital of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) becomes apparent, including inappropriate and increased speed, pedestrian errors, failure to give way and driving under the influence of alcohol. Major Busse, the head of the Berlin Traffic Accident Investigation Unit, raises the question of whether the GDR has developed its own kind of driving. The camera provides interesting insights into the carelessness and aggressiveness of road users, which can lead to serious injuries and deaths

Two neighbours argue about which one of them should get rid of a pile of rubbish.

In interviews, several important GDR personalities and also GDR citizens comment on the events of October 1989.

A tailor sends his sons away. They each learn a trade and receive a special gift from their teacher.

The bird moves to the south in autumn and sings his most beautiful song to the lion there. When he flies back to the north, the lion sets off on the long journey to look for his friend. He gets to the city and gets into captivity. The bird finds him and sings his song to him again. This happiness does not last long, because it is autumn and the bird is moving back to the south. The unfortunate lion is left in his cage.

Scharnhorst, who said that the army should march at the forefront of progress, is one of the NVA's role models. The film uses historical material to cover the years 1806 to 1813, the Battle of Jena and Auerstädt and the Battle of Leipzig.

‎Shortly before her eleventh birthday, Sylvia receives her own apartment key. The sensitive girl is proud of the sign of recognized self-reliance, but also unsure whether she will meet the general expectations. So far, she has been mothered like a baby, especially by her twin sister Evelin, who knows everything much better.‎

The Soviet boy Kostya is an enthusiastic radio operator. When fascist German troops occupy his home town, the 13-year-old is conscripted into forced labor. His hatred of the occupying forces grows, but he is too young to join a partisan unit. But then he comes across a badly wounded Soviet scout. Kostya summons up all his courage and takes on his dangerous mission.

Boatman Ahrens from Hamburg has a sense of justice when it comes to finding a missing girl. He goes down illegal paths when he breaks into someone else's villa. He is caught by the millionaire entrepreneur Ofterdinger and his employee. It turns out that everything is connected to the death of a Turkish citizen who came to Hamburg penniless and worked in the port without papers. Ahrens suspects that it must be a crime...

A grandfather builds a giant kite with his grandson, but first time they try to fly it, they are pulled up into the sky! Grandma is worried that the pair will catch a cold during their flight and insists on sending warm winter clothes up to them. Chimney sweeps, crane operators, police officers and fire fighters come to help her, and by the time Grandpa and his grandson land at the airport, they are greeted with enthusiasm by a crowd.

Factory wife Jenny Treibel plans to engage her youngest, softened and weak son Leopold to teacher's daughter Corinna Schmidt. She wants to cross the plans of her daughter-in-law Helene, who wants to marry her younger sister to the brother-in-law. At the engagement party, Corinna learns from maid Luise that Leopold has a child with her. Corinna dispenses with the wedding, but for Mrs. Treibel, a marriage between Leopold and Luise is out of the question... The old Count Petöfy worships actress Franziska Franz, who would fit better with his nephew Egon in terms of age. He introduces her to his house and marries her. His sister, the strict Judith of Gundolskirchen, approves this step despite the age-appropriate and social distance. However, after a love relationship between the young Count Egon and Franziska, everything changes...

The devil is bored in hell and organizes an unbearable concert that even disturbs his grandmother. She sends him to earth to fetch Gretel to relieve his boredom.

Oyoyo (1980) is a cine-portrait of an educational internationalism with students from Chile, Guinea-Bissau, the Mongolian Soviet Republic, Cuba and Bulgaria studying economy at the “Hochschule für Ökonomie Berlin- Karlshorst” in the late 1970s. The director is the Indian filmmaker Chetna Vora who mobilizes the film-camera as a means to listen to the problems that the students encounter in their education, what they miss in the GDR, and how they imagine their future. The candid conversational scenes situated in the students’ dormitory in Berlin-Karlshorst alternate with music by Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, the Brazilian singer Nara Leão and songs in Cape Verdean Créole. As a daughter of a communist communist family from Palitana in Gujarat in India, Chetna Vora came to Berlin in the mid- 1970s to study film at the Konrad Wolf Film Academy in Potsdam-Babelsberg.

