Theater Work - The Berliner Ensemble at 25(1975)

Yearning for Sodom(en)

Made during the last months of actor Kurt Raab, who died of AIDS in 1988. Raab, who had worked in both theatre and film, most notably with Fassbinder, was in the process of making a series of video sketches for a new production when he learned that he had AIDS. Despite his deteriorating health, and with the caring support of his friend Hans Hirshmuller, he carried on working. This tape is his last testimony. Awarded with the Adolf Grimme Award and Cinéma du Réel Award

NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage(en)

Kevin Spacey, Sam Mendes and the Bridge Project Company go on the road in NOW: in the Wings on a World Stage. In over 200 performances, and across 3 continents, Kevin and the troupe reveal some of the most intimate moments behind the scenes of their staging of Shakespeare's classic tragedy, "Richard III." Their story and experiences weave around, and reflect on, excerpts from the play from their various locations, from Epidaurus to Doha, and provides a great opportunity for those who have never experienced Spacey on stage to witness his immerse and captivating interpretation of Richard III. NOW chronicles the first collaboration between Spacey and Mendes since both won Academy Awards® for their work on American Beauty.

Motel(en)

Documentary looking at the culture of three motels and their owners who remain untouched by homogenization and corporatism, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Florence, Arizona; and the semi-ghost town of Death Valley Junction, California. Everyone has an unusual story to tell.

Derren Brown: Infamous(en)

Multi award-winning psychological illusionist Derren Brown returns in the recording of his acclaimed live show ‘Infamous’. Featuring Derren at his baffling best with the excitement of a live theatre audience, Infamous includes amazing, provocative, jaw dropping demonstrations of his incredible skills of magic, suggestion, showmanship and misdirection in a must-watch roller coaster of emotions.

100 Years of the UFA(de)

The intricate history of UFA, a film production company founded in 1917 that has survived the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime, the Adenauer era and the many and tumultuous events of contemporary Germany, and has always been the epicenter of the German film industry.

Every Good Story Is a Love Story(sl)

A film about a theatre performance and four very notable people behind it: writer and director D. Jovanović, actress M. Zupančič and actors R. Polič and B. Cavazza. This is a story of a love triangle and of a multi-layered, entirely overt intertwining of protagonists’ public artistic personas and their personal lives. The film documents a 4-month process of the making of a theatre piece from the first rehearsal to the opening night, at the same time uncovering the intimate lives of the artists and telling a universal story of the relationship between the real and the imagined, a story of personal and public perceptions of art.

The Unpredictable Factor(de)

In today's climate debate, there is only one factor that cannot be calculated in climate models - humans. How can we nevertheless understand our role in the climate system and manage the crisis? Climate change is a complex global problem. Increasingly extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and more difficult living conditions - including for us humans - are already the order of the day. Global society has never faced such a complex challenge. For young people in particular, the frightening climate scenarios will be a reality in the future. For the global south, it is already today. To overcome this crisis, different perspectives are needed. "THE UNPREDICTABLE FACTOR" goes back to the origins of the German environmental movement, accompanies today's activists in the Rhineland in their fight against the coal industry and gives a voice to scientists from climate research, ethnology and psychology.

Music Palace(en)

Previously a central part of communal life, the movie palaces of New York’s Chinatown are now extinct. This documentary short takes us inside the title theater located on the Bowery, as it’s about to close its doors, with its caretakers ruefully looking back at the life that once was. Eric Lin’s poignant first film serves as a glimpse into the usually private—and, according to the Music Palace’s projectionist, “lonely”—operations of a theater, and mourns the loss of a once-vital movie-going locale.

Màscares(es)

A Farra do Circo(pt)

This documentary highlights the evolution of Brazil's Circo Voador venue from homespun artists' performance space to national cultural institution.

Trip to Asia: The Quest for Harmony(de)

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across Asia: Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. Their artistic triumph onstage belies a dynamic and dramatic life backstage. The orchestra is a closed society that observes its own laws and traditions, and in the words of one of its musicians is, “an island, a democratic microcosm – almost without precedent in the music world - whose social structure and cohesion is not only founded on a common love for music but also informed by competition, compulsion and the pressure to perform to a high pitch of excellence... .” Never before has the Berlin Philharmonic allowed such intimate and exclusive access into its private world.

The Case of Bruno Lüdke(de)

The incredible story of Bruno Lüdke (1908-44), the alleged worst mass murderer in German criminal history; or actually, a story of forged files and fake news that takes place during the darkest years of the Third Reich, when the principles of criminal justice, subjected to the yoke of a totalitarian system that is beginning to collapse, mean absolutely nothing.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City(de)

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

Prinzessinnenbad(de)

A film about three teenagers - Klara, Mina and Tanutscha - from the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. The trio have known each other since Kindergarten and have plenty in common. The three 15-year-olds are the best of friends; they are spending the summer at Prinzenbad, a large open-air swimming pool at the heart of the district where they live. They're feeling pretty grown up, and are convinced they've now left their childhood behind.

Queens Don’t Cry(de)

Bosom buddies BeV StroganoV, Ovo Maltine, Ichgola Androgyn and Tima die Göttliche are four Berlin drag queens who met in the mid 1980s. These four queens became Germany’s most popular drag performers and have been busy fertilizing the German cultural scene. Besides being performers, they are also political activists – in AIDS awareness, anti-gay violence, the sex workers movement and the struggle against the extreme right and racism. The film tells their story.

Comrade Couture(de)

This film undertakes a journey into the amazing parallel universe of East Berlin’s fashion designers and experts in the art of survival. For, in the midst of the constraints of life in the GDR, there existed a fantasy world where it was possible to dance to another tune, be individual and even provocative. The most important characteristic of this bohemian scene was one’s per- sonal style. But this certainly wasn’t something that could be bought off the peg in the GDR. In this parallel universe it was up to you to create your own individual image – with your own hands. This film tells the story of the desires, the passion and the dreams that were tried and tested, lived and performed in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.

Francois Simon the Presence(en)

The work of legendary actor François Simon, son of Michel Simon.

Patrice Chéreau, Pascal Greggory, une autre solitude(fr)

A look at the entire process of creating and developing Patrice Chéreau’s third staging of "In the Solitude of Cotton Fields" by Bernard Marie Koltès with Pascal Greggory and Chéreau himself. From the first reading around the table through the first contact with the performance space, rehearsals and lighting to opening night, the entire creative process unfurls in front of our eyes. The film shows us the evolving and ongoing dialogue between Greggory and Chéreau, a dialogue full of crises and magical moments of harmony and insight via which the truth, intensity, complexity, mystery and depth of Koltès’ text gradually emerge to form an implicit bond between these two men. The film also shows Chéreau directing rehearsals for Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" in Salzburg, revealing both the unity of and profound differences between his opera and theater work.

Repetitioner(sv)

The theatre 7:3 project was conducted at the Tidaholm prison 1998-1999. What started as an artistic experiment, ended up in police killings at Malexander. The process in the prison were filmed during 6 months.

Curtain Call(en)

Fifty years ago, aspiring thespians Terry and Carole Ann Gill arrived in Australia from England seeking fame and fortune. But they never quite made the big time. Instead they stumbled into the curious world of children's pantomimes. Over the decades, they have built a successful business and touched the lives of generations of children; but their own dreams have slowly faded. Now aged in their 70s, with their beloved theatre under threat from a greedy property developer, Terry and Carole Ann's careers appear to be coming to an untimely close. As they battle to remain open, they are forced to reflect on the choices they have made in their lives.