Michael Schenk

Berlin at the end of the 19th Century. Alexander Hoffmann is an ambitious PhD student of Ethnology. When a delegation of the Herero and Nama tribes travels to Berlin during a ‘Colonial Exhibition’, he takes a special interest in their young female translator Kezia Kambazembi as subject for his studies.

A kidnapping case starts a dangerous game of cat and mouse for Berlin detective Martin Brühl in the world of illegal car racing. 19-year-old Tim Jatzkowski doesn't come home. At first this is nothing to worry about. But then his father, luxury car dealer Heiner Jatzkowski, receives a ransom demand. Martin Brühl and his team encounter a shocked mother and a rather shirt-sleeved father who thinks the police should do their job and find Tim. The detective tries to convince Jatzkowski to pay the ransom. Among Jatzkowski's regular customers, whom he supplies with tuned luxury sports cars, there are plenty with contacts to the Berlin clans. He decides against paying the ransom.

Peter Weiss’ monumental 1965 stage play, among the greatest artworks on the Holocaust, condenses the testimonies of witnesses and the accused during the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963-1965. This ultra-faithful film adaptation builds, across four hours, in its intensity and graphically described detail.

Empathy is a two-edged sword, especially for Martin. Tormented by the past, haunted by the present, the chief inspector is a brilliant investigator and, together with his team, solves the most convoluted cases. From kidnapping to hostage situations, to murder. Unable to eat or sleep until a case is solved, they all take their toll.

When his partner Susanne Koch is not lying in bed next to him as usual in the morning, Inspector Martin Brühl knows immediately that something is wrong. What he doesn't know is that Susanne has witnessed a crime on her way home at night. She was seriously injured when an ATM was blown up and was quickly taken away by the perpetrators.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.

Germany in the early 19th century. "Die Vermessung der Welt" follows the two brilliant and eccentric scientists Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauss on their life paths.

It is the late 1950s. Flourishing under the economic miracle, Germany grows increasingly apathetic about confronting the horrors of its recent past. Nevertheless, Fritz Bauer doggedly devotes his energies to bringing the Third Reich to justice. One day Bauer receives a letter from Argentina, written by a man who is certain that his daughter is dating the son of Adolph Eichmann. Excited by the promising lead, and mistrustful of a corrupt judiciary system where Nazis still lurk, Bauer journeys to Jerusalem to seek alliance with Mossad, the Israeli secret service. To do so is treason — yet committing treason is the only way Bauer can serve his country.

Markus is a handsome and respectable architect who has a secret: he is a pedophile. Despite feeling disgust of himself, Markus can't help but feel attracted to young boys. When he thinks he won't be able to suppress his deepest feelings, he decides to isolate himself.

Two-year-old Paulina is suddenly no longer in her crib, and everything points to an abduction. But the hijacker does not answer.

After the bestselling book comes the film about Germany's most successful rapper: authentic, provocative and radical. Despite all his successes, Bushido has to face the demons of his past again and again.

Penniless Peter Munk toils day after day as a charcoal burner in the Black Forest. In order to finally achieve the wealth he longs for and thus get closer to his previously unattainable crush Lisbeth, he turns to two mysterious forest spirits with his wishes. While the cranky little glass man can't really help him, the sinister Dutchman-Michel promises him an end to his financial worries. However, he demands Peter's heart in return and puts a cold stone in his chest instead. Although he can now afford everything and finally take Lisbeth as his wife, Peter no longer has any compassion, which soon has devastating consequences not only for himself but also for his fellow human beings.

Environmental activist Anna Wagner travels to the place of her childhood. Although she hasn't spoken to her father in more than 20 years, she takes care of everything that needs to be done after his death. When she arrives in idyllic Hückeskirchen, she not only meets the estate manager and many memories, but also the town's mayor, Bea Westkamp: her former best friend, with whom, as a teenager, she set out to conquer the world.

A tragicomedy about the trials and tribulations of life: three lonely hearts find each other, drift apart and experience the happiness of the moment together

Paul Bacher is in crisis. If he could feel in the past as one of the most influential writers of his generation, he has long lacked ideas and impetus for a new great work. His reading tours are becoming more and more a sad affair with too much alcohol and too little public. Then Paul overflows in a drunken hitchhiker, flees first scared and later removes the body, without talking to anyone about the experience. But something is flowing in its interior. Paul starts to write again. The criticism is done, but the story about the death of a hitchhiker also arouses suspicion.

