Helke Sander

Directing

Helke Sander

Born 1937-01-31 · Berlin, Germany

Helke Sander is a German feminist filmmaker and author.

Acting credits

The Germans and Their Men poster
9.0

A documentary with fictious elements. Ms. Elisabeth (Lieschen) Müller from Austria comes to Bonn, Germany to find herself a man. During the search she investigates the connections between neckties, political power and prostitution, and tries to look for the influence the german feminist movement had on the men in Germany's capital.

The Germans and Their Men

1990

Bungalow poster
5.5

A young German soldier named Paul goes AWOL and returns to his childhood home in the countryside. Over a few summer days, Paul evades the responsibilities of everyday life and falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend, disrupting the lives of everyone in his circle.

Bungalow

2002

3000 Houses poster
9.0

“Six young people move through a city in order to establish the starting point of their joint action. But they can’t agree on the topic. In the end everybody goes their own way and leaves the city.” - Hartmut Bitomsky

3000 Houses

1967

Muttertier - Muttermensch poster
7.0

Lucy, who is already human-like, claims that the first humans were mothers: The mother built a nest to secure the child when it became too heavy to carry. This is how she invented the house. She penetrated the dense branches with her voice to maintain contact with the child. That's how she invented language. Today, Lucy shakes her head and asks: "How did you let yourself be dragged down like that?".

Muttertier - Muttermensch

1999

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Hannelore Mabry – Ein Porträt

2005

No artwork available
8.0

A woman from a big city moves to a small village near the former border zone between East and West Germany. What is she looking for? What will she encounter? Rural life in the era of globa­li­sa­tion turns into an adven­ture. History lives in objects, stories and customs here since it was first recorded 800 years ago. Wars and famines have left their traces, just as churches, poli­tical parties and various forms of govern­ment. The change of the times, struc­tured by tele­vi­sion, has almost obscu­rely changed the old rhythms of life; super­market offers changed eating habits and food stock economy. Is it folk­lore nost­algia or a matter of preser­ving one’s way and quality of life to keep the old customs and habits, such as preser­ving old types of plants and boiling down cucum­bers? The village - a mutual exch­ange of expe­ri­ences and garden products. The village is like an onion: it shows ever new surpri­sing layers and leads us deep into unwritten pasts.

Village

2001

Invisible Adversaries poster
6.7

Set in contemporary Vienna, the film involves a photographer, Anna, who discovers that extraterrestrial beings are colonizing the minds of her fellow citizens by raising the human aggression quotient. The outer world immediately becomes disjointed, yet the inner world does too, as Anna and her lover, Peter, try to hang onto their deteriorating relationship.

Invisible Adversaries

1977

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1 poster
4.4

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the first part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews multiple German women who were raped in Berlin by Soviet soldiers in May 1945. Most women never spoke of their experience to anyone, after 46 years of silence they talk for the first time publicly about their violent experiences that have left such a mark.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1

1992

Fräulein Berlin poster
8.0

Berlin Underground-star Ulrike S. went to the Toronto-Filmfestival and then to New York - to find out something about the film business and also about her own desires, daydreams and nightmares.

Fräulein Berlin

1984

No artwork available
NR

The weaker sex must become stronger - but how can this be achieved? The central keyword of the six filmmakers Claudia von Alemann, Susanne Beyeler, Erika Runge, Helke Sander, Ula Stöckl and Hanna Laura Klar is: emancipation. Together, they will discuss the importance of films for feminist consciousness-raising and the role of female filmmakers in this process. A statement will be followed by an exemplary feature film scene. Claudia von Alemann talks about the unequal division of housework and advocates the remuneration of this work. How can the relationship between work and family be improved for working women? What about bringing up children? What steps are necessary to overcome the unequal gender order? One thing is clear: Film work is political practice.

Das schwache Geschlecht muss stärker werden

1969

Silvo poster
NR

Documentary showing the daily routine of Sander’s seven year old son, Silvo.

