Stasi, un État contre son peuple

Pif, Behind the gimmicks(fr)

Taking stock of the extraordinary adventure of "Pif Gadget", a French publishing phenomenon of the 1970s-80s and even of the whole history of children's press. For the comic-strip magazine with the iconic dog, created in 1969 by the French Communist Party, often reached a million copies. With editions available for all of Europe (including Germany, under the title Yps), and on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Fischzüge(de)

A ship from the GDR fishing fleet is on its way home. The work is done, the hold full of fish. Captain Nipmerow could be satisfied with that, but he has a completely different problem to deal with - a matter about which he also owes the shipping company a statement.

Night and Fog(fr)

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

Il fare politica(it)

Fabiana, Carlo, Claudio and Vincenzo… I met them in 1982 in Mercatale, their village in Tuscany, near Florence. They were aged between 25 and 45 and were cheerful militants in the Italian Communist Party, that strange party which has made its mark on history and which was both a school and a family for them. I have filmed in Mercatale every two or three years for over 20 years (1982/2004). The fi lm takes the “long view” of their political and personal development against the backdrop of village life. Stories with both human and political interest spanning over a quarter of a century with relevance for present day issues: what has become of the plans to change the world in Berlusconi’s Italy? From a more global perspective: what else can politics do? When the time comes to take stock the paths of their rich and varied personal lives cross once more with all their doubts and allegiances.

Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution(de)

The free, almost naive view from the perspective of a child puts the "68ers" in a new, illuminating light in the anniversary year 2008. The film is a provocative reckoning with the ideological upbringing that seemed so progressive and yet was suffocated by the children's desire to finally grow up. With an ironic eye and a feuilletonistic style, author Richard David Precht and Cologne documentary film director André Schäfer trace a childhood in the West German provinces - and place the major events of those years in completely different, smaller and very private contexts.

Paul Robeson: 20th Century Renaissance Man, Entertainer & Activist(en)

Paul Robeson was a celebrated African-American Actor, Athlete, Singer, Writer, and Civil Rights Activist. Robeson's many achievements are chronicled in this program, ranging from playing with the NFL to graduating from Columbia Law School, performing on Broadway and in Hollywood films to founding the American Crusade against Lynching as well as Council on African Affairs. Robeson was one of the most talented performers of his time and a dedicated humanitarian who ultimately sacrificed fame and fortune for what he believed in. His association with Leftist Politics during the era of the Cold War, and frequent denouncing of American political parties led to his eventual blacklisting with other prominent writers and artists during the McCarthy Era. His talents in all areas are remarkable, and his dedication to attaining a peaceful coexistence between all the people of the world is truly admirable.

Cycling the Frame(en)

In 1988, Tilda Swinton toured round the Berlin Wall on a bicycle - starting and ending at the Brandenburg Gate - accompanied by filmmaker Cynthia Beatt. As Swinton travels through fields and historic neighborhoods, past lakes and massive concrete apartment buildings, the Wall is a constant presence.

Pathway(zh)

Xu Xin’s film “Dao Lu” (China 2012) offers an exclusive “in camera” encounter with Zheng Yan, an 83 year-old veteran of the Chinese Red Army, who calmly relates how he has navigated his country’s turbulent history over three-quarters of a century.Born to a wealthy family in a foreign concession, Yan joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1941 because he sincerely believed in the socialist project, and in its immediate capacity to free China from the Japanese yoke and eradicate deep-rooted corruption.

Standard Operating Procedure(en)

Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Mario y los perros(es)

An account of the childhood and youth of the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010, and how the hard experiences he lived during these formative years led him to write and publish his first major work when he was only 26 years old.

Großes Kino made in DDR(de)

In 2016, DEFA celebrates its 70th anniversary: the film embarks on a journey into the exciting film history of the GDR. In a comprehensive kaleidoscope, the importance of DEFA productions is illuminated, the relevance of the films as propaganda productions for the GDR, which socio-political themes were in the foreground, but also which heroes DEFA brought to the screen and celebrated as people from the people.

