Devid Striesow

Growing up on the grounds of one of Germany's largest psychiatric hospitals is somehow - different. For Joachim, the director's youngest son, the patients are like family. They are also much nicer to him than his two older brothers, who drive him into fits of rage. His mother, painting watercolors, longs for Italian summer nights instead of constant German rain, while his father secretly, but not discreetly enough, goes his own way. But while Joachim slowly grows up, his world, not only through the loss of his first love, gets more and more cracks...

Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

January 1990: After they got deposed and the fall of the wall, Erich and Margot Honecker are virtually homeless. Because the government housing estate in Wandlitz got dissolved. The Modrow government offers no protection to the former dictator couple. Solely the protestant pastor Uwe Holmer and his family, who, like many others, have suffered under the GDR regime, offer the Honeckers refuge. In front of the parsonage, fierce protests take place, so that Pastor Holmer and his wife have to personally obstruct the primed for violence protestors. The half-hearted attempt of the Modrow government to accommodate the Honeckers in a state-own vacation home in March 1990 fails due to massive political protests and violent attacks against the motorcade. Once again, the Holmers have to take the couple in. All in all, for 10 weeks, the staunch socialists and the devout Christians are living under one roof in the parsonage.

The focus is on a relationship between a couple, played by the directing duo, and Daniel, with whom they end up in bed one after the other. It's an open-hearted game of love, fascinating to look at, and at the same time it's true, it questions everything.

The ambitious scientist Franz Walter doesn't hesitate when he is promised a professorship at the university. He immediately accepts, pledges absolute loyalty to the system and agrees to work for the GDR's foreign intelligence service until he can take up his new position. Together with his colleague Dirk, he is sent on foreign assignments to West Germany. Franz soon has to use blackmail to get innocent people to talk. But his superiors go even further: GDR refugees and their relatives are targeted to be psychologically destroyed, forged letters, medical diagnoses, surveillance and wiretapping are on the agenda. However, this is more than Franz can bear: he feels powerless and increasingly isolates himself. When he then decides to steal secret documents for a later defection to the West, this results in an unfortunate chain reaction leading to his arrest and ultimately to his execution...

With their two grown children gone, Anja and Michael Wagner move into their own apartment in the city center. Both are looking forward to their newfound freedom. But when Niklas, their youngest child, is kicked out of his roommate's apartment, he decides to move in with them and his girlfriend.

17-year-old Paul likes strange things: stealth trails and abandoned buildings, whispered conversations and left-behind bags. Besides that, he seems to be a young man without qualities. His mysterious nature catches the eyes of his classmate Dala and his art-loving teacher Mr. Bulwer, both seemingly driven by hidden desires. Then a boy’s dead body is discovered in the forest...

After a Jewish boy was harassed by his classmates for months, an argument breaks out between the overwhelmed parents, the class teacher and the school management.

After the death of their child, the Hradschek couple consoled themselves with gambling and shopping orgies. After the creditor increases the pressure on them, Ursel and Abel decide to kill him.

Clumsy peculiar pupil Alfons Zitterbacke dreams of being an astronaut and wreaks havoc anywhere he goes but against all odds wants to proof everyone who is teasing him wrong especially his father who wants him to be more of a 'normal' kid.

After a 13-year-old student disappears without a trace for a week and suddenly reappears, his mother and teachers are confronted with existential questions that change their whole view of life.

Joana and Valentin Dorek are a married couple going through a crisis. This prompts them to take a trial session with a couple’s therapist. In the therapist’s consulting room they start off with their standard programme: she won’t stop talking and he isn’t even listening. The broken communication between the couple is a real challenge for the therapist. He is almost at his wits’ end when his mobile rings and a surprising message brings chaos into their therapy session.

18th century Vienna. Maria Theresia von Paradis, a gifted piano player and close friend of Mozart's, lost her eye-sight as a child. Desperate to cure their talented daughter, the Paradis entrust Maria to Dr. Mesmer, a forward-thinking-physician who gives her the care and attention that she requires. With the doctor's innovative techniques of magnetism, Maria slowly recovers her sight. But this miracle comes at a price as the woman progressively starts to lose her gift for music.