"Snow White Must Die". Part 1 of 4 Nele Nauhaus Mysteries. A young man returns to his village after serving time for a murder he may or may not have committed. Will old truths be dangerous even now? Pia and Oliver investigate.

At the height of her career, the well-known comedy and TV star Gaby Köster suffers a serious stroke. However, the multi-award winning artist does not give up, fighting back despite many ups and downs.

No synopsis available yet.

In this vivid historical drama set in 1980s East Germany, two dockworkers and best friends who dream of escaping the repressive regime are forced to choose their loyalties when the state police promise them safe passage out of the country — if they inform on their co-workers and union leader.

No synopsis available yet.

The alleged murderer of a policewoman, Frank Keller, applies for release from preventive detention after 15 years in prison. However, it is rejected. Out of desperation, Keller takes his lawyer hostage and flees the courtroom. His first destination is the house of the edgy and highly respected police instructor Bruno Theweleit. Keller is said to have shot his colleague 15 years ago. After the incident, young policewoman Lena Frey sets off on her own search for clues and comes across more and more contradictions in the version of events that is supposed to have happened 15 years ago. This draws the displeasure of Theweleit and the shady inspector Günther Lehmann, who was also involved in the incident. After a meeting with Keller, Frey begins to doubt the man's guilt.

Little Marie Kerstner has disappeared after a daycare outing in the woods. Chief Inspector Oliver von Bodenstein and his colleague Pia Kirchhoff investigate and unexpectedly come across two bodies. First, senior public prosecutor Hardenbach is found dead, apparently shot with a load of buckshot from his own hunting rifle. Shortly afterwards, a dead young woman is discovered at the foot of a lookout tower. It turns out that the dead woman is Isabel Kerstner, the mother of the missing girl. Isabel had made many enemies in her short life and the suspects for her murder are queuing up. But what did the dead prosecutor have to do with Isabel and where is her daughter? Only gradually do von Bodenstein and Kirchhoff realize the true dimension of the case.

No synopsis available yet.

Bodo is standing on the top of a roof and ready to jump, when suddenly his phone is ringing...

Oliver von Bodenstein and Pia Kirchhoff determine in the environment of a wind turbine company and their opponents - each of which has its own motive. A storm of revenge, greed and betrayal brews together.

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.

In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) – high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father's objections, Friedrich enrolls. During his year in seventh column, Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code. His friendship with Albrecht, the ascetic son of the area's governor, is central to this education.

An aged tailor recalls his life as the schoolteacher of a small village in Northern Germany that was struck by a series of strange events in the year leading up to WWI.

When German police viciously quell a protest against the shah of Iran, popular journalist Ulrike Meinhof rebels against her dishonest marriage, walks away from her children and joins radical anarchist Andreas Baader. Together with Baader's girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, they form the violent Red Faction Army, and together perpetrate a slew of terrorist attacks as a way of disrupting the fabric of what they see as an increasingly fascist state.

Based on the childhood memories of actor Michael Degen, the movie deals with the everyday struggle to survive as a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany. As his father had died in 1940 after being released from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Michael and his mother fear to be deported themselves. They manage to live in Berlin with false names and faked papers, hidden by several, often broken, people...

Edward Kaminsky, an aging ad man, wants a golden parachute from his agency; he must first land the Opel auto contract. Rosa, a youth with wealthy parents, wants to establish herself as an artist. The clumsy and enthusiastic Viktor, not quite honest, wants work. When he wanders into Kaminsky's meeting with Opel and says something about irony, the Opel director wants him in on the campaign. Then he steals an idea from Rosa that the Opel director loves. Before Rosa discovers he's expropriated her idea, Rosa and Viktor become lovers. Father-son feelings materialize between Kaminsky and Viktor. Can the impulsive Viktor hold it together before Rosa learns the truth and flies away?

Based on a true story, Miguel Alexandre's two-part drama focuses on an East German woman and the fight for her children. Spring 1982: Sara Bender, living with her daughters Silvia and Sabine in the East German town of Erfurt, wants to marry her colleague Peter, but shortly before the wedding, her father is killed in a road accident. As the funeral takes place in West Germany, she isn't allowed to got there, so she starts planning to leave her communist home country forever. Trying to flee via Romania, she is caught by the secret service. After years in jail, Sara is ransomed by the West German government, but without her daughters. To draw the world's attention on her desperate situation, she starts demonstrating at the Berlin border crossing Checkpoint Charlie

Leo has been working for the insurance company for 19 years, without a sick day, without being late, without ever being noticed. Now there is panic in the office: Layoffs are imminent. Nevertheless, the Christmas party takes place - for some it's more of a farewell party. Leo plucks up his courage and asks his shy new colleague Marie to the dance. But is he the right man to win Marie's wounded heart?

