Volker Prechtel

An oral history of the 1986 film adaptation of "The Name of the Rose", gathering together the memories of several members of the surviving cast/crew.

A meeting of two world famous climbers, one an experienced mountaineer the other a sport climber, and a journalist (Ivan) results in a bet on which of the two is the best climber. Roger (the mountaineering expert) states that Martin (the sport climber) wouldn't survive a day on a 'real' climbing expedition, although he is considered to be the world's best sport climber (having just won an indoor 'world championship,' an event depicted in the opening scene). They plan to climb 'Cerro Torre,' in the Patagonia region of South America, near the Argentinian/Chilean border, one of the world's most difficult mountains, especially considering the extreme weather conditions common to the area.

The four young snoopers Tim, Karl, Kloesschen and Gaby by chance discover a hidden cave near an old castle. In it there's a board that seems to describe the way to a legendary sword. They ask their history teacher Schindler about it. He forbids them further actions, but secretly continues investigations with help of two ruthless criminals. But our young heros don't give up on an adventure so fast...

The immature young ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph, was extremely shy around women but (according to this film) was constantly being propositioned, lewdly or otherwise, by ambitious courtesans. When he was finally married to his Empress, the teen-aged Bavarian princess Sisi (Elizabeth), it seems that his relief knew no bounds, for he was now sure that he would never have to think about sex ever again. According to the filmmakers, this is the true history of that marriage. This story is a complete reversal of the romantic legend depicted in the popular 1955 film Sissi, which helped brighten the emerging stardom of Romy Schneider.

A TV special about the christmas celebrations of the most popular TV characters in the ZDF at that time.

After trying to smuggle a package into prison for his father Willi, Harry and his girlfriend Marlies also end up in jail. While Harry is billeted with Daddy, Marlies is housed just one floor up in the cell of the ageing prostitute Jutta. With Christmas just around the corner, the four of them join forces and plan to break through to their cells to celebrate a lavish party with a can of homemade schnapps.

No synopsis available yet.

Pumuckl meets the blue Klabauter to learn magic. But he has bad intentions for the little goblin. Nevertheless, Pumuckl still finds enough time for his funny pranks. Will he survive his new adventures?

No synopsis available yet.

The naive 18 year old Dobrila leaves her little Serbian village to travel to Hamburg, Germany, where her boyfriend lives. The trip is not easy. Finally in Hamburg she has to realize her boyfriend is not very interested in a relationship. She doesn't tell him she's pregnant and starts on her way home to Serbia, which turns out to be even more exhausting.

Eleven-year-old Lorenz ends up on a strange island: everything here is upside down. Pears are called apples, dogs meow, cats bark and people wish each other goodbye, hopefully never to see each other again.

No synopsis available yet.

TV superstar Claudia Fischer basks in the fame she has earned with her erotic “Domino Show.” On her show, she mercilessly exposes her contestants' most intimate feelings. However, she has wisely kept her own life lie hidden from the public until now. This proves to be her undoing when a psychopathic killer takes her daughter hostage to expose Claudia’s secret on live television…

No synopsis available yet.

14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.

During the WW2, a Swiss mountain farmer, refuses to follow the government policy to increase self-sufficiency with produce. In his opinion, the steep mountain pastures are not suited for agriculture. Most of the villagers agree. However some begin to cultivate. Even after all his fellow farmers have given in and have started to plant cops, Tanner continues his opposition and ignores all letters and instructions. This leads to a series of reprimands, for instance, some of his hay is seized and his wife cannot buy at the local grocer's since the family won't comply with the government policy.

Down-on-his-luck private detective Harry Werner just wants a quiet life, but trouble always finds him. When he stumbles into a case involving a missing woman, shady criminals, and a suitcase full of secrets, Harry realises he's in way over his head. A mix of comedy, noir, and chaos, this quirky caper proves that bad luck is Harry’s only constant companion.