Ben and Barnabas are unseparatable since they are small. The two of them, however, are no ordinary pair of brothers, for Barnabas, with his twenty-two years, remained mentally at the age of three.

A stage actor's turn as GDR leader Erich Honecker inspires an outlandish scheme to keep his daughter safe during the Leipzig protests of 1989.

The retired Chief superintendent Jakob Franck who often had to inform relatives as a "death messenger", now hopes to lead a life beyond the dead.

Mia and her partner Benny, along with Mia's sister, Alicia, will be in charge of solving some puzzling cases that are happening in their city Hamburg. Surrounded by ghosts and mysterious characters this group of friends, accompanied by other young people, follow their clues.

In the fifth film in the series, the two chief commissioners Zorn and Schröder again investigate a truly tricky case in Halle. The script was written by Stephan Ludwig, who wrote the novel as in the previous productions. Directed by the crime-experienced Andreas Herzog. In addition to the two proven chief commissioner actors Stephan Luca and Axel Ranisch play again u. a. Alice Dwyer the prosecutor Borck and Katharina Nesytowa Zorn's girlfriend Malina.

As a nun, Katharina von Bora lives the life destined for her until she comes into contact with a completely new world of thought in the early 20s through the writings of Martin Luther. She flees with some of her co-sisters and comes without legal status, without income and rejected by her family to Wittenberg, where she meets Martin Luther personally. Katharina decides to marry the reformer and, as his wife, becomes a respected housekeeper, an equal interlocutor and the mother of their children together.

Stories about citizens of a big city who encounter a variety of fates as a result of their difficulties in communicating with each other.

A wellness hotel in a small German castle specializes in well-off couples, offering a wide range of services, including one some partners feel trapped into : relational therapy. It's truth time, for some liberating, forcing others to face their secrets of dysfunctional relationship.

Freelance journalist Jan Schulte hopes for a job at the online portal of Berlin newspaper “Die Republik” when he discovers a potential scandal. Federal minister of health Elisabeth Stade apparently helped her brother’s search for a heart transplant by moving him up the waiting list illegally. But then Schulte’s colleague Britta claims the compromising material is a fake. Editor-in-chief Weishaupt and publisher Winter refuse to run the article. As Jan keeps on digging into the scandal, investigating state secretary Katharina Pflüger and political advisor Frank Gruber, his evidence is suddenly stolen from the newspaper office, and soon a competing tabloid breaks the story...

A young 13-years-old girl searches for love in the internet. But the truth about the persons behind the computers can be terrible.

The relationship of Alex and Teresa has hit hard times. After 15 years of marriage, the passionate football coach and the sensitive psychoanalyst do not respect each other's needs anymore, and thus they are arguing constantly. Even a divorce seems possible, but then something unbelievable happens: After another ugly fight during a big thunderstorm, they switch bodies. Trapped, they have to play each other's roles, and chaos is bound to follow.

Conflict-avoidant Thomas just wants a relaxing holiday in the Swiss Alps. But, it's a slippery slope from the beginning. In an effort to repair his own family ties and to impress his boss, he takes his family and his employer's daughter with him. Tragedy strikes and Thomas feels responsible. Should he be his typical passive self? Or risk doing the right thing at the expense of his relationships with his family and employer?

Viewers of the short film as a real film always in new excerpts. Oskar just doesn't understand why nobody wants to film it. For his friend Benny, however, who works in a video store, the situation is crystal clear: there are simply no highlights. So Benny gradually adds more and more elements that he hopes will be a great success. After all, he wants to help Oskar achieve an international breakthrough: In addition to baby animals and sex, racism and homosexuality must of course not be missing. While Benny lets his imagination run free, Oskar gets drunk. And so Oskar's fine story gradually becomes a cliche monster that doesn't leave much of his original idea.

