Catweazle 2021

Otto Waalkes plays a magician who strayed into the present from the 11th century and who absolutely wants to return to his time.

Too Hard to Handle 2016

It's no surprise when Karo is fired. She is loud, over-emotional and egocentric, more so than the average Berliner wise-ass, says her best friend Anna. Karo is not one to give up easily, though: she opts for radical change and goes into therapy. Although her therapist advises her to keep calm, Karo throws herself into it.

The Book Thief 2013

While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.

Men in the City 2009

Follows six very different men and their struggles with women, family and work. Yet, they are somehow connected to each other.

The Trixxer 2004

A mysterious serial killer is shocking the underworld. Scotland Yard is investigating the case. Clues lead the detectives to Blackwhite Castle.

Aimée & Jaguar 1999

In 1943, while the Allies are bombing Berlin and the Gestapo is purging the capital of Jews, a dangerous love affair blossoms between two women – one a Jewish member of the underground, the other an exemplar of Nazi motherhood.

Albert Einstein 1990

Two part movie about Einstein's escape from Germany in 1932 and his influence in the invention of the nuclear bomb in 1939.

Biology! 1990

A small town shortly before the end of the GDR: 15-year-old Ulla lives with her mother in a dilapidated old building where not even the electricity works properly. Economy of scarcity and national bankruptcy are visible everywhere. Only higher party comrades live in the lap of luxury. When Ulla meets Winfried after a summer bathing trip, the two fall in love. Winfried is the son of an influential general director and owns things from West Germany that others only dream of: a computer, a games console, a walkman. On an excursion with her biology class, the high school student discovers that a dacha is being built in the middle of the nature reserve and the creek has been dammed. Winfried's father turns out to be the culprit, but the mayor is on his side. Ulla rebels against this environmental destruction connected to political corruption and organizes a protest. Her activism not only endangers her own future, but also her first great love.

Iron Hans 1988

In a king's kingdom there is a forest so dangerous that every man who goes into it is never heard from again. Iron Hans, who is responsible for the deaths, is found at the bottom of a lake and locked up in the king's palace

Fallada: The Last Chapter 1988

This biographical film is set in 1937, with Fallada suffering the effects of living under a microscope. The film details his decline, as he is intermittently imprisoned and threatened in order to motivate him to write for the Fatherland. Even the attention of his kind, patient wife and loving children begin to feel oppressive to him. This is one of the few films to take a serious, in-depth look at the tribulations of a creative artist pulled in all different directions by the real world.

Die erste Reihe 1987

Sabine Kleist, Aged Seven 1982

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.

The Fat Tilla 1982

Two girls experience dislike at first sight because of their differences. Then they sort things out.

The Flight 1977

When Dr. Schmith's proposal for international research on infant mortality is rejected, he decides to leave East Germany and strikes a deal with an escape agency that promises him a leading position at a children's hospital in West Germany. But then the decision is reversed: the project is approved and his international colleagues want Dr. Schmith to head the GDR section. Moreover, he falls in love with his new colleague, Katharina. Schmith initially tries to ignore the arrangements he made with the escape agency, but they blackmail him. Things soon turn deadly...

Carnations in Aspic 1976

A commercial artist with a lisp chooses silence, unexpectedly propelling his career. His perceived innovation leads to rapid advancement in an ad agency. Mueller-Stahl shines in this biting critique of East German workplace culture.

The Blue Light 1976

Hans the farmer is drawn into war as a soldier. Returning from the front, having been defrauded of his pay by his own king, he makes his way home. On his trip, he encounters a witch who asks him to fetch the light from a spring. He keeps it when the witch tries to deceive him and he discovers her foul magic. When the light is ignited, a little man appears who must serve the owner of the light, but it only has power if the owner has faith in himself. His courage bolstered, Hans goes to the king once more to demand his wages be paid.

Bankett für Achilles 1975

For thirty years, Karl Achilles has been working at the chemical collective in Bitterfeld. But now his last day as a master at the plant has come. He is about to retire; even if Karl, who finds ending his working life difficult, wanted to stay on, it would not be possible. Karl’s colleagues have arranged a farewell dinner for the retiring master at an outdoor restaurant. But on his last day of work, before the farewell dinner, he meets all sorts of people: both colleagues and people, who do not work at the plant. A mosaic of the biography of a person who found fulfilment in his work and now has to look for the meaning of his life anew.

Ikarus 1975

Eight-year-old Matthias dreams that he will someday become a pilot and his divorced parents will get back together. He waits yearningly for his ninth birthday because his father has told him the story of Icarus, and promised to take him on a sightseeing flight. When Matthias' father doesn't come home, he is devastated. He runs throughout the city, talks to his friend about the relationships of adults, looks for his father at his desk, and gets himself into conflict with the police. As he sits alone on the roof of a house, he comes to the conclusion that Icarus didn't plummet to the earth because he didn't listen to his father, but rather because his father had forgotten him.

Despite It All! 1972

October 1918: Karl Liebknecht is released from prison and Berlin workers celebrate his release. Although WWI is almost over, the German Kaiserreich in vain sends its last reserves to the slaughter. The working class is in a rebellious mood; the uprising of Kiel’s sailors against war and militarism sets off a call for revolution led by Liebknecht. On November 9, Liebknecht declares the Free Socialist Republic of Germany. But pro-Kaiser military and right wing Social Democrats oppose him.

Farewell 1968

In August of 1914, amidst the public ecstasy surrounding the impending war, Hans Gastl, the young son of a Munich bürger, makes a decision: he will not take part in this war. This resolution signifies a turning point in his life; a farewell to his class and his family.