Christian Berger

The stories of Jewish cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who survived Auschwitz, and of star conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who worked with the Nazis, provide insight. The film centers around two people who represent musical culture during the Third Reich - albeit in very different ways. Wilhelm Furtwängler was a star conductor; Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the cellist of the infamous Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. Both shared a love for the classical German music.

A well-to-do French family living in Calais deal with a series of setbacks and crises while paying little attention to the grim conditions in the refugee camps within a few miles of their home.

When the ambitious Philip takes over the running of the family business from his father, he finds himself confronted by the mysterious reappearance of his dead ancestors. In the course of a long night, during which there is a murder, an illicit love affair and a game with false identities, Philip uncovers a closely guarded family secret.

Set in France during the mid-1970s, Vanessa, a former dancer, and her husband Roland, an American writer, travel the country together. They seem to be growing apart, but when they linger in one quiet, seaside town they begin to draw close to some of its more vibrant inhabitants, such as a local bar/café-keeper and a hotel owner.

He's known as "Tyrol's Zappa" and a "real anarchist." Whether folk music, jazz or what's known as serious music, Werner "Preisegott" Pirchner has in a creative way greatly expanded upon the limited acoustic range of his homeland, enriching it with some unfamiliar sounds from around the globe. Whoever comes into contact with him, such as Josef Hader and Tobias Moretti, can sense the power of his music, lets it carry them away, and embraces it wholeheartedly.

In a village on the Hungarian border, two young brothers grow up during war time with their cruel grandmother and must learn every trick of evil to survive in the absurd world of adults.

A dramatic retelling of the life of Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, one of the most fascinating monarchs of modern times. From his accession to the throne at the age of 18 to his passionate support of Richard Wagner and his music. From his ingenuous political commitment to his obsessive construction of extravagant palaces and to his gradual withdrawal into a lonely dream world, an epic narrative of breathtaking grandeur.

Schumann at Pier2 is not a usual concert film, it shows the 4 Symphonies of Schumann from a new perspective. Stars of the film are the conductor Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and it´s filmed at „Pier2“, a former dockyard in the harbour of Bremen. Symphony No. 1, Spring, Op. 38 Symphony No. 2, Op. 61 Symphony No. 3 Rhenish, Op. 97 Symphony No. 4, Op. 120

A woman inexplicably finds herself cut off from all human contact when an invisible, unyielding wall suddenly surrounds the countryside. Accompanied by her loyal dog Lynx, she becomes immersed in a world untouched by civilization and ruled by the laws of nature.

Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.

A political drama centered around Israel's pullout from the occupied Gaza strip, in which a French woman of Israeli origin comes to the Gaza Strip to find her long ago abandoned daughter.

A married couple is terrorized by a series of videotapes planted on their front porch.

Joël is jealous and violent. After one crisis too many, Nicole, his young wife, returns to live with her parents with their three-year-old son. Joël hangs on, begs, threatens. One day, he kidnaps the little boy.

A policeman lunching with his daughter is present when a dead body washes up on shore. He investigates, leading him down a twisted and muddled path of nefarious connections reflecting, somewhat, his own life.

Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.

After the war in Croatia. Everyday life and the way things were during this civil war. A war which was started by the Others, a war no one wanted an which is not really over, although the fighting has stopped. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the birth of a new nation is the backdrop in front of which people live their lives.

After the war in Croatia. Everyday life and the way things were during this civil war. A war which was started by the Others, a war no one wanted an which is not really over, although the fighting has stopped. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the birth of a new nation is the backdrop in front of which people live their lives.

After the war in Croatia. Everyday life and the way things were during this civil war. A war which was started by the Others, a war no one wanted an which is not really over, although the fighting has stopped. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the birth of a new nation is the backdrop in front of which people live their lives.

After the war in Croatia. Everyday life and the way things were during this civil war. A war which was started by the Others, a war no one wanted an which is not really over, although the fighting has stopped. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the birth of a new nation is the backdrop in front of which people live their lives.