Voigt, Kroske and Richter were among the first filmmakers who documented the events of the historic 9th of October 1989. Their “material” reflects them from different angles: protesters, workers, opposition members, policemen, street sweepers and functionaries. THE document of the “peaceful revolution”.

Married couple Peter and Felicitas Kallweit are facing an extraordinary marital test: at the same time, the purchase of a new, more prestigious car and a trip abroad seem possible. They have to make a choice between the two.

Eleven-year-old Jella lives with her mother in a rural idyll in which both feel at home and comfortable. Then, however, they move to the city where her father works. On parting, her friend Freitag presents Jella with a pair of pigeons. Although Jella is looking forward to life in the city, she is unable to accustom herself to her new surroundings. She is being picked on by the other children, and a neighbor′s son even releases her pigeons. They fly back to Freitag who returns them to Jella. When Jella visits the village one day, she is disappointed to learn that she has become a stranger there, as well.

After becoming notorious world-wide for a bloody killing, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, former general and chief of the South Vietnamese police, moved to the United States and opened a restaurant outside of Washington, D.C. Contrasting images from these two phases of his life are intercut.

This silhouette-animated short exposes the Pinochet government through comparisons to Hitler's Nazi regime.

In a reception camp for ethnic Germans in Eisenach, the director gets to know the girl Doris S. who went to West Germany and came back. This film interview tells the story of her individual fate in a divided Germany.

A graphic fairy tale movie about the adventures of four friends - a donkey, a dog, a rooster and a cat - who deal with an evil master and robbers.

Andreas wanted a special marble for his birthday, but didn't get one. His friends then buy him one and lose it in the tall grass. Andreas finds the marble and quietly keeps it...

Katrin and Dieter really want a new car, but don't have enough money. They therefore decide to host Aunt Mathilde's 60th birthday party and invite all their relatives, including those they haven't been in contact with for years. Because some of them are said to be swimming in money. So Katrin and Dieter hope for some support, but some of it turns out to be just a sham.

At the textile company, everyone appreciates the work of 18-year-old Susanne, but nobody really considers her a woman—including Lutz, with whom she is in love. She sets about to make a change, but it is only when she realizes that she is being taken advantage of that a more self-confident Susanne emerges.

A young artist receives a telegram: his girlfriend has a stopover at Potsdam station. She wants to use the time to see him... The movie tells of small unfortunate mishaps that prevent the meeting.

The only documentary ever made by DEFA on the topic of homosexuality was this public education film commissioned by the Hygiene Museum Dresden and produced in cooperation with East German gay and lesbian activists. In interviews, GDR lesbians and gay men talk openly about their first sexual experiences and coming out. Though the film tries to convey an official GDR acceptance of homosexuality, they also talk about social discrimination against openly gay individuals.

DEFA documentary in honor of the 750th birthday of the city of Berlin.

The documentary tells the story of Anke, Birgit and Katrin, who are training to become cattle breeders and graduate from high school. During this time, they live in a boarding school. The three girls talk about their everyday lives and reflect on their future.

Documentary on new construction and reconstruction in Berlin's Friedrichstrasse in 1985.

Protests in Hasselbach in the Hunsrück Mountains against the deployment of 96 Cruise Missiles.

Part 3 of the Wittstock series also shows the surroundings of the textile factory. Older gentlemen in a pub reveal that two factories produced fabrics for the military here during the Second World War. In 1945, only a handful of handlooms remained. The contemporary witness does not say why. It was probably too sensitive to reveal the reason on camera in 1978: The Soviet occupying power dismantled many production facilities in the GDR after the end of the war and transported them to the home of the victorious Red Army.

