Klaus Piontek

East-Berlin, 1961, shortly after the erection of the Wall. Konrad, Sophie and three of their friends plan a daring escape to Western Germany. The attempt is successful, except for Konrad, who remains behind. From then on, and for the next 28 years, Konrad and Sophie will attempt to meet again, in spite of the Iron Curtain. Konrad, who has become a reputed Astrophysicist, tries to take advantage of scientific congresses outside Eastern Germany to arrange encounters with Sophie. But in a country where the political police, the Stasi, monitors the moves of all suspicious people (such as Konrad's sister Barbara and her husband Harald), preserving one's privacy, ideals and self-respect becomes an exhausting fight, even as the Eastern block begins its long process of disintegration.

Eight year old Paul and his mother just moved to a skyscraper. After an embarrassing encounter with Anna, Paul meets her in the elevator. Anna makes fun of him and they start to quarrel. They can't arrange about going up or down. The elevator suddenly drops and carries them deep down into the realms of a wicked witch. The witch is out for their youth, since her own time is running out. Their only chance against her is for once to help together. They meet a blind horse, a clock without clock hand and a knight without courage helping them on their journey.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

A teacher at a German high-school in the nineteen thirties has issues with his students who seem to be getting less human and more convinced of Nazi ideals as time goes on.

From August 1989 to March 1990, Heiner Müller and the Deutsches Theater ensemble develop “Hamlet/Maschine” amid East Germany’s peaceful uprising. Actors help organize the November 4, 1989 Alexanderplatz demonstration. After the wall falls, artists split between a “third way” and reunification.

He could have had women, he could have climbed the ladder of his accountancy career, and he could have stood on the podium next to the highest in the land. If only he had wanted to! But Farssmann, shaken by divorce and unwilling to better himself, wants to remain what he is: an ordinary bookkeeper like you and me. And so the dollar deal with Mr. Osbar from Utah (USA) is not the first time he comes into conflict with the very palpable unreality of a country called the German Democratic Republic.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

Hans Paschke has been putting up with his wife for years. The charmer and womanizer Hans Paschke is good-looking and has perfect manners, but has nothing to do with work. But he knows how to skillfully bring his natural advantages 'to the woman'. His wife Marion tolerates his behavior until she catches him in flagrante delicto. The master goldsmith Elke encourages the now penniless Hans to enter into a marriage of convenience with the widowed doctor Marianne in exchange for a valuable family heirloom.

Six episodes taking place the night the Berlin Wall came down.

No synopsis available yet.

The evil and powerful King Magus brutally subjugates the people of his kingdom. Anyone who does not want to submit is turned into an animal and locked in a cage. Magus kidnaps the girl Hanna, whom he wants to marry. But Hanna refuses, and her lover, the shepherd Elias, goes to the castle to free her. He learns from Magus' servant Pravos that a mirror gives the king magic power and immortality and that he can only be defeated by water from the Moon Lake. Elijah sets out on his journey to the Moon Lake. Will he withstand the dangers and finally achieve victory over the king? Wrid he be able to free Hanna and the whole kingdom?

Little Sabine has spent her childhood in an orphanage after her parents died in a car accident. When one of the women in charge at the orphanage, Edith, leaves to have a baby, Sabine runs away, because Edith was the only adult there she could trust. She then wanders through the city to find someone to take her in. She meets a lot of people on her journey, but she seems out of place everywhere she goes until, at last, she realizes that there is a special place where she belongs.

Faustus wants to invent a fire that is stronger than all previous flames. Then death approaches him. In order to prolong his life, he makes a pact with Mephistopheles. When he has found the fire, he burns the contract and is ready to die. Death shows him life in the form of Margaret, with whom Faust falls in love. In order to regain his youth, he sells the flame to Mephisto. Faust enjoys the idyll of love while the Black Knight, Mephisto's servant, subdues the land with fire. When Faust refuses to enter the service of evil, his wife, child and home are destroyed by the flame. Faust makes another pact with Mephisto and invents a fire that blows up knights and devils. This time, Death orders him to discover the fire of life.

A young boy fantasizes his way to school into a battle between cowboys and Indians, where the bad guys want to steal some gold medals. Real events and fantasy interacts in his mind.

