Discoveries from East Germany World Cinema

This documentary is about the crimes of the former Federal Minister for Displaced Persons, Refugees and Victims of War, Dr. Theodor Oberländer, as the main participant in the plans and implementation of fascist Germany to exterminate the Polish intelligentsia in the conquered territories in WW2. Documents from the USSR, CSR, Poland, England, USA, Holland, Israel, West Berlin, GDR and the West Zone convict him as an offender by conviction, who was present at the putsch in Munich in 1923 as well as in July 1941, when the Sonderkommando Bataillon Nachtigall committed the murder of Polish academics in Lemberg (Lwow/Lviv).

Under Soviet management after the Second World War, the so-called SAG companies were converted into state-owned companies (VEB) in 1953/54, including the Leuna and Buna factories.

Interviews with children in Palestinian refugee camps.

One morning, the little mouse crawls out of its hole and decides to have a look around. He hops over hill and dale, marvels at grasses and flowers, overcomes holes and hills, experiences a thunderstorm and an adventurous trip on the water and finally returns tired to his hiding place at home. She proudly believes she has seen the whole wide world.

Autumn vacation at the NVA recreation center "Walter Ulbricht" in Prora on the island of Rügen—swimming in October, long walks, trips to Saßnitz and Bergen, a visit to the VEB Kreidewerk Rügen chalk factory, puppet theater for the children in the afternoon, and dancing in the evening.

This film describes a yearning for beauty and gentleness. The philosopher Lothar Kühne was especially concerned with how we live and build. He applied his own ideas about the traditional house to his Villa Rotonda in Vincenza, Italy, not grand, but homely and marvellous. Here he developed his dream of the New House, achallenge to the concrete confines of urban living. In the film, La Rotonda is the motif of yearning which helps to explain Kühne's rigorous dedication to change and to convey the mental and physical torment he felt in the face of the concrete jungle. In November 1985 Prof. Lothar Kühne sought solace in the sea. This film is an indictment of ignorance and stupidity, a plea for sensitivity towards creative minds.

The propaganda film was intended to strengthen the solidarity of the people in the workers' and farmers' state with 'their' border guards and to portray the guarding of the 1,350-kilometre border with West Germany as a necessary measure. Members of the border troops recount their experiences; the film stylizes dead border soldiers as heroes and martyrs, albeit without shedding light on the exact background to these deaths. On November 9, 1989, countless East Germans crowded into the western part of the city, baffled border guards let them pass. Director Matthias-Joachim Blochwitz filmed around the Brandenburg Gate in November and December 1989. Rather than the people streaming towards the West, he interviewed border guards and asked about their thoughts and feelings on the fall of the Wall. Blochwitz used the footage to make Grenzdurchbruch '89, which only celebrated its cinema premiere in 2009: a unique historical document of a key period of upheaval in German history.

Alle Ideen beginnen als Traum (All Ideas Begin as a Dream) (1987) is an East German documentary directed by Annelie Thorndike. The film follows Professor Dr. Heiner Vollstädt and his groundbreaking research at the Central Institute for Earth Physics in Potsdam, where he has spent years working on the production of synthetic diamonds for industrial applications in the GDR. Through a combination of observational footage and narration, the documentary highlights the dedication of East German scientists and the intersection of scientific discovery with economic development.

Peter lives happily with his cat until one day a mouse appears. Peter tries to teach the animal how to catch mice. But it is playful and interested in everything but lessons.

"Das Jahr 1945" is a documentary which describes the last 128 days of World War II in Europe. The film covers the course of the war in chronological order, and discusses military tactics and the Nazi ideology.

The film reports on the return of Soviet units from Czechoslovakia (CSSR) to their stationing areas in the GDR. It depicts the reception by the population of the GDR.

A documentary portrait of the everyday life of teenagers in Mecklenburg.