Twelve-year-old Joochen lives in a village on the Elbe. He finds a shot beaver and takes it to school with him. The animals are a protected species and he wants the culprit to be found. He also wants to impress the others a little, especially the girl Corina. However, his discovery is met with disinterest and he goes off on his own in search of the culprit. In the process, he makes friends with the hunter "Eule", his future brother-in-law. Joochen finds out that "Eule" has shot the beaver, turns away from him in disgust and reports him to the police. His stubborn behavior does not meet with the approval of the others, because "Owl" did not kill the beaver on purpose. Despite his dislike, Joochen suggests "Owl" as a chaperone for the school trip, but doesn't want to go himself. At the last minute, he decides to go after all and reconcile with "Owl".

Leontes, king of Sicily, tries to convince his friend Polyxenes, king of Bohemia, to stay longer as his guest. But only Hermione, Leontes' wife, can talk Polyxenes into not leaving. Leontes gets suspicious. Is his wife having an affair with his friend? Leontes tries to find out about it...

Empty boxes and packaging, a little paint, brushes and a lot of imagination - the result is a whole zoo with Balthazar the Lion. He only has one fault - his mouth is a little too big and now he eats everything that gets in his way. When he doesn't even stop at the moon, the other animals are forced to intervene and the painter gives Balthazar a smaller mouth.

The story of the Grünthal peasants' uprising against the commander who oppresses and exploits them.

The film shows courtyards in the old Berlin city center that were designed by the residents themselves before the reconstruction. The painter Reinhard Zabka, himself the initiator and protagonist of such actions, talks about his relationship to art and his understanding of its function in the big city. Residents talk about their experiences.

Angela Davis visiting the German Democratic Republic. A film about the people she met and her impressions.

Martha Bieder is the last rubble-woman in Berlin Rummelsburg. Every day, rain or shine, she stands at the conveyor belt - as she has for decades - sorting through rubble. After a retirement party thrown for her by her male colleagues, she tells her story of being a rubble-woman in post-war Germany.

A woman born in 1949, the year the GDR was founded, talks about her life based on 35 images in her family album that each represent one year. This short was to premiere on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of East Germany. Officials rejected it, however, as an ostensibly negative portrait of GDR family life presented by an atypical woman. It was released under a different title a year later.

SS officer Walter Krüger talks about his career. Now he is Secretary of the „Kameradschaftsverband I. Panzerkorps der ehemaligen Waffen-SS e.V.” (Fellowship of Former Soldiers of Waffen SS 1st Tank Corps). During the interview it shows that Krüger still considers himself and his like-minded fellows to be the elite of the nation.

A little frog jumps out of the pond and wants to see the world. He is excited about new discoveries, not yet knowing about the danger of the stork. He almost gets eaten by the stork, but the frog saves himself at the last minute.

The Nörgel clan divides the labor and produce more hats than they need for themselves. As consequence, they look into an exchange of products at a market in Leipzig. However, Nörgel has to learn that animals might not be a good equivalent for a product trade, although they are needed by everyone. Part two of the animation trilogy Nörgel & Sons.

Anti-pacifist propaganda short produced by the FDJ section in Berlin.

Short doc about the "Miss Berlin" beauty contest in 1987.

Fairytale teleplay based on the fairytale "The Water of Life" by the Brothers Grimm. The wizard, ruler of the black forest, can be defeated if someone manages to draw water from the spring containing the water of life. The princess sets off to find the water of life for her terminally ill father. The sorcerer transforms the girl into a dragon. A fairy gives the king new courage to face life. He defends himself against the sorcerer. He is supported by the blacksmith, who takes up the fight and defeats the wizard.

1936 in a small town near the Czechoslovakian border. Albert and Fritz are close friends. Albert lives with his aunt, who is loyal to the Nazis. His father, an anti-fascist, is in hiding, and Albert only sees him secretly from time to time. His mother is in prison. Fritz's father, a member of the Social Democratic Party, has officially withdrawn from politics. Fritz also does not know that his father is working illegally and is disappointed by his apparent inaction. Together with Albert, he tries to stand up to the Hitler Youth and the Nazi teacher Wagner. By hoisting the red flag on the town hall, he brings his parents into the hands of the Gestapo. His mother cannot withstand the brutal interrogation and reveals the name of a communist. The boys inform the man and flee with him across the border to Czechoslovakia.