The Open Secret(en)

A documentary that explores questions of secrecy and power in relation to the East German Secret Police (the 'Stasi') within East German society. The film is based upon key findings from an extensive research project, 'Knowing the Secret Police', and reflects upon how different kinds of knowledge were circulated through social, religious, political and literary networks within the former GDR. The filmmakers present this research with footage filmed at key locations throughout East Berlin and the wider surrounding landscape, including the Stasi archives and former HQ, Karl-Marx-Allee, Volkspark Friedrichshain, rural 'dacha' cabins, the urban neighbourhood of Prenzlauerberg and the social housing estates of Marzahn.

Auf der Oder(de)

Documentary reports on the annual icing of the Oder in the 160-kilometer border area between the GDR and the People's Republic of Poland. Icebreakers from both countries with experienced skippers join forces to make the international waterway between Frankfurt and Szczecin navigable again. Everyone works hard as a team and even a broken-down ship cannot stop them from achieving their goal. A look back at the winter of 1947 with its flooding shows what the freezing of the river and the subsequent thaw can do if the ice floes are not drained into the Baltic Sea via Lake Dammsch in good time. The skippers from both countries have known each other for years and trust each other; the camaraderie that has developed on the Oder unites the people, they control the river in winter for the common benefit of all.

The Look of Silence(en)

An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

Yugoslavia: How Ideology Moved Our Collective Body(sr)

A research-based essay film, but also a very personal perspective on the history of socialist Yugoslavia, its dramatic end, and its recent transformation into a few democratic nation states.

Gulag: infierno en las cárceles de Putin(es)

Anna Goldin, the Last Witch(de)

A native of Sennwald, Anna Göldi arrived in Glarus in 1765. For seventeen years, she worked as a maidservant for Johann Jakob Tschudi, a physician. Tschudi reported her for having put needles in the bread and milk of one of his daughters, apparently through supernatural means. Göldi at first escaped arrest, but the authorities of the Canton of Glarus advertised a reward for her capture in the Zürcher Zeitung on February 9, 1782. Göldi was arrested and under torture, admitted to entering in a pact with the Devil, who had appeared to her as a black dog. She withdrew her confession after the torture ended, but was sentenced on June 18, 1782 to execution by decapitation. The charges were officially of "poisoning" rather than witchcraft, even though the law at the time did not impose the death penalty for non-lethal poisoning.

Charlie Marx and the Chocolate Factory(en)

Charlie Marx and the Chocolate Factory started as an investigation of the link between politics and chocolate, at the Karl Marx Confectionary Factory in Kiev, Ukraine. Since access to the factory was denied, the project had to be re-considered, re-invented or re-enacted. Mostly made of archival footage and re-enacted performances based on the company's website, the film merges what was left of the initial idea with what has been collected and realized instead. It borrows from the genres of video art, 'Man on the street' interview, direct address, corporate film, essay, and music video, without legitimately belonging to any of them. The film unravels as a reflection on its own failure, and yet keeps on investigating what has always been at stake: the shift from public to private property (and from analog to digital technology), dialectics of permanence and change, language as a mirror of ideology, and post-Soviet oligarchy culture.

Alexej Čepička – Z vojína generálem(cs)

Castro: The World's Most Watched Man(es)

Fidel Castro employed a vast spy network that helped him remain in power.

Lise Meitner: The Mother of the Atom Bomb(de)

To historians, physicist Lise Meitner deserves to be placed on a par with Einstein, Heisenberg and Otto Hahn. In the 1930s on the verge of World War II, she led a small group of scientists who discovered that splitting the atomic nucleus of uranium releases enormous energy. This extraordinary film tells the story of a woman who was far ahead of her time as a scientist and a pioneer of feminism.

H. H. Holmes: Original Evil(en)

In the world of evil and deranged serial killers, there is no equal. Meet the Dark Lord of a murder castle who killed roughly 200 people in a self-made house of horrors who may have also been the notorious Jack the Ripper.