A German TV documentary that chronicles the daily rehearsals, the filming and all the behind the scenes of Jean-Jacques Annaud's classic "The Name of the Rose". From actors perspectives to the ideas used by the director to produce an impeccable international epic adaptation of Umberto Eco's best selling novel, the film presents the obstacles behind the creation of a production of such large scale and also the making of the many difficult scenes, most of the ones presented here are the characters' murders inside the mysterious abbey.

Tommy and Mike operate a famous pirate radio station, Germany's most listened-to radio station. The police and the operators of the Bavarian Broadcast Company try to stop their illegal broadcast.

For many years the old Waller worked as a railwayman. After Waller is informed that "his" track will be closed down and that he will be retired, he walks the route for one last time and starts to remember his life along the way: Beginning in his childhood in the 1920s, he commemorates the death of his great love as well as he recalls the legal battle with his illegitimate daughter.

Bernhard "Big Mäc" Maurer, an ex-motorcycle freak and bored piano teacher, is voted the "perfect motorcyclist" by the trade magazine Motorrad after quitting his job as a music teacher at a Munich high school. He is promised a bonus of $50,000 if he manages to beat a Japanese team in an adventure rally from the Zugspitze to Kilimanjaro. Maurer agrees and chooses as his second man, the technician, his young neighbor Max. Max, for whom an apprenticeship is at stake, injures himself shortly before the start of the rally and has to sit out. Without Maurer's knowledge, Max's almost identical-looking sister Maxi takes over the role of the boy.

The farm that Barthel and his sister run near Munich is in a dream location. But it is unprofitable and is rapidly falling into disrepair. Barthel's sister wants to demolish the farm and build apartment buildings in its place. As her brother opposes this idea, she and her husband devise a cunning plan to rob Barthel of his property.

The film consists of several small episodes that take place in and around Munich.

Fred is a journalist who investigates the death of a man in room 36. He interviews the man's widow and her deranged mother for clues as to how the man died in a hotel room that is rented by the hour. Also under suspicion is a stranger named Becker who lives next to the room where the killing took place.

In the 1930s, three unsuccessful variety artists dream of making it big. When they hear about the rise of sound films in Hollywood, they see their chance: a language school for silent film stars will bring them fame and success. Full of hope, they travel to California, straight into the exciting world of the first sound film productions. But not everything goes as planned...

Because she believes she is standing in the way of her parents' happiness, seven-year-old Sarah runs away from home. But the world is too big for the little girl and treacherous and insidious dangers are lurking everywhere. But luckily Sarah has her snow globe, a gift from her father, and his promise that whenever the moon rises in the sky, round and yellow and fat as a grapefruit, something quite wonderful will happen. Because inside the snow globe live two fairy tale characters.

No synopsis available yet.

Flo, a young woman from the province, moves to Berlin to become a photo model.

Following the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, investigative journalist Peter Miller sets out to hunt down an SS Captain and former concentration camp commander. In doing so he discovers that, despite allegations of war crimes, the former commander has become a man of importance in industry in post-war Germany, protected from prosecution by a powerful organisation of former SS members called Odessa.

A German Marquise has to deal with a pregnancy she cannot explain and an infatuated Russian Count.

The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat and top hat who feeds him.

Financier persuades his mistress to marry a rich industrialist for his money, then discovers that he and the new wife are to be murdered by her new husband.

A small Bavarian village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obssessed with the lost secret.

Having fathered an illegitimate child with his lover, Marie, feckless soldier Franz Woyzeck takes odd jobs around his small town to provide some extra money for them. One job is volunteering for experiments conducted by a local doctor, who puts Woyzeck on a diet of peas. This serves to drive him close to madness, and the discovery that Marie is involved in an affair with the local drum major exacerbates the situation. Pushed too far, Woyzeck resorts to violence.

No synopsis available yet.

Super agents from East and West have 24 hours to foil an assassination attempt on Brezhnev. Together they hunt the terrorist No. 1. The race against the clock shows eerily realistic the practices of the secret services.

No synopsis available yet.

When a hunter returns home after two years, he finds nothing is like it used to be, as his cruel rival has stolen his bride.

A tramp tries to trick the community into paying for the funeral of his fellow tramp who was found frozen to death.

No synopsis available yet.