HISTORY

  • THE SECRET RELATIONS BETWEEN THE GDR AND SWEDEN

    THE SECRET RELATIONS BETWEEN THE GDR AND SWEDEN

    What was Sweden’s relationship with East Germany? Few people would suspect that close ties existed between the two countries, but they maintained intensive diplomatic relations. This is a film about astonishing collaborations, royal friendships, poignant love stories and unknown destinies after the Iron Curtain divided the world into East and West.

  • PETRA KELLY – ACT NOW!

    PETRA KELLY – ACT NOW!

    Petra Kelly was one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. She fought for a world without weapons and nuclear energy, for a society at one with nature. She was co-founder of Germany’s Green Party – the first green party to find success. In 1992, She was murdered aged just 44. The issues she addressed are today more topical than ever before.

  • KANT – THE EXPERIMENT OF FREEDOM

    KANT – THE EXPERIMENT OF FREEDOM

    Immanuel Kant was already an important philosopher during his lifetime. Three hundred years after his birth, the film shows for the first time Kant’s close connection to his native Königs-berg, a place he never left. Everything he knew came from books or everyday observations. Using sophisticated animation techniques, the film takes us back to 18th-century Königsberg between Europe and the Russian Empire.

  • JEW SUESS 2.0

    JEW SUESS 2.0

    Anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, driven to new extremes by the COVID crisis. This film documents the visual roots of this new anti-Semitism, taking a historical look at the visual propaganda of the Nazis.

  • THE TREASURES OF THE PHARAOHS – EBERS PAPYRUS

    THE TREASURES OF THE PHARAOHS – EBERS PAPYRUS

    The film tells of the discovery of the world’s oldest medical manual. Georg Ebers, a German Egyptologist, came upon the 3,500-year-old work in Luxor in the late nineteenth century and carried it back with him to Saxony in a spectacular manner.

  • HANS HASS – PIONEER OF THE DEEP

    HANS HASS – PIONEER OF THE DEEP

    Marine biologist Hans Hass was one of the inventors of underwater photography in the 1940s. His spectacular photos introduced the underwater world to a wide audience for the first time. How did this young Austrian start a groundbreaking career as a diver, film-maker and zoologist – despite all the adversities of the World War II?

  • NOTO – A GARDEN OF STONE

    NOTO – A GARDEN OF STONE

    In 1693, a huge earthquake destroyed the city of Noto in south-eastern Sicily. The decades that followed saw the emergence on a new site of a unique Baroque city influenced by styles from all over Europe. Five citizens of Noto introduce us to the city’s artistic and cultural treasures and take us to the origins of the “barocco siciliano”.

  • TRAINED TO SEE – THREE WOMEN AND THE WAR

    TRAINED TO SEE – THREE WOMEN AND THE WAR

    In 1944, for the first time in history, the Americans give female journalists press credentials to cover the Normandy invasion. On their way along the frontlines of WWII, Martha Gellhorn, Margret Bourke-White and Lee Miller add a female subtext to war reporting which forever changes our perception of war as the “father of all things”.

  • LOCKED UP AND FORGOTTEN – PSYCHIATRIC CARE IN EAST GERMANY

    LOCKED UP AND FORGOTTEN – PSYCHIATRIC CARE IN EAST GERMANY

    The film looks at the traumatic experiences of patients in East German psychiatric care. It sheds light on often inhumane conditions in psychiatric institutions and on dubious forms of therapy. The documentary is a powerful portrayal of the struggle to reform “soul work under socialism”.

  • UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE – TREASURES FOR ETERNITY

    UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE – TREASURES FOR ETERNITY

    UNESCO is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its World Heritage Convention. The Convention’s mission is to preserve the world’s most beautiful and valuable buildings, cultural landscapes, monuments and areas of natural beauty for future generations. We introduce four World Heritage Sites in Europe: Arles, Aachen Cathedral, Tallinn and the Amalfi Coast.

  • THE CARS WE DROVE INTO CAPITALISM

    THE CARS WE DROVE INTO CAPITALISM

    Fond memories, true love and bizarre anecdotes combined with unique archive footage make this film a fascinating study of socialist car culture past and present. What did it mean to own a motor car in the East? Classic car enthusiasts from all over Europe tell fascinating stories about their “dearest companion”.

  • American pianist and entertainer Liberace (born Wladziu Valentino Liberace, 1919 - 1987) performs onstage at Radio City Music Hall, New York, New York, April 18, 1984. (Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)

    LOOK ME OVER – LIBERACE

    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.