The documentary deals with the subject of "big city noise" in a humorous and satirical, but also serious way, using the example of East Berlin, whereby the main focus is on noise that disturbs peace and quiet, i.e. noise that can be avoided, such as recklessly listening to loud music and watching television, clearly audible inner-family communication, dogs barking, nocturnal DIY work, rapid braking and honking of vehicle horns, etc. With the help of animations/animated scenes, the film vividly demonstrates the widespread interpersonal bad habits.

A portrait of Helga Hörz, professor of ethics and philosophy at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Documentary about weaving and braiding

A short sci-fi youth project film.

A top administrator in the Federal German armed forces measures the machinery of murder at Auschwitz according to the effiency principle, and deems it a triumph. Militaria dealers market all the components for a do-it-yourself SS officer. The film assembles on, piece by piece, from a price list: the complete Hauptsturmführer for 2,921 Deutschmarks, ready to meet the trains arriving at Auschwitz with the appropriate aluminium lurex armband at 45 Marks.

This bullet is stamped with the inscription 'Remington Peters 12' and yet is not mentioned in Remington's catalogue. It consists of 20 small steel arrows.

A documentary recounting Anne Frank’s story and death at Bergen-Belsen before turning to a detailed examination of the camp itself—the routines of its officers, the atrocities committed there, and the troubling postwar reality that many perpetrators lived freely with state support in Germany.

Short film about General Eduardo Cano, who after the military coup became director of the Chilean central bank in the Pinochet dictatorship. Cano withdraws money from the circulation, which were described by opposition parties with resistance piles. From the Chile cycle by Walter Heynowski and Gerhard Scheumann.

A man meets a yellow dog. They play with one another, and the man turns yellow. This doesn’t please a blue dog. The silhouette films by Bruno J. Böttge continue with and further develop the silhouette films by Lotte Reiniger.

Report on the conflicts around the People's Republic of Kampuchea

Rhythms of technology determine our everyday lives. Rhythms determine the character of the music of our time: jazz. Do we find the rhythms of technology in jazz? We compare jazz with technical processes three times, although music and image originally knew nothing of each other. Does this attempt provide an answer?

Mr. Meier, tired of his monotonous work, longs to be a hippopotamus. He feels like one and this causes him to clash with his environment. So he decides to return to normal human life. Secretly, however, he does not give up his wish. One day, when he comes close to a river, the transformation takes place.

Die Konzessionen des Mister Urquhart (The Concessions of Mr. Urquhart) (1961) is an East German documentary directed by Andrew Thorndike, Annelie Thorndike, and Joachim Hadaschik. Produced by DEFA, the film explores political and economic themes through the lens of Mr. Urquhart’s dealings, likely examining Western economic policies and their global impact. First broadcast on October 15, 1961, on DFF 1, the documentary continues the Thorndikes’ tradition of politically engaged filmmaking.

A little boy is supposed to take the trash can and the ashes to the basement. His friends are already waiting for him. They are already standing on the street. To save time, he puts the hot ashes in the same trash can as the bottles containing flammable liquids. He carries everything to the trash room in the basement and drives away with his friends. Meanwhile, the dangerous mixture ignites. It is only thanks to an attentive pensioner with his dog that nothing worse happens. A fire is narrowly averted.

With ZUG UM ZUG Barthel creates an amusing as well as bitingly macabre image-sound collage about the negative effects of smoking.

The self-taught nature filmmaker Ingeborg Tölke uses quotes from literary encounters with the flora and fauna of the moor in a gentle approach to this landscape. With great empathy, she uncovers the often all-too-hastily overlooked beauties and cruelties of the place, using time-lapse and macro techniques. Her debut work, which was also amazing in terms of film craft, won several awards.

In 1980, Wolfgang E. Struck, artistic director of the Berlin Friedrichstadt-Palast, wistfully considers the imminent demolition of his house due to structural deficiencies. Employees rhapsodise about working at this historical stage, where international stars like Louis Armstrong and Juliette Gréco performed. Nearby, construction of the new Friedrichstadt-Palast is starting.