The nurses and friends Anna and Annette grow desperate over men and love. At the hospital, Anna has fallen in love with Markus, whom she lovingly calls "moose", but they only meet twice a year, when Markus has time for her. In the meantime, she keeps afloat with flights of fancy. Meanwhile, Annette clings to the painter Ludwig who cannot stand such a close relationship. Through Annette and Ludwig, Anna meets an attractive married man but her high spirits do not last long.

Ralf Paeschke is a film student who has to make a documentary film about a group of women working in a lamp factory. There is brazen Susie, mischievous Kerstin, lonely Anita, single Ella, withdrawn Gertrud and the imposing forewoman. When Kerstin is suspected of stealing, tension among the women mounts. Ralf demands that things be clarified, and his film plays an unexpected role in the matter.

A documentary about German director Konrad Wolf (1925–1982).

In November 1831, the 51-year-old Prussian Major General Carl von Clausewitz burns the first chapters of his autobiography, which he had begun to write at the insistence of his wife Marie. Shocked by the sudden death of his friend Gneisenau, he is forced to realize that at his friend's deathbed he has finally said goodbye to the hopes and plans that had once determined his life and that of his friends...

Berlin in the 1930s - Adolf Hitler comes to power, communists and social democrats are persecuted, books are burned and Jewish citizens are ostracized. The outwardly shiny façade of Berlin, the capital of the Reich, reveals nothing of the unequal struggle of young people against the increasing oppression...

Between 1817 and 1821, Berlin's court theater director Count Brühl has been fighting desperately for years for a German theater, for German opera. He knows that the man who could do it lives in Dresden: Carl Maria von Weber. Brühl could win him over as Kapellmeister for Berlin, but the king prefers Gasparo...

Turbine Potsdam was one of the GDR's most successful women's soccer teams, thanks to the hard work and dedication of the players and the strict coaching of Bernd Schröder. This documentary includes interviews with the team and footage of their practices and competitions.

Johann Friedrich GutsMuths (1759-1839) was an educator and co-founder of gymnastics. He developed an entire system of gymnastic exercises for young people and summarized it in the book "Gymnastics for Young People" as a kind of instruction book. At a time when sporting activity was frowned upon, he had at least one hour of gymnastics a day at the Salzmannsche Erziehungsanstalt in Schnepfenthal (Thuringia). GutsMuth's work as the founder of the Volkssport movement is brought to life through contemporary testimonies, pictures and quotes.

The young sailor Felix Striebel goes on vacation to a village and visits the fresh grave of "Mother Magda".

Hedda Gabler, the spoiled daughter of a general, marries the staid scholar Tesman in the hope that he will develop into an important personality. But Hedda is an eccentric woman and her expectations of life are insatiable. She has no sympathy for her husband's work and quickly becomes bored in her petty bourgeois circumstances. Then Ejlert Lövberg, a colleague of her husband's, returns to the city he left because of his dissolute lifestyle. They have known each other since those days, but Hedda feared a scandal if she had returned his passionate love. Ejlert is rehabilitated thanks to Thea, the woman at his side. But Hedda's love for him reawakens and, driven by her nature to determine the fate of other people, she drives Ejlert to disaster.

1831. A village schoolteacher Matthias Spitzbart dreams of the ideal school and writes a textbook on the perfect educational institution. When he becomes principal of a grammar school by chance, he puts his ideas into practice. His almost missionary-like zeal blossoms in wondrous ways, but his family idyll is deceptive. Entangled in his activities, Spitzbart fails to see his wife's affair with pro-rector Mehlmann, daughter Friederike flirts with the trainee teacher, and son Michael's misdeeds are enough to make a mockery of his efforts at exemplary behavior. Teachers, parents and the mayor are of the opinion that he has upset everything that worked before: he is dismissed...

Switzerland 1523. The mercenary Hansli Gyr returns with his soldiers from Italy to his home in the Oberland. They have fought for the Pope and now find a religious upheaval in Switzerland.

The young and rebellious Werther is passionately, but hopelessly, in love with Lotte. Although he knows that she is married to somebody who can offer her a secure future, Werther tries to be near her. Lotte cannot decide between these two men. She eventually rejects Werther, who does not survive her decision.

