It’s the journey of her life: musician Petra travels all the way from Berlin to eastern Iran, via Anatolia, in search of the origins of her favorite string instrument: the. It’s the journey of her life: Petra Nachtmanova travels to both the end of the world and the centre of her heart. The Berlin musician heads off in search of the origins of a string instrument tangled in myths, which found its way to her in the streets of Berlin […]
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What happens within our system of values when economic interests and people’s lives become intertwined through tragedy? Why is the life of a firefighter who died in the Twin Towers on September 11 worth on average a million dollars less than that of a stockbroker who lost his life in the same disaster? How much money should BP pay the fishermen on the Gulf of Mexico who are fighting for their livelihoods after the largest oil spill in history? Questions […]
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Edward II ruled England in the early 14th century. He was the first king since the Norman Conquest of 1066 to be deposed. A portrait of a polarizing king and his unprecedented downfall. As historians and many of his contemporaries would agree, Edward II, who ruled England at the start of the 14th century, was not a good king. But it has to be said, they weren’t easy times either: from his father, Edward I, he inherited a bloody conflict […]
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Our world is defined by the failure of communism, the rise of market economics, and by the power of politicised religion. All of these forces came together in the dramatic year of 1979. The Islamic revolution in Iran under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland, the opening of China under Deng Xiaoping, Great Britain’s neoliberal shift under Margaret Thatcher and the invasion of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan – these are just some of […]
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From the perspective of his son Jiří Mucha, the film tells the story of Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), a pioneer of the Art Nouveau movement, who continues to influence artists all over the world today. At the end of the 19th century, Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) ranked among the pioneers of the Art Nouveau movement. Virtually overnight, he became famous in Paris thanks to his posters of star actress Sarah Bernhardt. But at the height of his fame, Mucha […]
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It’s impossible to stop and still difficult to forecast avalanches. We spend a winter season following scientists, snow profilers and trainers as they go about their work in the Alps. It doesn’t matter whether they’re snowshoeing or skiing, up to 100 people are killed by avalanches in Alpine countries every year. Stopping the rolling masses of snow is impossible and it’s still difficult, although not impossible, to forecast avalanches. At the world’s largest centre for avalanche research − the Institute […]
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On King George Island, the gateway to Antarctica, five different nations operate research stations located in the most extraordinary of environments. Only together can researchers survive such hostile conditions. King George Island on the edge of the coldest, loneliest continent on Earth. The island is the gateway to Antarctica. Located at its southwestern tip in an extraordinary landscape of rock and ice are research stations operated by five different nations: Chile, Russia, Uruguay, South Korea and China. Conflicting political views, […]
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Othmar Ammann, a Swiss-American structural engineer, designed more than half of the eleven bridges that connect New York City to the rest of the United States. We tell his adventure-filled story. The engineer Othmar Ammann left Switzerland in 1904 to redefine the art of bridge-building in America. He designed more than half of the eleven bridges that connect New York City to the rest of the United States. His constructions changed the face of New York forever. Beyond the life […]
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Linz in Austria was to become the cultural capital of the Nazis. Hitler spent years planning to transform the provincial town into a model city with the “Führermuseum” at its centre. An investigation into the city’s past. Linz, the rather sleepy city on the river Danube, was the city of Hitler’s youth, the city of his dreams. After the annexation of Austria in March 1938, he planned to transform the provincial town into a “national work of art”. He wanted […]
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On her quest to find out what motherhood means for herself, director Antonia Hungerland encounters all kinds of people, none of whom seem to correspond to our traditional notion of a mother. What is a ‘real mother? Motherhood is the most natural thing in the world. Or so it’s said. Yet the demands on women with children have rarely been as challenging and contradictory as they are in the Western world today. Hopes of happiness are often followed by discrimination, […]
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Of Polynesia’s once sacred sites, the stone temples or marae, all that is left today are ruins. We explore their secrets and significance for Polynesian culture. Polynesians once lived in harmony with the elements and the afterworld. Stones had a special religious significance in Polynesian culture. They were sculpted into representations of ancestral spirits to invoke protection, they were guardians of territories, windows to heaven and the stars. And they were used to build temples, or marae. Today, around 250 […]
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Once celebrated as a life saver, penicillin today is alarming researchers all over the world. A fascinating film about the history and current status of antibiotics. Ninety years ago, in the summer of 1928, Scottish doctor Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by accident. It took another two decades and a world war for him and others to succeed in producing the antibiotic in such large quantities that the epidemics of that time – typhus, syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis – could be […]