Jan, a freelance journalist, and Sabine, the mother of his two children and a textile designer, have no money. Sabine is abandoned by her husband and then gets caught up in the bureaucracy. A sober psychogram of a woman who is fighting and hoping for her life and everyday life.

71 scenes revolving around multiple Viennese residents who are by chance involved with a senseless gun slaughter on Christmas Eve.

Images and sounds of Anpass in Tyrol, shot between 1970 and 1973.

Images and sounds of Anpass in Tyrol, shot between 1970 and 1973.

Images and sounds of Anpass in Tyrol, shot between 1970 and 1973.

Images and sounds of Anpass in Tyrol, shot between 1970 and 1973.

Images and sounds of Anpass in Tyrol, shot between 1970 and 1973.

Georg works up at the highway. He collects the toll from the tourists; he collects the toll from the truck drivers. All of Europe has to go by him. Below, in the shadow of the mighty bridge, Georg lives with his parents in an old farmhouse with its empty stall. Georg makes a career for himself. And then, he falls in love with a young farm woman. He must decide between love and his job.

Georg works up at the highway. He collects the toll from the tourists; he collects the toll from the truck drivers. All of Europe has to go by him. Below, in the shadow of the mighty bridge, Georg lives with his parents in an old farmhouse with its empty stall. Georg makes a career for himself. And then, he falls in love with a young farm woman. He must decide between love and his job.

Georg works up at the highway. He collects the toll from the tourists; he collects the toll from the truck drivers. All of Europe has to go by him. Below, in the shadow of the mighty bridge, Georg lives with his parents in an old farmhouse with its empty stall. Georg makes a career for himself. And then, he falls in love with a young farm woman. He must decide between love and his job.

Georg works up at the highway. He collects the toll from the tourists; he collects the toll from the truck drivers. All of Europe has to go by him. Below, in the shadow of the mighty bridge, Georg lives with his parents in an old farmhouse with its empty stall. Georg makes a career for himself. And then, he falls in love with a young farm woman. He must decide between love and his job.

Performance conceived by Erich Wonder & Heiner Müller for the 300th anniversary of the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna. The band, Einstürzende Neubauten, is located on a glass palace/stage on wheels (accompanied by the slavish trotting of huskies) which is slowly moving on the nightly ring road of Vienna.

A 14-year-old video enthusiast obsessed with violent films decides to make one of his own and show it to his parents, with tragic results.

Andreas, who is ten, has been brought up by his grandmother. When she dies, he removes a putto from the crucifix placed upon her, puts it in his mouth and does not speak again. The attempts by adults to make a normal child out of him only cause him to flee deeper into his fantasy world - a village of snow. At its center is a snowman with whom Andreas converses.

Hanna and Leo are expecting a child. They live near Innsbruck where the mountains touch the sky and where absolute bliss seems to reign. But things turn out quite differently.

Hanna and Leo are expecting a child. They live near Innsbruck where the mountains touch the sky and where absolute bliss seems to reign. But things turn out quite differently.

Hanna and Leo are expecting a child. They live near Innsbruck where the mountains touch the sky and where absolute bliss seems to reign. But things turn out quite differently.

The time of great festivities, of noble health-resort idyll are long gone. A place torn by modern functional buildings and decaying, once fashionable hotel palaces. In this scenery, Lenz, a masseur, is struggling for his survival, barely keeping a day-to-day routine. He has become estranged from his wife and child. When he meets the dancer Nurit his life is thrown completely out of balance.

On February 20th, 1810, French and Bavarian forces killed the Tyrolean rebel leader Andreas Hofer in Mantua, at that time a part of Austria. Hofer had led the Tyroleans in their fight for independence from Bavaria and was betrayed by an insignificant farmer, the betrayal and its effect on the farmer is the subject of this historically-based drama. Director Christian Berger has shot the story emphasizing visual poetics, as well as close-ups to reveal the nuances of subtle emotions as they play across the human face. Whatever the farmer Raffl's motivation -- he is clearly an underdog, overworked, with his labor unrecognized -- he receives no expected reward for his betrayal of Hofer's hiding place, and he has to quickly leave for the city to escape his fellow villagers' wrath. Once in the city and working hard in a factory, Raffl must come to grips with the fact that his identity has changed, and he may have betrayed himself as well as Hofer.