Silvo

1967

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Das schwache Geschlecht muss stärker werden. Teil 2

1988

Es stirbt allerdings ein jeder, fragt sich nur wie und wie Du gelebt hast (Holger Meins) poster
7.1

A look into the life of Holger Meins, the German cinematography student who became a revolutionary and a prominent voice in the Vietnam War protest movement. This film is comprised of interviews with his associates.

Es stirbt allerdings ein jeder, fragt sich nur wie und wie Du gelebt hast (Holger Meins)

1976

Liberators Take Liberties, part 2 poster
NR

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the second part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews former Soviet soldiers, and children born from rape, splicing their statements with material from archives. While avoiding an emotional presentation of the subject matter to rule out revanchist interpretations.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 2

1992

No artwork available
10.0

A documentary essay on the 1960s women's liberation movement in Germany and it's developments and conflicts through the following decades.

Mitten im Malestream

2005

Come with Me to the Cinema – The Gregors poster
NR

From the 1950s onwards, Erika and Ulrich Gregor brought countless film historical milestones to Berlin and shaped cinema discourse in post-war Germany. A look at the life and work of the couple without whom Arsenal and the Forum wouldn’t exist.

Come with Me to the Cinema – The Gregors

2022

Helke Sander: Cleaning House poster
10.0

Filmmaker and author Helke Sander is an icon not only of the women's movement, but also of new German cinema. Historical upheavals sometimes only need a small impulse to suddenly set petrified conditions in motion. Helke Sander triggered such a landslide-like change in Germany many years ago.

Helke Sander: Cleaning House

2023

A German Youth poster
7.1

At the end of the 1960s the post-war generation began to revolt against their parents. This was a generation disillusioned by anti-communist capitalism and a state apparatus in which they believed they saw fascist tendencies. This generation included journalist Ulrike Meinhof, lawyer Horst Mahler, filmmaker Holger Meins as well as students Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader.

A German Youth

2015

The All-Around Reduced Personality: Redupers poster
5.5

Edda Chiemnyjewski, a freelance press photographer and single mother living in 1970s West Berlin, is confronted with the fact that "a cook has no time for affairs of state". She also fails to find a market for the project she has been working on with her women′s photography group that seeks to document the city. While from today′s perspective the city, which becomes one of the film′s protagonists, looks like post-war Berlin, little has actually changed as regards the precarious existence of free-lancers. With a heavy dose of self-irony Helke Sander, who also plays the leading role, tells of a divided life in a divided city.

The All-Around Reduced Personality: Redupers

1978

Their Newspapers poster
7.0

Ihre Zeitungen is a political film rooted in the 1968 student campaign against the Springer press group, which controlled popular dailies such as the Berliner Zeitung and the Bild Zeitung. Claiming the latter were manipulating public opinion, the students laid siege to the publisher's offices. These events made a strong impression on the German collective conscience, and it's in this context that Farocki made this "agit-prop" film.

Their Newspapers

1968

No artwork available
7.0

Only the chosen few know this woman who started working as a secretary for the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) on 13 February, 1966. The path of Helen’s career is paved with famous names – including that of Wolfgang Petersen, Holger Meins (who later became a member of the Red Army Faction) as well as directors Wolfgang Becker, Detlev Buck and Christian Petzold. All have fond memories of forgetting their troubles after having poured their hearts out over a cup of coffee in Helene’s office – for Helene was both friend and advisor to countless film students.

Who is Helene Schwarz?

2005

Love Is the Beginning of All Terror poster
5.8

Story concerns two friends, Freya and Irmtraut and their relationships with the same man, Traugott, who finds it impossible to choose between the two women.

Love Is the Beginning of All Terror

1984

No artwork available
NR

Documentary about the situation of film students after graduation.

Filmstudenten - in die Praxis entlassen

1971

No artwork available
NR

Analysis of an incident in Nazi Germany involving a man and a jewish woman.

Anmass - Mass

1966

Behind the camera

The Germans and Their Men poster
9.0

A documentary with fictious elements. Ms. Elisabeth (Lieschen) Müller from Austria comes to Bonn, Germany to find herself a man. During the search she investigates the connections between neckties, political power and prostitution, and tries to look for the influence the german feminist movement had on the men in Germany's capital.