Based on the book "Ich bin dann mal weg" by Hape Kerkeling where the author describes his journey on the Way of St. James, a pilgrimage route, and the people he encounters there.

On 24th August 1992 in the eastern German city of Rostock a rampaging mob, to the applause and cheering of more than 3,000 bystanders, besieged and set fire to a residential building containing, among others, more than 120 Vietnamese men, women and children on what has since become known as "The Night of the Fire." The riots became a symbol for xenophobia in the just recently reunited Germany. This film recounts the incident from the perspectives of three very different characters.

KAFKA'S THE BURROW tells the story of a man's "metamorphosis" (as Kafka would put it) in a rapidly changing and increasingly isolated world. A man (Axel Prahl), who has seemingly achieved everything, ensconces himself in his burrow, a fortress-like apartment complex. But no matter how hard he tries to keep the outside world at a distance, he gets more and more entangled in his own web of fear and paranoia: those outside know he is there, they want him, they want his wealth, and they are inevitably going to get him ...

Matthias, who is about to lead his beloved Diana in front of the altar, cannot believe his eyes: Lily, the former love of his life, appears as the pastor who has stepped in at short notice! The convincingly played love drama sends its protagonists on an exciting emotional balancing act with a constant risk of falling.

Öllers and Niederländer have everything under control. For the past six years, the two successful business consultants have been traveling through some of the seediest countries around the world in order to satisfy their clients greed. They have achieved almost everything, but there is one career move left: to finally become a partner in the company! When they find out that their team colleague Hellinger made the cut, they are at their wits end. Up or Out is the name of the game. The fact that Hellinger falls from an office window for no explainable reason doesnt seem to help the situation. Of all people, the young and ambitious Bianca steps in for Hellinger. Öllers and Niederländer are irritated, sarcasm spreads, neuroses break out. The fight for survival within the company takes its toll the AGE OF CANNIBALS dawns.

Das radikal Böse is a German-Austrian documentary that attempted to explore psychological processes and individual decision latitude "normal young men" in the German Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and SD, which in 1941 during the Second World War as part of the Holocaust two million Jewish civilians shot dead in Eastern Europe.

November 9, 1989, the day the Berlin Wall came down. A 10-year-old girl and her friends attempt to use their teleportation device to beam her uncle back to East Germany but instead, as they witness on TV, end up beaming everyone in their town into West Germany! They have to race against time to undo the experiment before the nasty border guards open fire...

An affluent city is covered in snow, all seems perfect – on the surface. Divorcé Rolf is doing his best to rebuild his relationship with his daughter. Pregnant Lena appears to be living a faultless family life with her husband and son. Social worker Judith has a tough job and escapes it through her fantasies, whilst widowed Maria has finally built up the courage to invite her male acquaintance to a romantic dinner. In the course of one day, all of them will cross paths with the Bulgarian Mia, who works in the red-light trade and their seemingly perfect lives will never be the same…

Once upon a time, there was a brother and sister named Hansel and Gretel who get lost in the forest. The father searches actively his children with the help of the Herb Fairy Marie. The lost siblings wander around for a while, and then they find a house of gingerbread, biscuit and chocolate. A witch kindly invites the children, but behind the sweet temptation lurks danger ...

Fifteen-year-old Maren wants to get away – far away. Aside from all the boys thinking she’s frigid, her recently love-struck mother is driving her round the twist. But she also has a father who she hasn’t seen for years. When Maren decides to get in touch with him, her mother finally spills the beans: He now goes by the name of Sophia and lives as a woman – just what she needs! Irrespective of her vexation, Maren risks a meeting and finds in Sophia a person just as hormonal and puerile as herself – a person who would actually prefer to be her best friend, at best even her mother. Can Maren accept that this life makes her father happy? TRANSPAPA is a compassionate and funny story of gender role-breaking, tolerance and the search for identity.

