Discoveries from East Germany World Cinema

An interview with Madame Buchela, a West German clairvoyant.

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.

Documentary about the City of Neubrandenburg in the GDR.

Documentary about the socialist politician and writer August Bebel

Teenagers at risk who are cared for and trained in a "Jugendwerkhof", a borstal - a problem almost totally suppressed officially. The film enquires after the causes and chances for the future.

Short film about electric railroad lines

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...

Short film about the GDR state border

When Michael was released from the Jugendwerkhof at the age of 16, he said: "... There has to be controversy to make progress, to achieve something in life, to be a human being at all." Three years later, the movie tries to find out what has become of him.

The documentary portrays the art historian Wilhelm von Bode as a realistic visionary.

The devil begrudges Kasper his beautiful house. He wants to capture him and force him to build a new devil's house. But Kasper is clever enough to let the devil do all the work himself. The Kasper family succeeds in freeing Kasper and shooting the devil into the clouds.

Documentary film

East German short documentary

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

Documentary on the 1000-year-old town of Weimar. The film presents an example of the victory of humanist traditions over nazi brutality.

Under the ground - rats, playing, scurrying, scenting. Above the earth - nuclear landscape. Novel text by Graham Greene: When the atomic bomb falls, the rats will survive.

Faustus wants to invent a fire that is stronger than all previous flames. Then death approaches him. In order to prolong his life, he makes a pact with Mephistopheles. When he has found the fire, he burns the contract and is ready to die. Death shows him life in the form of Margaret, with whom Faust falls in love. In order to regain his youth, he sells the flame to Mephisto. Faust enjoys the idyll of love while the Black Knight, Mephisto's servant, subdues the land with fire. When Faust refuses to enter the service of evil, his wife, child and home are destroyed by the flame. Faust makes another pact with Mephisto and invents a fire that blows up knights and devils. This time, Death orders him to discover the fire of life.

Brigitte, Carola and Susi can hardly believe their luck. They have hit the jackpot and won a brand new Trabi! Unfortunately, none of the three have a driving license. So they quickly agree to sell the car. Soon there are more interested parties than the three ladies would like and disagreements about who will be the lucky new owner. Plumber Oskar Zahl promptly completes Brigitte's bathroom renovation because he thinks he has a chance of getting the car. Carola hopes that her new flame, choir singer Anastasius Vogel, will buy the Trabi for her. And Susi's fiancé wants to surprise his future wife with the car. The three car owners put all the applicants through their paces and ultimately make a wise decision.

In order to meet the commissioning deadline of the VEB Erdölverarbeitungswerk Schwedt on April 1, 1964, around 450 NVA pioneers support the work to complete the start-up stage over the Easter holidays. The ceremonial commissioning takes place punctually on April 1 in the presence of Minister Erich Pasold.

The rooster Schreihals works diligently, while the two mice Singeschön and Springeschön prefer to play and dance all day long. When the rooster finds an ear of wheat, it is the clever mice who urge him to make grain out of it, grind it, and bake a cake with the flour. Will they get a piece of the cake with their clever advice?

Venus after Giorgione is the the second part of the "Over Paintings" (Uebermalungen) trilogy by painter and director STRAWALDE (Juergen Boettcher). Using various methods of "painting over" or projecting on top of Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus," Boettcher alienates the work artistically. Venus' beauty is seen within a new context and is thereby newly interpreted through the eyes of STRAWALDE. The assorted landscapes behind Venus range from idyllic pastorales to morbid backgrounds. STRAWALDE's art knows no boundaries and makes a strong impression on the viewer with bizarre sound collages.

The East German documentary uncovers the postwar career of Heinz Reinefarth, the former SS general responsible for atrocities during the Warsaw Uprising who became mayor of Westerland on the island of Sylt. Combining archival footage with contemporary interviews, the film indicts West Germany for allowing former Nazi officials to return to public office.

Potter's Bull is the first part of the "Over-Paintings" Trilogy (Uebermalungen) by painter and director STRAWALDE (Juergen Boettcher). Paulus Potter's simple postcard scene entitled "The Young Bull" ("den jungen Stier") is artistically alienated in an imposing fashion. By using assorted means of "painting over" and/or front projections, the figure of the bull in the center of the card is placed in a state of constant flux. A viewer may also choose to follow the shifting background behind the bull, which continues to recontextualize the bull in shifting worlds. Accompanied by a sound collage.

A biographical documentary about Ernst Thälmann.

Interviews with former generals of the South Vietnamese Army in the Quang Trung re-education camp, shortly after the end of the Vietnam War.

This documentary follows a group of women on a typical workday as they prepare meals for a dockyard in Rostock. The viewer never learns their names - there are no interviews. The women are presented simply as workers: cooking, cleaning, hauling, and serving dishes amid clanking pots and hot steam.