A mother left her daughter a spindle, needle and weaver's shuttle next to their tiny cottage. With these tools, the girl creates the most beautiful objects. Her diligence and modesty are ultimately rewarded – they bring a royal suitor to her door.

In 1914 Berlin, bank heiress Leonore Wahl and struggling Munich student Werner Bertin fall passionately in love, defying class and her parents’ expectations. Their idyll is shattered by the outbreak of WWI: Werner, swept up in patriotic fervor, is conscripted to the Western Front, while Leonore, pregnant and abandoned, faces her family’s condemnation and a clandestine abortion. Set against the tumult of war, the film explores idealism, social divides, and the personal costs of duty and desire.

East German film about the history of Red Orchestra, a real life German pro-Soviet spy ring created after the rise of Hitler that turned into a resistance movement led by a leftist Nazi officer, Harro Schulze-Boysen, and Arvid Harnack.

The beginning of the occupation. A closed mental world for the sick. Dr. Kauters values ​​only methods of resolution, Dr. Rygier is a believer in strong authority, Dr. Marglewski considers psychic property a form of haunting, Dr. Nosilewska left Austria after the Nazi occupation. The writer Sekułowski seeks shelter. The young, newly arrived doctor, Stefan, refuses to remain passive in the face of the situation and events...

Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Platow worked for the railways his entire working life. He took up service at the small station of Luege 34 years ago. Now, the line is to be electrified and Platow, who cannot cope with the new technology, has to work on a secondary local line. Georg, his son, a railway worker as well, is to attend a training course, but Georg refuses to go. Then his father comes to a surprising and highly unusual decision. He pretends to be Georg Platow, making himself twenty years younger than he really is and registers for the course.

A village in the Republic celebrated its traditional clover festival in the summer of 1976. In the form of a political feuilleton, the film conveys to the viewer the new attitude to life of the people in the countryside.

Before going to bed, Jana plays a lullaby on her violin for the little star. In the girl's imagination, the star dances happily and falls from the sky. The star has to be back in its place before sunrise otherwise it will become blind. Jana is not able to help with the star's return. The birds are also not successful. However, a cosmonaut brings the star home.

Dr. Grunert, electronics specialist from the GDR, gets a visit from an old acquaintance from war times. Both worked back then on navy torpedoes. His former colleague wants to poach Grunert – to Schenectady, the headquarters of the largest American electronics company. With alleged war crimes, he tries to blackmail Grunert, but quickly it becomes clear where the true criminals are sitting: In influential positions of the American industry. Grunert underestimates the scrupulousness of his opponent and invites him to a remotely located country home to clarify things. The Ministry for State Security is already on the trail of the matter and saves the engineer from a dangerous solo action.

A farmer and his wife had a girl in addition to their seven sons. An evil old woman turned the boys into ravens because she had not been invited to the christening. When the girl turned seven, she learned of the sad fate of her brothers and set out to redeem them. Her journey to the end of the world, to the sun, moon and stars, was adventurous and full of danger. But the girl persevered, found her brothers in the glass mountain, was able to rescue them and return with them to her parents' house.

Who doesn't know the dream of an unexpected million-dollar inheritance? For microbiologist Dr. Wolf, it seems to come true when an American lawyer visits him to tell him about the death of his distant uncle in the USA. Wolf is to receive an inheritance worth millions, but on one condition: He must continue to run his uncle's factory in the USA. The natural scientist is also offered the prospect of a research position at Camp Detrick. But after the memorable visit, Wolf discovers a listening device in his apartment. When he informs the People's Police, more and more inconsistencies come to light.

Although mocked by his collegaues, the dean of Salamanca sets off to find the legendary bird Turlipan.

For her husband, who has become famous as an actor, Angelika is the go-to girl. For years, she stands in his shadow. The only things they do together are premiere parties and receptions. Angelika, who is becoming increasingly frustrated, finally wants a satisfying occupation with which she can gain recognition. But this is where the problems really begin for the couple.

The armouring soldier and writer Werner Bertin is ordered to the Western Front to France during the First World War. The use before Verdun - with all the horrors of war in the period 1916/1917 - brings a fundamental change of consciousness for the academic from Berlin. The intellectual devoted to bravery by fate develops into a disappointed but rebellious being. He sees more and more the injustices of warlike conflicts and their social causes.

Adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novella for East German television, produced in 1965/66, not shown until 1972.

No synopsis available yet.

A master thief returns home. There he is threatened with the gallows if he fails to solve the tasks set by the count. So he has to steal the count's personal horse, the bed sheet and the wedding ring as well as the priest and the sexton.

In the spring of 1969, a young man from a small town arrives at the partner company in Berlin, where he falls in love with red-haired Rita. A love story about "everyday heroes," in which director Egon Günther continues his idiosyncratic formal experiments with actress Jutta Hoffmann, which he began in "Junge Frau von 1914" (Young Woman of 1914).

East German stop-motion animation version of the famous fairy tale, notable for its Beast appearing as an elephant.

Farmer Wurzel is unhappy because his work is not bringing him the prosperity he had hoped for. Nor can he expect his daughter to marry rich, unfortunately she loves the poor fishmonger Kaspar. In order to make a lot of money, the farmer would even get involved with the devil...

Animated short film based on the Andersen tale. A king envies his son for the carefree way he spends his days and wants to find him a wife. She must not only be beautiful, but also particularly sensitive, which she must prove with the pea test in bed. The first, a hard-working peasant girl, is sent home immediately, the second leaves of her own accord because she finds the prince too boring, the third passes the test and marries the prince. Now he becomes king, and the old man retires to feed swans from now on.

A depiction of class conflicts in Germany between 1918 and 1945. The Spartacist Erwin is shot by officers in 1918, and his pregant working-class bride Marie begins a new relationship with social democrat Geschke. Erwin's son Hans grows up to be a communist like his father, leading to bitter hatred between him and his Nazi step-brother, while Geschke becomes increasingly resigned to the political situation in Germany. The three aristocratic officers who shot Erwin many years ago meet again during the Kapp Putsch, but their support for the Third Reich eventually leads each to their deaths.

Dr. Barbara Heim, a heart surgeon, and Gunter Heim, a well-known actor, have been married for seven years. They have a six-year-old daughter. Both partners are totally taken up by their work which is physically and mentally demanding. So there is little time left for family life and the strained relations worsen and finally plunge Barbara into a crisis - shortly before their seventh wedding anniversary. At this very point a child dies in hospital, prompting Barbara to ask herself in desperation if - and for how long she can put up with the double burden of career and family. On top of this, she notices that Gunter is starting to compare her to other women.

The 18-year-old Katharina Jens is a high diving champion and succeeds in everything she does. When she enters an international contest in place of her team colleague Claudia, expectations are accordingly high. However, when she misses the one-and-a-half somersault with a double twist her team fails to gain victory. Suddenly, the question arises if she is in fact good enough.

Kasper Mai, an export merchant and comrade with a “clean” record, discovers he is the prince of Hohenlohe-Liebenstein. His royal grandmother designates him as the heir to her estate. A private trip to her reveals that she does not want a NATO airbase built on her land. The GDR and his grandmother thus find a common interest, and a clever lawyer from the East works against other family members looking to settle their debts with the estate money.

A fairy-tale about a beautiful but very haughty princess Anna who cruelly mocks each of her suitors. Finally she is forced by the king to marry a beggar. The poor life, hard work and love teach the princess a lesson and turn her into a loving and kind person.

Russian soldier Grisha escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp in the spring of 1917. He is caught and is to be shot as a spy. This decision is controversial. The dispute continues. Grisha is executed on the orders of the army high command.

Two doctors, a German and a Czech brain surgeon, meet in a Berlin hospital, unaware of how fatefully they are linked by events from a dark past. A trip to a congress in Prague and an encounter with the wife of his Czech colleague force the German chief surgeon to rethink his previous life. The film deals with the explosive topic of the extent and causes of complicity in the crimes of National Socialism.

No synopsis available yet.

A cinema-verité documentary of Ghana’s five years of independence under President Kwame Nkruma. Striking color images of Africans in modern-day jobs, such as airline pilot and construction worker, predominate, with little voice-over.

No synopsis available yet.

Düse, a clever tinkerer, has built himself a toy rocket. Due to the clumsiness of his friend Moppel, an uncontrolled launch is triggered and the rocket flies away. As it is nowhere to be found, the children and the tractor driver Hans suspect it is on its way to the moon.