Fritz Marquardt

A wide-ranging, energetic period piece tracing the rise of the Protestant Henry of Navarre as he goes from battlefield warrior to France's beloved King Henri IV. Director Jo Baier's epic is a classically entertaining adventure, albeit one with more than a little bloodshed and frequent bawdy sexual interludes. In late 16th-century France, Catholics and Protestant Huguenots were at war. Seemingly seeking peace, the French dowager queen, Catherine de Medici summons Henry to her court to have him marry her daughter, uniting the two warring factions. However, the Catholics slaughter the Protestant wedding guests in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and Henry-now married-must use all his guile to both stay alive and maneuver for the throne. [Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival]

A renowned actor named Otto is the epitome of the problematic but beloved ladies man. Even when drunk he still knows more about filmmaking than does the amateur who is directing him in his latest movie. But what should the unreliable star do when a local actor joins the crew as his understudy? Comic situations arise not only because of the well-known environment, but also from an inclination to authentically capture the various relationships.

"Pictures from the late eighties in the GDR on up to the immediate present in the year 2008 in Germany. What has been left over besieges my mind. All these pictures keep reassembling themselves to make up something which they were originally not made for. They are still in motion. They are becoming history." (Thomas Heise)

Volker Koepp returns to the Brandenburg Marches, where many of his films were made. Uckermark describes the coexistence of the various eras using the stories and lives of the local people. They are farmers and returning noblemen, men and women hoping that short-term job-creation schemes will lead to meaningful work, a theatre director whom the Uckermark reminds of the past.

A village has to be destroyed for coal mining. Henning, a 15 years old boy, who wants to visit his grandfather one more time, realizes that nothing will be the way it used to be.

An American filmmaker travels to modern day Berlin to make a film based on a real-life incident from 1942 in which 13 Jewish prisoners from a concentration camp were promised freedom if they appeared in a German propaganda film. Unfortunately, the Germans lied. The psychological process undergone by the modern filmmaker while shooting the story provides the basis of this arty and challenging film.

Alfons lives with his grandparents on a Silesian village farm at the end of WWII. He adores his grandmother, who runs everything after her husband dies. But everything changes after the appearance of a traveling showman in the xenophobic village.

A story spanning three generations, from 1871 to 1945. When Gustav Wengler, a farmer’s son, returns from the Franco-German war in 1871, he goes to work for a precision mechanics and optical company, where he soon becomes a master craftsman. Wengler loyally promises the owner on his deathbed that his sons and grandsons will also stand by the company.

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.

A young boy fantasizes his way to school into a battle between cowboys and Indians, where the bad guys want to steal some gold medals. Real events and fantasy interacts in his mind.

The time is World War II and Juergen Siebusch (Thomas Stecher) and his mother (Gudrun Ritter) are retreating along with the German army, just ahead of the invading Russian forces. Both mother and son hole up in the town of Hohengoerse, where Juergen finds some work watching over sheep - and learns a bit about the facts of sheep life that he extrapolates to some advantage when he meets the appealing Amelie (Brit Guelland), daughter of the landowner. He first helps Amelie out and later applies his new-found knowledge in a barn, appropriately enough. As the Red Army draws near, Juergen deserts a hastily put-together "people's force," as he prefers the barn to the gun. Russian soldiers are shown sleeping and snoring next to their tanks, and the local fascist executed - the war is over. When the new Communist government sets up a land reform package, Amelie's mother's land gets divided up into small plots for small farmers.

East German television film.

In a backwater town, opera director Andrej Wischnewsky is supposed to put on a production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni".

Ralf Paeschke is a film student who has to make a documentary film about a group of women working in a lamp factory. There is brazen Susie, mischievous Kerstin, lonely Anita, single Ella, withdrawn Gertrud and the imposing forewoman. When Kerstin is suspected of stealing, tension among the women mounts. Ralf demands that things be clarified, and his film plays an unexpected role in the matter.

At the end of the 19th century, German archaeologist Professor Bohmann is searching for the remains of the legendary island Atlantis. But he is not the only one who is trailing the myth. His adversary, the British scientist Sir Grey claims to have already found Atlantis. In different masks and guises, he sets cunning traps to keep off his adversary from finding Atlantis.

Tambari - it's a name of an old boat which children of a small village on a Baltic sea shore got from an old fisherman Luden. But not all the village adults were ready to approve it...

Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Platow worked for the railways his entire working life. He took up service at the small station of Luege 34 years ago. Now, the line is to be electrified and Platow, who cannot cope with the new technology, has to work on a secondary local line. Georg, his son, a railway worker as well, is to attend a training course, but Georg refuses to go. Then his father comes to a surprising and highly unusual decision. He pretends to be Georg Platow, making himself twenty years younger than he really is and registers for the course.

Günter and Gudrun Piesold are very busy with their careers as a TV comedian and an actress, so Grandma takes care of household chores and childcare. But when Grandma remarries, the Piesolds are faced with chaos at home and a burning question: Who will take care of the household?

Susanne and Christian get to know each other during a wonderful week in summer - and fall in love. This, however, leads to conflicts: up to now, Susanne has been living with Wolfgang, a biologist. This shared life was harmonious and based on mutual trust. Wolfgang is not only resolute and in full command of social situations; he has also always been the stabilizing force in the relationship. This is precisely why Susanne now feels drawn to the unsettled, unsteady and frivolous Christian, the complete opposite of the calm, well-balanced Wolfgang. And Christian, working as a shift boss on a natural gas derrick, has become more aware of his personal and social responsibilities as a result of loving Susanne.

In 1920, Michael, the son of a German laboring man, decides to travel to Russia. As "red horseman" he wants to support the socialist revolution and fight for the welfare of the working class. The journey towards the east turns out to be both a big adventure and a severe ethical test for the young man. He has to escape the German Armed Forces and ends up at a traveling circus where he falls in love with Fanny, a dressage rider. He overcomes the temptation to stay with her at the circus and - after briefly joining a gang of teenage thieves - he eventually boards a ship heading east. Aboard the ship he finds out that the seamen are transporting weapons for the hostile members of the White Army.

This story of the miller Florian, who gave all his money to the war against Napoleon, is loosely based on a true story. After the war, Florian's reimbursement is challenged, and he must also pay taxes on his destroyed mill. He resists the tax collectors and takes off to Vienna, where he intends to defend his rights. On the way, he rescues the Duchess of Guastalla from assault. She also wants to go to Vienna, as His Majesty Franz II is trying to contest an heir in her favor. With cunning, luck, and dagger, Florian fights his way through a slew of nobility and their secret police.

In the latter half of the 19th century, gold is discovered in the Black Hills, sacred land of the Lakota people. Gold diggers, profiteers and adventurers flock to the region. Among them is the hard-hearted land speculator Bludgeon, who tries to expel the Lakota using brutal methods. Lakota warriors retaliate, and soon the gold diggers' town becomes a battlefield.

The 18-year-old Katharina Jens is a high diving champion and succeeds in everything she does. When she enters an international contest in place of her team colleague Claudia, expectations are accordingly high. However, when she misses the one-and-a-half somersault with a double twist her team fails to gain victory. Suddenly, the question arises if she is in fact good enough.