A film produced in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was the GDR’s first cinematic homage to the Baroque composer. It frames Bach as a humanistic artist befitting East Germany’s canon of cultural heritage.
Ten-year-old Toni is a little scatterbrained, so his parents warn him to take extra good care of his little sister Rita on their first solo train trip to their grandmother in Bamsdorf. But of course Toni doesn't pay attention and gets off at the wrong station, leaving Rita behind in the train.
This historical drama is set in Spain at the time of Philipp II. When soldiers are stationed in the village of Zalamea, Captain Don Alvaro takes up quarters in the house of Pedro Crespo, a wealthy and respected farmer, but while staying there, he rapes Isabel, Crespo's daughter.
This historical satire, based on Heinrich Mann’s world-famous novel, Der Untertan, is ranked by film critics among the 100 Most Significant German Films of all time.
This playlist includes three short documentaries that are relevant for understanding director Slatan Dudow’s Weimar-era film classic Kuhle Wampe, or Who Owns the World? (1932).
How the Berliner Worker Lives
A new world full of excitement and temptation opens up for 18-year-old Erika (Doris Abeßer) when her father flees from Krüselin, a small village in Brandenburg, to West Berlin, taking his daughter with him.
Berlin, early 1930s. Lissy (Sonja Sutter), a young woman raised in a socialist working-class family, marries a clerk who promises her a better life. During the depression, however, he gets fired and can’t find a new job.
A mother tells her demanding little boy a story to make him fall asleep. Little Havelman is bored, and so he rides with his bed through the quiet, snowy city while everyone else is sleeping. His only companion is the moon. He keeps riding into the sky and knocks the stars and moon out of place.
Sonya, an art student, loves the med student Dieter. And Siegi, a factory worker, loves the bricklayer Eddie. At a lavish Carnival party at East Berlin’s art school an unintentional exchange of partners begins.
Early 18th-century Krakow: The poor student Simon works as a travelling musician in order to finance his studies, and the Polish freedom fighter Jan is on the run from Saxon troops.