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At the Mosaik art studio in Berlin, artists with disabilities are absorbed in their work. Sabine Herpich observes the artists in the course of creation and directs her gaze at the institution itself: its processes, staff and spaces. The film succeeds in maintaining its focus on the art itself rather than the handicaps of its creators. It is around these works that the institution takes form, thus coming into view first and foremost as an institution for art, not one […]
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A poetic journey into the world of Carlotta, where faces remain faceless. Carlotta cannot recognize faces, not even her own. For her, human faces are no bastion of trust, but places of fear and confusion. She is one of the 1% of all people whose part of the brain responsible for facial recognition does not work properly. With his film LOST IN FACE, neuroscientist Valentin Riedl travels through Carlotta’s universe, full of anthropomorphic animals, lucid dreams and bumpy false paths. […]
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We accompany three world-class taxidermists as they prepare for the Taxidermy Championships. A fascinating interplay between life and death, human and environment, nature and artificiality. There is a widespread misconception that taxidermists are poachers who work in small, dark rooms surrounded by animal guts and bones, have a macabre fascination with death, and decorate their homes with large hunting trophies. We know little about this complex cultural technique and its masters, who work day in, day out at the crossroads […]
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From the perspective of his son Jiří Mucha, the film tells the story of Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), a pioneer of the Art Nouveau movement, who continues to influence artists all over the world today. At the end of the 19th century, Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) ranked among the pioneers of the Art Nouveau movement. Virtually overnight, he became famous in Paris thanks to his posters of star actress Sarah Bernhardt. But at the height of his fame, Mucha […]
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Pope Benedict XVI led the Catholic Church into its greatest crisis since the Reformation: the global child sex abuse scandal. We tell the story of his rise and fall which is symptomatic of the failings of the Church. We tell the story of a man who dedicated his life to preserving the Church but instead led it into its greatest crisis: Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. During his 30 years working within the Vatican he was the key figure in […]
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He was an icon, flamboyant pianist, egomaniac, showman par excellence: Liberace – the King of Bling – enjoyed an unparalleled career. The salon pianist turned megastar lived the American dream, but it was a life of unmatched paradox and eccentricity. He was an icon, flamboyant pianist, egomaniac, showman par excellence: Liberace – the King of Bling, led his life in the fast lanes between Hollywood, Las Vegas and Palm Springs. In the middle of the Californian desert, where Hollywood stars […]
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Rising seas will be one of the biggest challenges we face in the next few centuries. Island states will disappear, coastlines will shift. On the basis of scientists’ predictions, billions of dollars are being invested in coastal protection measures. But not everything can be protected. The polar ice caps are melting and water is on its way. If all the ice in Antarctica and Greenland melted, the seal level would rise by over 66 metres. Rising sea levels will be […]
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Julia is born in a Russian prison. The film follows the girl’s development from the first year of her life until after she turns six. Three women take it in turns to look after her. They all want the best for Julia, but they don’t always agree on what that actually means… Anna’s daughter Julia is born in a Russian prison. Anna is allowed to keep her daughter until she turns three, then she has to give up the […]
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In Iran, men can legally abuse, coerce, humiliate, rule over and speak on behalf of women. A group of Iranian women’s rights activists risk their lives in order to draw attention to the systematic violence to which women are exposed in their country. A group of women’s rights activists in Iran put their lives at risk in order to draw attention to the issue of domestic violence in their country. This author-driven documentary starts with the personal story of Mina, the […]
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It’s impossible to stop and still difficult to forecast avalanches. We spend a winter season following scientists, snow profilers and trainers as they go about their work in the Alps. It doesn’t matter whether they’re snowshoeing or skiing, up to 100 people are killed by avalanches in Alpine countries every year. Stopping the rolling masses of snow is impossible and it’s still difficult, although not impossible, to forecast avalanches. At the world’s largest centre for avalanche research − the Institute […]
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In 2004, German citizen Khaled El-Masri was kidnapped and detained by the CIA. The story of an innocent man who fell victim to geopolitical power interests. In 2004, while on a bus trip close to the Macedonian border, the German citizen Khaled El-Masri disappeared. He was kidnapped by the CIA and taken to a secret prison near Kabul as part of an “extraordinary rendition”. Five months later, he was released in a forest in Albania. His case was the […]
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Until recently, an elephant was killed in Africa every 15 minutes. Today, nature protection has risen to defend itself. Thanks to Western funding, military training, and cutting-edge high tech, rangers are cracking down on poachers. However, this aggressive militarisation has a dark side. An alarming view behind the scenes of Africa’s armed conservation efforts that Western aid has actively propelled. Today, many African national parks seem to finally have achieved, what nature conservationists around the world have been demanding for […]
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