Utopia in Babelsberg - Science Fiction aus der DDR(2021)

Großes Kino made in DDR(de)

We Might As Well Be Dead(de)

The high-rise building block near the forest is famous for its carefully curated community. As a dog disappears and her daughter refuses to leave the bathroom, security officer Anna faces an absurd battle against the fear, that slowly spreads among the residents and shakes the utopia with a view.

Avatar: Creating the World of Pandora(en)

The Making-of James Cameron's Avatar. It shows interesting parts of the work on the set.

way(en)

San Francisco filmmaker Konrad Steiner took 12 years to complete a montage cycle set to the late Leslie Scalapino’s most celebrated poem, way—a sprawling book-length odyssey of shardlike urban impressions, fraught with obliquely felt social and sexual tensions. Six stylistically distinctive films for each section of way, using sources ranging from Kodachrome footage of sun-kissed S.F. street scenes to internet clips of the Iraq war to a fragmented Fred Astaire dance number.

A(ja)

Roughly chronological, from 3/96 to 11/96, with a coda in spring of 1997: inside compounds of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist sect led by Shoko Asahara. (Members confessed to a murderous sarin attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995.) We see what they eat, where they sleep, and how they respond to media scrutiny, on-going trials, the shrinking of their fortunes, and the criticism of society. Central focus is placed on Hiroshi Araki, a young man who finds himself elevated to chief spokesman for Aum after its leaders are arrested. Araki faces extreme hostility from the Japanese public, who find it hard to believe that most followers of the cult had no idea of the attacks and even harder to understand why these followers remain devoted to the religion, if not the violence.

Hello(en)

Hello explores changes in two people’s working lives: a Mexican trash picker who separates and collects recyclable materials from landfills to sell by the kilo, and a German freelance computer-animation designer working for the advertising industry in Berlin. The double interview is controlled and manipulated by a computer-generated severed hand which Maria describes as an object once discovered in the trash while working in the violent northern town of Mexicali. This CGI hand was in turn produced by Max, who was born with no arms, and sought refuge in computer-imaging as a means to operate and manipulate a digital reality.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mt. Natagumo Arc(ja)

A recap of Kimetsu no Yaiba episodes 15–21, with new footage and special end credits. Tanjiro, now a registered Demon Slayer, teams up with fellow slayers Zenitsu and Inosuke to investigate missing person cases on the mountain Natagumo. After the group is split up during a fight with possessed swordfighters, they slowly begin to realize the entire mountain is being controlled by a family of Demon spider creatures.

Hello(en)

In a digital world, can analogue find true love? It is the wise old gramaphone who has the answers for a lovesick loner.

Hello(en)

Extraterrestrials contact earth in this delightful fable. Their message is "HELLO" in many languages, and there is a celebration.

The President's Wife(fr)

When she arrived at the Elysée Palace, Bernadette Chirac expected to finally get the place she deserved, she who had always worked in the shadow of her husband to make him president. Put aside because she was considered too old-fashioned, Bernadette decided to take her revenge by becoming a major media figure.

Dune(hu)

Sounds as witnesses. They blurr into memories, half-dreams, it is undecided if they are real or not. A fluctuation between imagination and reality.

Hall(en)

When a hotel hallway is ravaged by a dreadful airborne virus, pregnant Japanese runaway wife Naomi is tragically thrust into the fight of her life. After getting infected, she is forced to crawl her way through other helpless victims to escape. In the room next door to her is Val, a mother trapped in a toxic marriage, who must also navigate her way out of the hotel corridor through the long and narrow stretch of isolated carnage, desperately looking for her young daughter Kelly. Will these two women avoid the debilitating sickness and get out alive?

Hello(en)

The film tells the story of three best friends named Ako, Aki and Awang, who are well-known in their village for their mischievous and humourous pranks. The trio work for Pak Man. One day, they are assigned to pick up his daughter Misha, who has just returned from overseas and dreams of becoming a doctor. The trio have been in love with her for a long time but she does not pay them any heed. When Misha is robbed by a snatch thief one day, she is rescued by a doctor named Shafiq. Her face reminds the doctor of his late wife, and he begins to pursue her, which annoys the trio.