The Germans and Their Men

1990

The Germans and Their Men poster
9.0

A documentary with fictious elements. Ms. Elisabeth (Lieschen) Müller from Austria comes to Bonn, Germany to find herself a man. During the search she investigates the connections between neckties, political power and prostitution, and tries to look for the influence the german feminist movement had on the men in Germany's capital.

The Germans and Their Men

1990

The Germans and Their Men poster
9.0

A documentary with fictious elements. Ms. Elisabeth (Lieschen) Müller from Austria comes to Bonn, Germany to find herself a man. During the search she investigates the connections between neckties, political power and prostitution, and tries to look for the influence the german feminist movement had on the men in Germany's capital.

The Germans and Their Men

1990

Muttertier - Muttermensch poster
7.0

Lucy, who is already human-like, claims that the first humans were mothers: The mother built a nest to secure the child when it became too heavy to carry. This is how she invented the house. She penetrated the dense branches with her voice to maintain contact with the child. That's how she invented language. Today, Lucy shakes her head and asks: "How did you let yourself be dragged down like that?".

Muttertier - Muttermensch

1999

Muttertier - Muttermensch poster
7.0

Lucy, who is already human-like, claims that the first humans were mothers: The mother built a nest to secure the child when it became too heavy to carry. This is how she invented the house. She penetrated the dense branches with her voice to maintain contact with the child. That's how she invented language. Today, Lucy shakes her head and asks: "How did you let yourself be dragged down like that?".

Muttertier - Muttermensch

1999

Muttertier - Muttermensch poster
7.0

Lucy, who is already human-like, claims that the first humans were mothers: The mother built a nest to secure the child when it became too heavy to carry. This is how she invented the house. She penetrated the dense branches with her voice to maintain contact with the child. That's how she invented language. Today, Lucy shakes her head and asks: "How did you let yourself be dragged down like that?".

Muttertier - Muttermensch

1999

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Hannelore Mabry – Ein Porträt

2005

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Hannelore Mabry – Ein Porträt

2005

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Hannelore Mabry – Ein Porträt

2005

No artwork available
8.0

A woman from a big city moves to a small village near the former border zone between East and West Germany. What is she looking for? What will she encounter? Rural life in the era of globa­li­sa­tion turns into an adven­ture. History lives in objects, stories and customs here since it was first recorded 800 years ago. Wars and famines have left their traces, just as churches, poli­tical parties and various forms of govern­ment. The change of the times, struc­tured by tele­vi­sion, has almost obscu­rely changed the old rhythms of life; super­market offers changed eating habits and food stock economy. Is it folk­lore nost­algia or a matter of preser­ving one’s way and quality of life to keep the old customs and habits, such as preser­ving old types of plants and boiling down cucum­bers? The village - a mutual exch­ange of expe­ri­ences and garden products. The village is like an onion: it shows ever new surpri­sing layers and leads us deep into unwritten pasts.

Village

2001

No artwork available
8.0

A woman from a big city moves to a small village near the former border zone between East and West Germany. What is she looking for? What will she encounter? Rural life in the era of globa­li­sa­tion turns into an adven­ture. History lives in objects, stories and customs here since it was first recorded 800 years ago. Wars and famines have left their traces, just as churches, poli­tical parties and various forms of govern­ment. The change of the times, struc­tured by tele­vi­sion, has almost obscu­rely changed the old rhythms of life; super­market offers changed eating habits and food stock economy. Is it folk­lore nost­algia or a matter of preser­ving one’s way and quality of life to keep the old customs and habits, such as preser­ving old types of plants and boiling down cucum­bers? The village - a mutual exch­ange of expe­ri­ences and garden products. The village is like an onion: it shows ever new surpri­sing layers and leads us deep into unwritten pasts.