On February 20th, 1810, French and Bavarian forces killed the Tyrolean rebel leader Andreas Hofer in Mantua, at that time a part of Austria. Hofer had led the Tyroleans in their fight for independence from Bavaria and was betrayed by an insignificant farmer, the betrayal and its effect on the farmer is the subject of this historically-based drama. Director Christian Berger has shot the story emphasizing visual poetics, as well as close-ups to reveal the nuances of subtle emotions as they play across the human face. Whatever the farmer Raffl's motivation -- he is clearly an underdog, overworked, with his labor unrecognized -- he receives no expected reward for his betrayal of Hofer's hiding place, and he has to quickly leave for the city to escape his fellow villagers' wrath. Once in the city and working hard in a factory, Raffl must come to grips with the fact that his identity has changed, and he may have betrayed himself as well as Hofer.

On February 20th, 1810, French and Bavarian forces killed the Tyrolean rebel leader Andreas Hofer in Mantua, at that time a part of Austria. Hofer had led the Tyroleans in their fight for independence from Bavaria and was betrayed by an insignificant farmer, the betrayal and its effect on the farmer is the subject of this historically-based drama. Director Christian Berger has shot the story emphasizing visual poetics, as well as close-ups to reveal the nuances of subtle emotions as they play across the human face. Whatever the farmer Raffl's motivation -- he is clearly an underdog, overworked, with his labor unrecognized -- he receives no expected reward for his betrayal of Hofer's hiding place, and he has to quickly leave for the city to escape his fellow villagers' wrath. Once in the city and working hard in a factory, Raffl must come to grips with the fact that his identity has changed, and he may have betrayed himself as well as Hofer.

On February 20th, 1810, French and Bavarian forces killed the Tyrolean rebel leader Andreas Hofer in Mantua, at that time a part of Austria. Hofer had led the Tyroleans in their fight for independence from Bavaria and was betrayed by an insignificant farmer, the betrayal and its effect on the farmer is the subject of this historically-based drama. Director Christian Berger has shot the story emphasizing visual poetics, as well as close-ups to reveal the nuances of subtle emotions as they play across the human face. Whatever the farmer Raffl's motivation -- he is clearly an underdog, overworked, with his labor unrecognized -- he receives no expected reward for his betrayal of Hofer's hiding place, and he has to quickly leave for the city to escape his fellow villagers' wrath. Once in the city and working hard in a factory, Raffl must come to grips with the fact that his identity has changed, and he may have betrayed himself as well as Hofer.

Vienna in the early eighties: After a suicide attempt, Tina, who comes from a middle-class family, is hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. There she gets to know Gerhard, an apprentice plumber, who also wanted to do away with himself. He comes from a working class family. They fall for each other. A modern love story which is set inside the real life circumstances of the closing of the alternative Youth Center "Gassergasse" in Vienna.

"The Lord created the world and in it’s centre he set the Alpenland (alpine country), the paradise on earth." – The Tyrolean version of the history of creation begins roughly like that, in which Pirchner is entrusted with keeping the alpine Garden of Eden clean. If he isn’t up to the task, a deadly leap into a mountain lake awaits him… DER UNTERGANG DES ALPENLANDES is an Austrian short film and a satire on the „Heimatfilm“-genre films which has gained cult-status. The same is true of Pirchner’s music which plays an important role in the film.

"The Lord created the world and in it’s centre he set the Alpenland (alpine country), the paradise on earth." – The Tyrolean version of the history of creation begins roughly like that, in which Pirchner is entrusted with keeping the alpine Garden of Eden clean. If he isn’t up to the task, a deadly leap into a mountain lake awaits him… DER UNTERGANG DES ALPENLANDES is an Austrian short film and a satire on the „Heimatfilm“-genre films which has gained cult-status. The same is true of Pirchner’s music which plays an important role in the film.