Avatar: Scene Deconstruction(en)

The deconstruction of the Avatar scenes and sets

Hello(ta)

Chandru's friends make fun of him as he does not have a girlfriend. He points out at a girl claiming that she is his girlfriend, due to which a number of unfortunate events take place in her life.

Robert Schimmel: Life Since Then(en)

The comedian and best selling author of "Cancer on $5 a Day...How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life," has plenty to say on everything from raising a 17 year old daughter, bargaining with the Almighty, and how not to make friends with a dolphin.

Capturing Avatar(en)

Capturing Avatar is a feature length behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Avatar. It uses footage from the film's development, as well as stock footage from as far back as the production of Titanic in 1995. Also included are numerous interviews with cast, artists, and other crew members. The documentary was released as a bonus feature on the extended collector's edition of Avatar.

My Avatar and Me(da)

is a creative documentary-fiction film and a film that might expand your sense of reality. It is the story about a man who enters the virtual world Second Life to pursue his personal dreams and ambitions. His journey into cyberspace becomes a magic learning experience, which gradually opens the gates to a much larger reality.

V/H/S/94(en)

After the discovery of a mysterious VHS tape, a brutish police SWAT team launches a high-intensity raid on a remote warehouse, only to discover a sinister cult compound whose collection of pre-recorded material uncovers a nightmarish conspiracy.

R-Rated Idol Seung-ha's Sex Scandal(ko)

When they were young, Min-joo and Seo-yeon cared for each other and were closer than brothers and sisters. However, she accidentally learns about Seo-yeon's tutor, Woo-hyeon, and because of this man, their 10-year friendship starts to become shaky. Meanwhile, Jeong-soo is hurt in seeing Min-joo like that, and so he distanced himself from Min-joo. Because of Min-joo and Seo-yeon's misunderstanding, Jeong-soo who couldn't care much might just leave so Min-joo tries to break up with the help of Seo-yeon. While in the process of breaking up, Min-joo and Seo-yeon went back to their close relationship. The love of women who have been separated because of man, and the two men's friendship is comically drawn.

The Goat's Intensity(de)

Absurd attempts to produce an amateur film about an amateur film company. The awards ceremony for the film takes place in a town cinema: 1st Prize for the leading lady: a goat.

Balthus: Tia's Radiance(ja)

The inhabitants of the peaceful village Le-jeute are lured to the factory city with the promise of pleasure. A small group of workers prepare to revolt against the evil factory owner, Morlock. The worker Eud escapes, ending up in the arms of the beautiful Tia. When Morlock captures them both, Eud is thrown in the dungeon, and Tia is subjected to Morlock's sexual appetite.

The Girl in the Lift(de)

Frank, a tenth grade student, falls in love with his classmate Regine. His father is a well-connected plant manager in the GDR; Regine's mother is a single parent with four children. Regine wants to become a kindergarten teacher, but her grades are poor and she is not allowed to apply for technical college. Frank champions her and seeks an open discussion about these rigid regulations. But his criticism is nipped in the bud.

Robot Wars(en)

In a dystopian near future, a corporate heist goes wrong and the team members struggle to survive a desperate escape through the apocalyptic sprawl with their stolen prize, a weapon of unspeakable power. As they navigate the urban wasteland, they must contend with barbaric gangs, corporate death squads and the terrifying truth about the weapon they have stolen.

Minna von Barnhelm oder Das Soldatenglück(de)

This film takes place during the Seven Years' War. The Prussian Major von Tellheim has become engaged to the Saxon noblewoman Minna von Barnhelm. After the war, the King - in an unwarranted move - deprives the major of his honor. Von Tellheim becomes impoverished and, filled with shame, breaks off his relationship to Minna. An innkeeper in Berlin, who is a police informer, makes the Major move to a shabby little attic because he cannot pay his debt. In the meantime, Minna has also arrived at the inn. She and her lady's maid Franziska are questioned and spied on by the nosy innkeeper. Minna has followed her beloved Tellheim and she now cunningly manages to elicit a new declaration of love from him...

Uncario(en)

In a future where the last humans have taken refuge in a cold, sterile Moon colony, A-153 is being driven mad by vivid dreams of a beautiful green world. While planning his escape, he picks up a distress signal from Earth. Hellbent on making contact, soon he will discover the horrifying truth about his fantasy world and the person who called for help.