Village

2001

No artwork available
8.0

A woman from a big city moves to a small village near the former border zone between East and West Germany. What is she looking for? What will she encounter? Rural life in the era of globa­li­sa­tion turns into an adven­ture. History lives in objects, stories and customs here since it was first recorded 800 years ago. Wars and famines have left their traces, just as churches, poli­tical parties and various forms of govern­ment. The change of the times, struc­tured by tele­vi­sion, has almost obscu­rely changed the old rhythms of life; super­market offers changed eating habits and food stock economy. Is it folk­lore nost­algia or a matter of preser­ving one’s way and quality of life to keep the old customs and habits, such as preser­ving old types of plants and boiling down cucum­bers? The village - a mutual exch­ange of expe­ri­ences and garden products. The village is like an onion: it shows ever new surpri­sing layers and leads us deep into unwritten pasts.

Village

2001

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1 poster
4.4

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the first part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews multiple German women who were raped in Berlin by Soviet soldiers in May 1945. Most women never spoke of their experience to anyone, after 46 years of silence they talk for the first time publicly about their violent experiences that have left such a mark.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1

1992

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1 poster
4.4

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the first part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews multiple German women who were raped in Berlin by Soviet soldiers in May 1945. Most women never spoke of their experience to anyone, after 46 years of silence they talk for the first time publicly about their violent experiences that have left such a mark.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1

1992

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1 poster
4.4

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the first part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews multiple German women who were raped in Berlin by Soviet soldiers in May 1945. Most women never spoke of their experience to anyone, after 46 years of silence they talk for the first time publicly about their violent experiences that have left such a mark.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1

1992

Silvo poster
NR

Documentary showing the daily routine of Sander’s seven year old son, Silvo.

Silvo

1967

Silvo poster
NR

Documentary showing the daily routine of Sander’s seven year old son, Silvo.

Silvo

1967

Seven Women, Seven Sins poster
5.5

Seven Women, Seven Sins (1986) represents a quintessential moment in film history. The women filmmakers invited to direct for the seven sins were amongst the world's most renown: Helke Sander (Gluttony), Bette Gordon (Greed), Maxi Cohen (Anger), Chantal Akerman (Sloth), Valie Export (Lust), Laurence Gavron (Envy), and Ulrike Ottinger (Pride). Each filmmaker had the liberty of choosing a sin to interpret as they wished. The final film reflected this diversity, including traditional narrative fiction, experimental video, a musical, a radical documentary, and was delivered in multiple formats from 16, super 16, video and 35mm.

Seven Women, Seven Sins

1986

Seven Women, Seven Sins poster
5.5

Seven Women, Seven Sins (1986) represents a quintessential moment in film history. The women filmmakers invited to direct for the seven sins were amongst the world's most renown: Helke Sander (Gluttony), Bette Gordon (Greed), Maxi Cohen (Anger), Chantal Akerman (Sloth), Valie Export (Lust), Laurence Gavron (Envy), and Ulrike Ottinger (Pride). Each filmmaker had the liberty of choosing a sin to interpret as they wished. The final film reflected this diversity, including traditional narrative fiction, experimental video, a musical, a radical documentary, and was delivered in multiple formats from 16, super 16, video and 35mm.

Seven Women, Seven Sins

1986

Liberators Take Liberties, part 2 poster
NR

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the second part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews former Soviet soldiers, and children born from rape, splicing their statements with material from archives. While avoiding an emotional presentation of the subject matter to rule out revanchist interpretations.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 2

1992

Liberators Take Liberties, part 2 poster
NR

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the second part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews former Soviet soldiers, and children born from rape, splicing their statements with material from archives. While avoiding an emotional presentation of the subject matter to rule out revanchist interpretations.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 2

1992

Liberators Take Liberties, part 2 poster
NR

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the second part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews former Soviet soldiers, and children born from rape, splicing their statements with material from archives. While avoiding an emotional presentation of the subject matter to rule out revanchist interpretations.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 2

1992

Subjectivity poster
5.5

A concise blast of feminist film making, Sander's first film is a tense yet playful four minute short that dissects a typical urban scene at a bus stop on a busy street in Berlin.

Subjectivity

1967

Subjectivity poster
5.5

A concise blast of feminist film making, Sander's first film is a tense yet playful four minute short that dissects a typical urban scene at a bus stop on a busy street in Berlin.

Subjectivity

1967