Every Man’s Woman(en)

A beautiful woman of affairs falls in love with a handsome young man of great promise. Fearing for his future, the man's father begs her to leave his son so that her reputation will not hold him back.

Power In The Machine(en)

After stealing 3 Gold Bars from a powerful convoy, 2 close brothers are forced to flee across the desert to escape a revenge fueled Armada.

Mummy Shark(en)

Deep within the hidden chambers of an ancient Egyptian pyramid, a shocking discovery is made: the mummified remains of an alien shark. Guarding this creature is a vengeful mystic who brings the beast back to life, unleashing it upon a group of unsuspecting researchers.

Melody of the Spring - New Zealand(en)

Spring in New Zealand is one of the most beautiful seasons in this country. A country with a pleasant climate and green and eye-catching areas hosts millions of tourists from all over the world every year in spring. New Zealand is a country in the southwest of the Pacific Ocean, which consists of two large islands and two small islands. New Zealand is far from the dry region, so the country of Australia is the closest country to this region, 2 thousand kilometers away from this country. The majority of the population of this country is made up of English and Irish immigrants. NB - This movie has no voice overs, and includes a second "natural surround sounds" soundtrack without the music.

Ghastly Brothers(nl)

Lilith meets the Ghastly brothers, a pair of strange ghost hunters, at boarding school. When the school falls prey to an infestation of ghosts, they go head-to-head against a horde of fearsome spirits and demonic apparitions in a supernatural battle to save the day.

Grand Canal(zh)

A Greek tragedy told in Chinese pop music. The tragic events of a boat captain trying to collect a debt to save his fleet of boats, as remembered by his ten year old son.

Box(en)

The execution was scheduled and the last meal consumed. The coolness of the poisons entering the blood system slowed the heart rate and sent him on the way to Judgement. He had paid for his crime with years on Death Row waiting for this moment and now he would pay for them again as the judgment continued..

Medea(nl)

Greek tragedy by Euripide moved to Dutch politics. Medea, the daughter of the chairman of the senate, falls madly in love with ambitious politician Jason. Together they plan a campaign to make Jason prime minister.

Festival of the Sacrifice(tr)

A family celebrating Eid al-Adha is terrorized by an assailant who has a very different idea of sacrifice.

Stairway to Heaven(et)

With his last breath Uu's friend entrusts him with the secret of how to go to the past. Uu is an engineer and doesn't believe in miracles, but the trick works. In the past there is a pleasant, eternal summer, long hair, girls and Jenkki chewing gum. In his real life, it is autumn, his friends are bitter, the girls are married and his father is seriously ill. At the end of the day, however, Uu has to decide in which time to live his life - in the summer of the past or in the autumn of the present.

The Secret Life of Snakes(en)

This documentary features some of Europe's most stunning species, like the European adder, the nose-horned viper, the dice snake, the ringed snake and the Aesculapian snake.

Morada das Ixtranhas(pt)

Morada das Ixtranhas is a documentary experiment that contains a story of the multi-artistic collective Casixtranha. Through closings, transArtivisms, performances and interviews we tell our story in Araraqueer - São Paulo.

Bodyguard Kiba(ja)

Naoto Kiba takes on the task of protecting thug Junpei who embezzled 500 million yen from Okinawa's largest gangster gangs, Soryu-kai.

A Deadly Business(en)

The movie, and true story, is about how Harold began working for the garbage industry in New Jersey only to find out that it was run by the Mafia. Having been in and out of jail most of his life, Harold feared more jail time and so went to the FBI. Harold went undercover to get as much illegal information that he could. The information he got helped put away dozens of Mafia men. Harold is currently in the witness protection program.

Kissing Drew(en)

Inside a drab middle school in 1992, a sexually-confused eighth-grader attempts to regain his dignity after being bullied by a sex-obsessed 'cool kid' whom he privately fantasizes about.

AWA: WrestleRock '86(en)

The AWA supercard was broadcast from the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on April 20, 1986. It was the AWA's final stadium show.

The Court Watchers(en)

The Court Watchers is a short film about the importance of court watching.