Oskar lives with his ill father in a quiet village. Twenty years ago, his brother Theo was caught with an underage girl and has since left their lives. Then the village is startled: Theo reappears when an eight-year-old girl is murdered.

Hairdresser Annette is pregnant. Before her husband can explain to her why this is upsetting him - he is unable to conceive - he is killed. No wonder Annette just can't connect with the little creature in her womb: the fetus, a potential genius with all the makings of a top athlete, has been implanted and she is only supposed to carry it to term. When "communication" finally takes place between mother and child, the doctor wants to perform an abortion: The genetic engineering plot has been blown; but now Annette fights like a lioness for her baby...

No synopsis available yet.

After the tragic loss of her husband, a young woman reconstructs the circumstances which caused his death. During this attempt to find her own way in daily life again, more and more recollections and occurrences appear on the surface, seemingly to foresee a tragic end. Looking back, events appear to her like signs, chance meetings like disregarded warnings. On her search for meaning between yesterday and tomorrow, reality seems to split like a labyrinth, like an awakening after a nightmare, with no way out.

In September 1974, at the Bösebrücke border crossing between East and West Germany, Heike and Ulrich Molitor, along with their two little children, are caught trying to escape to the West. As a punishment the parents are presented with a terrible decision: they will be permitted to leave for West Germany with their seven-year-old son Klaus, but their two-year-old daughter Miriam must remain in East Germany and will be given up for adoption. If the Molitors refuse these conditions, they will both be imprisoned for a year—and both their children will be taken from them. This situation forms the basis for an emotional story in which various destinies in East and West intertwine, reaching a dramatic climax with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

No synopsis available yet.

General Heinz Büchner is in charge of a special unit of the German army. His son Christopher is a member of the unit. They get the mission to take out a band of terrorists that plan an attack on the American headquarters in Heidelberg.

Famous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele — the 'Death Angel of Auschwitz', who killed more than 300.000 people — emerges from his hideout in Argentina to Germany as a 87-year-old man, and must stand for his crimes in court. The young solicitor Peter Rohm is assigned to defend him, but Rohm himself — an expert on Mengele and his crimes — feels unable to do so. When he decides to take on the case, he endangers not only his marriage but also his and his wife's lives.

The ambitious young Ina Littmann is an investigative journalist for the TV talk show "Eye in Eye". Her current subject is Henry Kupfer, who wrote a bestseller about a psychopathic killer after he was himself in prison for 8 years for manslaughter. As an entry for the show Ina plans to use a current series of brutal murders among prostitutes. When Ina meets Kupfer, she is despised and fascinated at the same time. Soon she's convinced that Kupfer not only writes about murders, but commits them himself. She smells a smash hit and prepares to prove him guilty on the show.

A crime writer on a train to Berlin shares her compartment with a mysterious man who claims to be a cannibal. Initially intrigued, she tries to humorously dismiss his claim while her imagination sparks a new novel featuring Detective Rosa Roth, who investigates a similar case. As the journey progresses, the writer’s confidence fades, replaced by fear and mistrust. The man’s behaviour becomes more unsettling, especially after a young girl reports inappropriate comments from him. In the dining car, he claims to have eaten a fellow passenger and reveals his tools are nearby. Despite her fear, the writer is drawn to learn more about his methods, blurring the lines between her novel and reality. Ultimately, her fantasy merges with reality, leading to dire consequences.

Sawdust Tales is a whimsical and timeless parable on survival in hard times and the force of a first love against all odds. In a timeless no-mans land scarred by social decay and imminent war, a circus troupe awaits the arrival of the mysterious Rupert who is to deliver them from danger into a better world. The old and wise tightrope master keeps a watchful, loving eye on his young apprentice who, to his concern, could be drafted into the army at any moment. To make matters worse, the boy falls in love with a mermaid...

It's 11:00 hrs on Wednseday, or is it Friday? Gliding 400ft beneath the surface in the Pacific Ocean sometime in late 1942. A Japanese convoy has been spotted and the U.S.S. Herring is on the prowl. Weeks of wandering aimlessly has given the crew an energy potential that fires more than just torpedoes. With danger all around them, the perplexed Captain and his assortment of quirky seamen somersault from one misadventure into another.

No synopsis available yet.