Eine Pyramide für mich(de)

Ich liebe dich - April! April!(de)

The law student Caroline and the assistant professor Tom are husband and wife, but they keep their marriage a secret. While Caroline is afraid of annoying her mother Hella who ever since her divorce twenty years ago distrusts men in general, Tom dreads the criticism of his professor, a family law specialist who objects to the concept of marriage. By chance, Caroline gets hold of some juicy information: Her mother and the professor used to be a couple and she is their child. With almost missionary zeal she addresses herself to the task of convincing the two grown-ups to get back together. In the process, however, she steers both her academic studies and her own marriage into a crisis.

The Physicist(en)

A young physicist reveals his invention to his mentor, whose fatal betrayal of trust is merely the precursor of the inventions immense power.

Wolz – Life and Transfiguration of a German Anarchist(de)

Soldier Ignaz Wolz returns from WWI with an immeasurable hatred of capitalist war profiteers. He decides to start his own revolution, but tries to stay away from the organized class struggle. He steals from the rich men and divides the wealth among the poor. One day, Wolz is arrested and sentenced to life in prison; seven years later he is released due to mass protests. More than ever, it is hard for him to fit in. He severs ties with his former companions, who reject his ideas, and leaves Germany.

White Wolves(de)

Farsighted Falcon, chief of the Lakota, seeks refuge in the Black Hills with his wife Blue Hair and two warriors, sole survivors of their tribe. When they are attacked by the outlaw Bashan, Falcon strikes out for the town of Tanglewood to take on Bashan's boss, mining magnate Harrington.

1-2-3 Corona(de)

Post-war Germany 1945: Two rival gangs of uprooted boys fight each other in the ruins of Berlin, whose business is the black market out of necessity in order to survive. Their respective leaders are Gerhard and Dietrich. A pretty young circus artist named Corona comes to the destroyed city with a traveling circus. She immediately caught the boys' attention. When the latter notice that the circus director is abusing the girl, the two gangs join forces and plot an act of revenge against the tyrant. But with the hustle and bustle caused by this, Corona falls from the trapeze and is seriously injured. When the circus moves on, the boys organize a doctor for the sick artist who has been left behind. Their collectively concern for the blonde beauty makes them forget their enmity. This welds the troops closer together and sets the course for a common, meaningful future.

Nurture of the Beast(en)

In his final moments, a troubled scientist seeks to make amends with his family.

Splice(en)

Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named "Dren", the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators - only to have that bond turn deadly.

Island of Swans(de)

Fourteen-year-old Stefan Kolbe, along with his mother and sister, moves from an idyllic small town to the developing area of Berlin-Marzahn, where his father works as a construction worker. Stefan must find his way in a completely new environment and surrounded by strange people. Stefan gets to know two girls, who attempt to seduce him, and gets himself into trouble with the landlord, who kisses up to societal authority figures. He becomes friends with the anxious Hubert, defends him against the constant humiliation of the older student Windjacke, and encourages him to stand up for himself. It ends tragically in a bitter fight between Stefan and Windjacke.

Exploring the Brandenburg Marche(de)

On a forest road in the Brandenburg March, village teacher Potsch accidentally encounters the distinguished Professor Menzel, who got stuck there in his car. In the conversation that ensues, Menzel and Pötsch quickly discover that they both are great admirers of the early 19th-century writer Max von Schwedenow who was born in the area.

Future Ex-Girlfriend(en)

Phil's girlfriend returns from the future where a lot has changed.

Congo(en)

Eight people embark on an expedition into the Congo, a mysterious expanse of unexplored Africa where human greed and the laws of nature have gone berserk. When the thrill-seekers -- some with ulterior motives -- stumble across a race of killer apes.

Andy Kempler and His Case Of Fear and Boredom(en)

A lone astronaut must pull through his feelings of internal terror and weariness to accomplish an objective for an critical mission.

Seized(en)

April Douglas is trying to make her way in the world, but it's not proving easy. She struggles to break into the field of photojournalism, despite the disapproval of her father. When she discovers a strange object at the edge of a police investigation site, April is convinced this could be her big break. But is she in way over her head? This 1980s throwback started as a way to practice filmmaking while the creators were in quarantine during the Covid-19 lockdown. The project grew in ambition as it unfolded, despite the challenges inherent in being stuck at home.