Three young soldiers are called up to one of the most dangerous trouble spots in the world - Afghanistan. But it's not just the constant psychological pressure that gets to them, the different cultures and ways of life in the country also pose problems for the young and impetuous men. However, it is precisely the interpersonal aspect that moves them, and so they become friends with Malik Jamil (Omar El-Saeidi) and his children. Life and the situation at the post seem to relax as a result. But then there is a dramatic turn in the life of Malik's daughter, caused by the insurgent Taliban. And in times of battle, one fate affects the lives of others and the soldiers must painfully realize that war is never just.

Hanna and Simon are in a 20 year marriage with an unexciting relationship. By chance, they both meet and start separate affairs with Adam. Adam has no idea that his two lovers are married, until they are all found out when Hanna becomes pregnant, with the natural doubts stemming from their situation.

A Japanese business traveler is completely exhausted at a German airport. There, Mr. Oshima seems already to be expected by a businessman and his translator, from whom he spontaneously abducts himself to the foreign city. In his surreal odyssey through the night, however, he loses himself more and more, until he finally disappears without a trace and nothing remains of him as this story.

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]

The era of the feared sea pirates Klaus Störtebeker and Gödeke Michels is coming to an end. After a long period with no booty at last a bulging ship appears on the horizon. However, Störtebeker is badly wounded in the attempted capture and the pirates suffer ignominious defeat. Not only their ship is down the drain - Störtebeker himself is suddenly plagued by anxiety and doubt about his very existence as a pirate. He is drawn to the beautiful country girl Bille, while Michels gets rebuffed by the friesian princess Okka. In the very moment that the crew have mutinied and co-captain Michels is literally at the end of his tether, they discover on board their ramshackle old tub a most unique wonder weapon. Glory days are quickly revived - until the mighty Hanse consolidate their power and weaponry and go to war against the pirates. Störtebeker and Michels are forced to decide: To live as a farmer or to die as a pirate.

After a few years working like intern, Till, eventually becomes head of his own company, job counseling for young trainees. In turn, comes Sydelia, left-wing activist, idealist and combative. Their paths will soon cross youth. She is determined to start it the capitalist world in which we now live in a revolutionary way. But really, two people so different can be attracted?

Hildegard von Bingen was truly a woman ahead of her time. A visionary in every sense of the word, this famed 12th-century Benedictine nun was a Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, poet, naturalist, scientist, physician, herbalist and ecological activist.

Set in Vietnam and Germany, This Is Love centers on Chris and the nine-year-old Jenjira on the run from the mafia. Together with his friend Holger, Chris bought the young Vietnamese girl's freedom from human traffickers – without actually being able to pay. Meanwhile, the female detective Maggie learns after 16 years why her husband up and left her without a word. These two worlds come together when Chris is accused of murder and Maggie is charged with interrogating him.....

After a mid-air collision, an uncontrollable passenger plane with 90 souls on board speeds through the skies over Germany. The impact point for the inevitable plane crash is easily calculated: the center of Berlin. Now the race is on to prevent the catastrophe. Will the plane have to be shot down by fighter pilots?

Success is a question of confidence, particularly in times of crisis. Life would be unbearable if there weren’t beautiful things to brighten it up a little, including pretty faces. Frank Knöpfel constantly flirts with life with his beguiling bright blue eyes. He buys a complete stranger an expensive coat in a designer boutique just because he feels like it. He disguises himself as a businessman from Oslo, a Mafia boss, a stock exchange specialist and an estate agent, whatever it takes to bring in the cash. He is the type of person who enjoys looking in the mirror, and delights in what he sees there. A flirtation with a customer in a boutique leads to Frank’s undoing.

Due to alleged West contacts Bettina is arrested in 1984. Jan is a Stasi officer and expert in interrogation. For half a year, the officer and the dissident sit face to face almost daily, and the unbelievable happens: they fall in love with each other. In a few words and gestures and by means of a numerical code, they communicate. '11 means 'you are beautiful', '12 means 'I love you'. Jan and Bettina are always at risk of their love being discovered.

A woman's life is destroyed when she discovers that her husband has another family.

