Helmut Schmidt

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.

The Nuremberg communication center, known as “KOMM” for short, was a nationwide pioneer. The social, youth and cultural policy experiences of that time can be found today in countless institutions throughout Germany - in the art/cultural education work of “high culture” as well as in the self-image of open district centers and cultural offerings for all social groups.

On January 16, 1979, the then Shah of Iran, left Iran commencing what became a 19-month odyssey to exile in Egypt, Morocco, Bahamas, Mexico, US, Panama, and back to Egypt again where he passed away. His death had profound consequences for the future of the middle east and the world, yet the untold medical story of the late Shah of Iran has to date remained a puzzling mystery. This documentary leads viewers to the main causes of the Iranian revolution, pursuant hostage crisis, and the state of relations between the U.S. and Iran.

Deng Xiaoping's economic and political opening in China. Margaret Thatcher's extreme economic measures in the United Kingdom. Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in Iran. Pope John Paul II's visit to Poland. Saddam Hussein's rise to power in Iraq. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The nuclear accident at the Harrisburg power plant and the birth of ecological activism. The year 1979, the beginning of the future.

Essay film about Europe's financial crisis.

A first hand account of one of the biggest cases of human trafficking during the Cold War. A story of greed, courage, hope and remorse.

Erich Honecker ruled the GDR for 18 years. His fall in 1989 heralded the downfall of the state that had called itself "the better Germany" for 40 years. Nazi victim and autocrat, bourgeois and power-conscious: Honecker was an ideological hardliner who coordinated the construction of the Wall in 1961 and whose regime was known as an unjust state for Wall deaths, firing orders, the Stasi and forced adoptions. In the wake of the fall of communism, the former model socialist fell into homelessness and found himself on the run in his own country. Suffering from cancer, he managed to evade responsibility before a court by emigrating to Chile, where he died in 1994. This gripping documentary portrays the rise and fall of this contradictory German politician with an impressive array of top-class international and national contemporary witnesses. Erich Honecker would have been 100 years old on August 25, 2012.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

For over four years, Sandra Maischberger and Jan Kerhart followed Helmut Schmidt on his travels to America and China, observed conversations with old companions such as Henry Kissinger and at the same time repeatedly captured quite intimate moments that would otherwise usually have been covered.

Max Frisch was the last big Swiss intellectual widely respected as a “voice” in its own right – a character hardly found today. The film retells Frisch’s story as a witness of the unfolding 20th century, wondering if such “voices” are needed at all, or if we could do without them.

No synopsis available yet.

From the inner workings of the RAF. Former RAF-member Peter-Jürgen Boock reveal the many secrets and myths about the Baader-Meinhof gang a.k.a. RAF - Rote Armee Fraktion.

The film tells the story of the everyday life of a large Italian family, the Villano family, who after returning five times to their homeland - a small village near Naples - have decided to stay in Germany forever.

No synopsis available yet.

Kidlat, a Filipino jeepney driver, is fascinated by the idea of the American space programme and by Western society as a whole. When he moves to Paris, disillusionment sets in as his dreams are gradually shattered.

The film follows the career of Karl-Theodor Molinari from major in the Wehrmacht to general in the Bundeswehr. Authentic archive material and eyewitness testimonies are used to gather evidence of Molinari's guilt in the deaths of over a hundred French resistance fighters.

No synopsis available yet.