Ernst is a student in Hamburg around 1900 and leads a life like many other young people. In his free time, he roams the colorful metropolis with his buddy Karl. After school, he helps his father, whose business he is to inherit one day. Ernst has many questions about the world and life, but it is difficult to find satisfactory answers... At this time, nobody suspects that he will go down in the history books as the workers' leader Ernst Thälmann.

A chronicle of the events in Dresden in the fall of 1989, which began on October 4 with the passage of refugee trains from Prague and the associated riots. Among many others, a doctor who describes the injuries of police officers and demonstrators, young demonstrators who were arrested and a couple whose son disappeared have their say.

Animated fairy tale about the mountain ghost Rübezahl and his dealing with a thieving shoemaker.

Salvador Allende’s last radio speech is given in full; nothing is interposed. The translation of the speech appears in subtitles, individual passages are placed into the center of the picture. Film scenes and photos underline Allende’s call to his citizens. The film ends with a slow close-up to the face of the President.

Rüdiger Stein starts filming Klaus and Manuela, young expectant parents, for a documentary on the topic "Starting a Family." As the project threatens to fall apart, Rüdiger becomes personally involved in this family-to-be, an experience which enables him to open his eyes to his life and work.

Real part: A puppet animation film studio. The director, cameraman, animators and lighting technicians set up a scene in which a streetcar car with passengers appears. The recording begins, the animator moves the puppets phase by phase. Trick part: An old woman gets on the streetcar at a stop and can't find a seat. Fritzchen deliberately looks away so that he doesn't have to get up. All the puppets look at him indignantly. Real part: The scene is over. It's closing time and the dolls are put in a cupboard. The staff leave the studio. Trick part: The puppet cupboard comes to life. Fritzchen apologizes to the old woman and blames the animator and director for his behaviour. He calls on the puppets to shoot the scene again. This happens, and now he does offer his seat to the little mother. Real part : The doorman notices a glow of light in the studio, opens the door, but sees nothing unusual. The dolls have returned to their cupboard. Shaking his head, the doorman returns to his box.

Professor Sonnenbruck is a scientist who is not particularly interested in politics. Even the meeting in 1943 with his former assistant Peters does not change him. He does not betray Peters, who has escaped from a concentration camp, but that is already enough for him. But after the war Sonnenrbruck gets into a conflict of conscience. He thought that science was finally free of politics again only to find the opposite happening at his university in Göttingen. A medical congress in the GDR brings him together with Peters, who is working on a major research contract there. Sonnenbruck decides to visit Peters.

The everyday work and life perspectives of a family of farmers from Brandenburg.

The economic and cultural improvements of the Soviet Occupied Sector are documented with scenes from the years 1945 to 1950. The film deals with the land reform, the founding of the Socialist Unity Party, the expropriation of war criminals, the founding of the GDR and the first Five Year Plan in July 1950. Special attention is dedicated to the setup of the steel industry. All this is shown in contrast to the new Federal Republic of Germany, where unemployment, slums and the West Berlin airlift prevail. The Cold War of those years is reflected in the film as well as a part of the development of post-war Germany.

A few days after the GDR built the Berlin Wall, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer commented that this was "an infamous and brutal act against our brothers and sisters in the Zone." Director Walter Heynowski digs into this ubiquitous West German expression, using footage from West German newsreels and TV programs, and compares the life of "brothers and sisters" in East and West Germany. In this propagandistic documentary, the director juxtaposes images of class hierarchy and conflict in the West, with images of a flourishing East.

Documentary about a youth work brigade working on the construction of a tower block in Berlin-Marzahn

A chronicle of the events from October 9, 1989 to October 3, 1990, staged as a neo-dadaistic farce, an overwhelmingly rich collection of interviews with contemporary witnesses and camera pontanies.