The life stories of four people struggling with alcohol addiction allow for conversations about the apparent "normalcy" of alcohol and the subsequent difficulty of recognizing it as a potentially dangerous drug. The documentary stresses that alcoholism is a disease which must be treated medically and socially. Instead of turning a blind eye to others' problems, it is important to realize that people of all ages, genders, and social backgrounds can potentially be affected and that both the individual and society share responsibility for preventing relapse to alcohol abuse.

Rotary machines spew out extra sheets. Cars pile up, people run together. Everything has one goal: the rocket launch site. The first manned moon rocket is to be launched, marking the conquest of the moon by the USA. The sensational program about the launch rolls on, commented on by an incessantly chattering reporter. There is an embarrassing accident at the control desk: the generals from the Air Force and the Navy cannot agree on who should carry out the launch. The rocket finally lifts off, but only the upper part flies away. Nevertheless, the reporter agrees with the stunned spectators that the operation was successful and has cleared the way to the American moon. The rocket lands on target. The crew confidently disembarks. The sensation of the century is perfect. However, the horror of the visitors to the moon is great when they realize that a Soviet expedition has already begun exploring the moon without much ado.

My Lai ten years after the massacre. Reconstruction of the crime at the place where it was committed; tracing the trail of squad leader Calley in the USA; description of what happened by people who were believed to be dead.

The self-taught nature filmmaker Ingeborg Tölke uses quotes from literary encounters with the flora and fauna of the moor in a gentle approach to this landscape. With great empathy, she uncovers the often all-too-hastily overlooked beauties and cruelties of the place, using time-lapse and macro techniques. Her debut work, which was also amazing in terms of film craft, won several awards.

In 1980, Wolfgang E. Struck, artistic director of the Berlin Friedrichstadt-Palast, wistfully considers the imminent demolition of his house due to structural deficiencies. Employees rhapsodise about working at this historical stage, where international stars like Louis Armstrong and Juliette Gréco performed. Nearby, construction of the new Friedrichstadt-Palast is starting.

The documentary explores the construction of the "Schwarze Pumpe" gas complex, from the laying of the cornerstone in 1955 to the newly built industrial facilities.

On May 1, 1929, violent clashes broke out in Berlin between the police and communist demonstrators, an event that became known as “Bloody May.” Numerous demonstrators and bystanders lost their lives in the violence. The communist film cartel "Weltfilm" GmbH documented the events in the short film "May 1: International Workers' Day," which was released under the title "Blutmai 1929." Neither the director nor the cinematographers are known. The footage shot at that time was also used shortly thereafter in the Soviet newsreel "Soyuzkino-Journal, No. 33/1929" with new intertitles. In 1970, the State Film Archive of the GDR created the compilation "Kampfmai 1929" from parts of the two films and attributed the montage to Phil Jutzi.

The film follows a student from the African continent looking for an apartment who repeatedly faces rejection for what appear to be racist reasons.

Chicken Gock and the two mice are doing a big clean-up. Unfortunately, only Gock takes the work seriously.

A group of young people perform old traditional folk songs.

Documentary about the reconstruction of Dresden's Semperoper opera house.

A documentary highlighting several noteworthy locations along the railway line between Brest and Moscow.

Stream of visual images, inspired by Friedrich Hölderlin's works.

The film follows the creation, construction and design of the “Grand Hotel” on Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin: from the excavation pit to the shell of the building to its completion and the handing over of the keys.

Under Soviet management after the Second World War, the so-called SAG companies were converted into state-owned companies (VEB) in 1953/54, including the Leuna and Buna factories.

A short social reportage with a working-class aesthetic and Brechtian alienation effect, aimed at a politically educated German audience.

One morning, the little mouse crawls out of its hole and decides to have a look around. He hops over hill and dale, marvels at grasses and flowers, overcomes holes and hills, experiences a thunderstorm and an adventurous trip on the water and finally returns tired to his hiding place at home. She proudly believes she has seen the whole wide world.