Musste Weimar scheitern?(2019)

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.

The Haunted Screen: German Film After World War I(en)

In this film essay, critic Peter Buchka explores the German cinema of the 1920s, ranging from the disquieting images of Fritz Lang's Metropolis to the castrating sexuality of Marlene Dietrich in Die Blaue Engel. The program provides an introduction to Weimar cinema, with Buchka's essay narrated over the images from film clips of 1920s era German films.

From Caligari to Hitler(de)

Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1919, when the Republic of Weimar is born, to 1933, when the Nazis come into power. (Followed by Hitler's Hollywood, 2017.)

Hitler: A Career(de)

A keen chronicle of the unlikely rise to power of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and a dissection of the Third Reich (1933-1945), but also an analysis of mass psychology and how the desperate crowd can be deceived and shepherded to the slaughterhouse.

Double Headed Eagle: Hitler's Rise to Power 1918-1933(en)

Presents a unique and disturbing look at the rise of the Nazi party. The documentary, directed by Lutz Becker, attempts to remain as objective as possible, serving as a neutral observer of the years 1918 through 1933 in Germany. Via newsreel footage and clips of features from the era, the film offers a kaleidoscopic view of the many elements that fueled the rise of the Socialist Nationalist Party, including post-WWI poverty. Hitler occupies a central place in the documentary.

Dawn of the Nazis(en)

How Germany was when its people entered the nightmare of World War II? Despair and fear lead a hungry population to follow the chilling call of just one man to world domination. A real-life horror story, an ominous tale of violence and deception, which takes place from 1919 to 1934. (Entirely made up of restored, colorized archival footage.)

Caligari: When Horror Came to Cinema(de)

On February 26, 1920, Robert Wiene's world-famous film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin. To this day, it is considered a manifesto of German expressionism; a legend of cinema and a key work to understand the nature of the Weimar Republic and the constant political turmoil in which a divided society lived after the end of the First World War.

Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?(de)

Kuhle Wampe takes place in early-1930s Berlin. The film begins with a montage of newspaper headlines describing steadily-rising unemployment figures. This is followed by scenes of a young man looking for work in the city and the family discussing the unpaid back rent. The young man, brother of the protagonist Anni, removes his wristwatch and throws himself from a window out of despair. Shortly thereafter his family is evicted from their apartment. Now homeless, the family moves into a garden colony of sorts with the name “Kuhle Wampe.”

The Film Narrator(de)

Germany in the Thirties. A movie teller realizes that his profession is not longer needed. Silent movies are not produced any longer. Telling stories is the only thing the man was ever good in, so he does not know what to do now. As political circumstances are changing dramatically these days in Germany, he gets new hope that things will again be going better for him...

Despair(en)

Berlin, 1930, during the rise of Nazism. Hermann Hermann, a Russian emigrant and chocolate manufacturer, married to the capricious Lydia, loses his temper more and more every day when dealing with his workers and other businessmen; until he meets Felix, a vagrant, who seems to be physically identical to him; a disconcerting fact that leads Hermann Hermann to plot a particular way out of a fake world he actually hates.

Nacht über Berlin(de)

Berlin, 1932. The Weimar Republic is torn apart in the struggle between right- and left-wing extremists and Berlin is a powder keg. Nightclub singer Henny Dalgow get to know the Social Democratic congressman and Jewish doctor Albert Goldman, and the two become a slightly odd couple. Albert is a sworn pacifist after his experiences in the First World War. Contrary to his beliefs he agrees to act as courier for his brother Edwin, who belongs to a radical communist cell.

Die Fürstin Woronzoff(de)

Drachensaat(de)

Miguelito - Canto a Borinquen(en)

In 1973, eleven year old Miguelito was discovered singing in the San Juan airport by the legendary New York record producer Harvey Averne. Within the year, he went from the slums of Manuel A Perez, to recording an album with some of the finest salsa musicians of the time to finally performing with Eddie Palmieri at Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people. Throughout Latin America his songs ‘Payaso’ and ‘Canto a Borinquen’ had become cult hits. And then he simply disappeared...

All Access: Hans Zimmer Live(en)

A documentary about Hans Zimmer's tour in 2017.

Slovenian by Choice(sl)

A documentary about the life choices of seven men and one woman who left their home countries and moved to Yugoslavia at the time of the non-aligned movement. In Slovenia, they started new lives, had families and made careers. Coming from different cultures, there are two traits they share: determination and persistence. In their personal accounts, they speak of their experience and share their memories of the time since their arrival.

Six Short Films of Les Blank (1960-1985)(en)

Anthology of six short films, including: Dizzy Gillespie Chicken Real Cigarette Blues God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance Running Around Like A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off The Sun’s Gonna Shine

The Therapy(ru)

Twelve St. Petersburg teenagers who were convicted of crimes of varying severity receive a pardon, and they replace the real terms with conditional ones with the obligation to live in a social rehabilitation center.

Abschied vom Garten(en)

The early retired Gert spends the last summer in his garden, a place that has become a real home for him. The garden will be demolished to create a shopping center on its grounds. The only thing Gert can do is remember memories of happy times he spent with his family in the garden.

Children of the Narco Zone(en)

This short film speaks to how hard it is to teach in a violent atmosphere. Teachers have to adapt to union conditions, educational reforms, low wages, distances and isolation, and the great challenge in instilling in their students a moral code, in communities where this concept is fractured. How do you tell a child that his father or his brother’s actions destroy a society’s social fabric, when they think it’s normal to follow that moral code?