The mayor of a medieval town has the forest on a hilltop cleared and builds a lookout tower for his citizens. However, they only use the structure to spy out the nearest wooded hill and immediately head there with their children.

Together with Stephan Hermlin, H&S examine two five-minute film documents in this film, which were shot in 1941 on behalf of the Gestapo. The comparison with a written eyewitness account exposes the first film - "about the dazzling supply of food to the Jews" - as a propaganda lie, while the second - made 14 days later - conveys a complex picture of the Nazi extermination bureaucracy.

Impressionistic East German documentary filmed mainly in the Georgian countryside in 1986-1987. The director, a painter, wanted to see if similar scenes to those found in the work of Georgian painter Niko Pirosmanishvili still existed there.

A part of Earth's population are greedy and power-obsessed. They eat up and destroy everything. All of a sudden the planet Earth decides not to carry them anymore and they disappear in debris.

Tolpatsch is a good-natured boy who always tells the truth and has immense powers. He fishes a sword out of the lake and sets off on an adventure. After a battle with an evil fairy, Tolpatsch and his companion, a cheerful raven, arrive at the castle where a princess lives. She is not allowed to see the sun, moon or stars until she is sixteen and lives in an artificial world. Tolpatsch answers three questions about the ugliness of this world with the truth. The princess is redeemed and the two become a happy couple.

Short documentary about mining in east germany.

The President Dr. Walter Becher, officially the spokesman for the Sudeten German Homeland Association, called out the old flags, as he does every year.

Seven ill-fated strangers find themselves trapped on an old blue bus that has fallen under the curse of a vengeful infant deity.

A culture festival is held in the village. Everyone is invited to take part, which is why the devil is also signing up to take part....

"I'm walking through my city...", sings a cheerful pop singer. She fervently praises the new metropolis of East Berlin. As an emphatically lively, often anthemically condensed revue, the film tells of the "growth and development of our new capital". Accompanied by cheerful music, the camera indulges in high-altitude views, shows squares whose fountains, benches and green spaces are designed to make you forget that you are in a big city, as well as visitors from all over the world in top hotels. An emphatically cheerful, yet meaningful insight into the brave new GDR world.

Short documentary about mining in east germany.

The lion, wolf and fox use modern technologies for producing their food instead of traditional hunting methods. They set up a farm where they fatten up animals and produce prepared meals with the latest technology. One day, the oppressed animals, tired of what is going on, set up their own state and stand up against their dangerous predators.

In Layaly Badr’s documentary short, Road to Palestine, seven-year-old Layla – who has been badly injured in an air raid – lives in a refugee camp outside Palestine. Layla and her friends describe how they imagine Palestine, despite never having seen it.

The East German Navy's newest submarine hunter is presented. Also, a historical excursus about older anti-submarine ships and the hunt for enemy submarines is shown.

A culture festival is held in the village. Everyone is invited to take part, which is why the devil is also signing up to take part....

Actions in West Germany against the occupation statute and the general war treaties.

Follows the migration voyages of eels.

A group of drummers from various backgrounds gather together for a special performance.

Documentary film

Venus after Giorgione is the the second part of the "Over Paintings" (Uebermalungen) trilogy by painter and director STRAWALDE (Juergen Boettcher). Using various methods of "painting over" or projecting on top of Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus," Boettcher alienates the work artistically. Venus' beauty is seen within a new context and is thereby newly interpreted through the eyes of STRAWALDE. The assorted landscapes behind Venus range from idyllic pastorales to morbid backgrounds. STRAWALDE's art knows no boundaries and makes a strong impression on the viewer with bizarre sound collages.

During the Battle of Stalingrad, five German soldiers and officers are taken prisoner of war by the Soviets. In an interview, they talk about the fear of retribution, the question of guilt and the gradual shattering of an enemy image. The process of their rethinking is also due to their encounter with the "National Committee Free Germany". Pilot officer Charisius got into conversation with the Soviet writer Fedin in the camp. Decades later, Charisius remembers it. Pictures of the destroyed Stalingrad and scenes of the men in their present-day environment complement the conversation.

From Ingres’ “Reclining Venus” to Gaugin’s Tahitian women – a museum guard presents famous female figures in art who, as if in a Las Vegas revue, step out of their frames and take on exciting new life.

The well-known illustrator Werner Klemke uses his drawings to teach the youngest bookworms about the value of reading. Taking this as a starting point, Lotte Thiel presents the GDR as a land of books whose capital is Leipzig. Figures and images from the 1971 International Book Art Exhibition underscore the significance accorded to books as a tool for shaping the “socialist personality”.

During a routine visit to an acquaintance, an old, single Sorbian woman reflects on her life.

Two children, a boy and a girl, are each given a piggy bank. The boy is unimpressed and happily continues to spend his money. The girl takes every opportunity to "feed" her beautiful pig quite often. She is rewarded for this exemplary behavior with a ride to toyland.