New Releases

  • 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.

  • POL POT DANCING

    POL POT DANCING

    Chea Samy, a celebrated dancer at the Cambodian Royal Palace, raises a boy as her own at her home on the palace grounds. Years later, as a forced labourer under the Khmer Rouge, she realises her foster son is Pol Pot. The film tells the almost unknown story of the history and reign of Pol Pot and its connection to classical Cambodian dance.

  • CODE OF FEAR

    CODE OF FEAR

    In 2013, the young journalist Eric Lembembe was tortured and beaten to death in Cameroon. He fought for the recognition of the rights of homosexuals. Shocked by the brutal murder, the film-maker returns to his home country. While he examines his own homophobic upbringing, the film reveals that Lembembe’s murder as no isolated case.

  • JOHNNY & ME – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME WITH JOHN HEARTFIELD

    JOHNNY & ME – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME WITH JOHN HEARTFIELD

    Graphic artist Stefanie is in the middle of a creativity crisis. In a museum, she is captivated by the satirical photomontages of the world-famous artist and Nazi opponent John Heartfield. Miraculously, she finds herself in his studio. She embarks on an adventurous journey through Heartfield’s extraordinary life 100 years ago.

  • LONELY OAKS

    LONELY OAKS

    Hambach Forest in Germany was supposed to be cleared to expand an open-cast lignite mine. In 2018, during a large-scale police operation to evict activists occupying the forest, film student Steffen Meyn was killed in a tragic accident. Based on his film footage, we chronicle Steffen’s journey and follow him into the activists’ world.

  • 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 BEE DILEMMA – PROFIT OR SPECIES PROTECTION

    THE BEE DILEMMA – PROFIT OR SPECIES PROTECTION

    A few years ago, everyone was talking about declining bee populations, but today beekeeping is booming. There are now so many farmed bees in Swiss cities that they are taking away food from rare wild bees and other insects. This is a problem for biodiversity. Conservationists are now campaigning for the regulation of beekeeping.

  • 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.

  • NILA’S DREAM IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

    NILA’S DREAM IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

    Six-year-old Nila is the product of a temporary marriage, which allows a man in Iran to be married to a woman for a pre-determined time. Children born out of these relationships do not legally exist and cannot attend school. In a system that prioritises men’s rights over women’s, Nila’s mother Leyla fights relentlessly to win custody of her daughter and secure her future.

  • CRYPTOCURRENCIES – THE FUTURE OF MONEY?

    CRYPTOCURRENCIES – THE FUTURE OF MONEY?

    Cryptocurrencies have a polarising effect – they are considered either a dangerous bubble or the future of money. But what are the risks and benefits? This documentary shows the current shift that is taking place in the global financial architecture and introduces the profiteers and victims, supporters and critics of digital currencies.

  • 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?

  • YES WE CAN – CONTEMPORARY BLACK ART

    YES WE CAN – CONTEMPORARY BLACK ART

    Michelle and Barack Obama are the first Black presidential couple to be represented at the National Gallery, and for the first time ever, Black artists were commissioned to do the portraits. The Obamas have paved the way for a new generation of artists. How do these artists understand their work and how do they regard their success?