A young East German woman leaves her husband and business partner and relocates to a West German city to start anew as an accountant, but he soon catches up with her.

Something terrible is about to happen in a small town in Germany. Nobody knows the reason why, except one person: Rico Bartsch. The 15-year old grammar school pupil, an absolute outsider, is in love with the most beautiful girl at his school. What in the beginning is a longing that can never be fulfilled will come true at the end of the story. Beautiful Regine will beg for Rico’s love. Until then several inhabitants of the town will die an unnatural death...

Tim Trageser's TV drama focuses on a couple whose love passes through a crisis when they start a weekend relationship. Jan and Maria are a young and happy couple, living in the country with their little daughter. When Maria gets the tempting offer to work as chef in a refined Berlin restaurant, Jan confirms her intention to accept. However, they estrange more and more from each other after a short while... Written by fippi2000

When a photo model gets replaced by a batch of new younger prettier girls, her life of riches melts in front of her eyes and she's forced to live like a homeless person in a parking lot of a high class hotel she once lived in.

The story Jewish counterfeiter, Salomon Sorowitsch, coerced into assisting the Nazi operation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.

Fat German star restaurant chef Gregor shows romantic interest in waitress Eden Drebb. She's happily married to hunky Xaver Drebb, but feels romantically neglected. Gregor's deserts seduce her, first trough her brat daughter Leonie, to spend time with him and his fabulous dishes. That soon becomes a rather platonic affair, and domestic troubles. Xaver decides to exact revenge on Gregor, with tragic results.

Three roomates, a rhinoceros, hippo and a wildebeest, must confront their crocodile roomate Gerold about his poor habits.

A coming-of-age story set in Germany in the 1960s. Siggi becomes involved in a love triangle when he falls for Luise, but the tightening political climate forces him to make a fateful decision.

A new house in a new town could mean the beginning of a phase of domestic bliss for a small family. Nina, a doctor, has taken a few days off. Her husband Frieder is busy laying tiles, while their daughter Charlotte plays in her new room. But Nina is having her doubts; she stands about in the half-empty rooms, feeling thoroughly alienated. Suddenly, without saying a word, she decides to leave...

Eberswalde, dying industrial city of forty thousand souls just 50 miles East Berlin. Johanna lives in that hopeless place. She lives refusing herself the dreams of following in the footsteps of her father, a boxer. Her irascible character makes her lose job after job and training in the gym where women are nothing but a nuisance. She perseveres supported by the love of a wonderful boy and the intelligence of a woman who knows that beautiful women are not necessarily stupid.

Armin Steeb is adrift: just finished with school, living with his middle-class parents, clueless about finding work. He tries connecting with a girl, he engages in risky sex with strangers in public toilets, he goes to job interviews. He also sends an anonymous letter to a local Munich newspaper, claiming responsibility for a fatal road accident. He fitfully pursues notoriety as he goes through life nearly without affect. What will it take to get Armin to smile?

Marseille describes an interlude in the life of young Berlin photographer Sophie. Wanting a change, Sophie does an apartment swap, so she can go photograph the city of Marseille, and most of all get away from Berlin.

In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.

In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) – high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father's objections, Friedrich enrolls. During his year in seventh column,Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code. His friendship with Albrecht, the ascetic son of the area's governor, is central to this education.

When the strong friendship between a precocious eleven year old girl and a middle-aged family man is attacked for being unhealthy and immoral, the two run away together, but their care-free days are numbered.

Externally, they could be twins. But really only outwardly: the unemployed, disillusioned toolmaker Erwin Strunz and the dynamic, power-infested Prime Minister Uwe Achimsen. There's the inevitable confusion - and everyone thinks Erwin is for Prime Minister Achimsen. Rainer Kaufmann staged the fast-paced confusion comedy with Wolfgang Stumph, Katja Riemann and Katharina Thalbach in the leading roles.

Lichter is an episodic tale from Hans-Christian Schmid about the life on the border between Germany and Poland. The film sheds light on the everyday stories of escape and desperateness.

A major work of the celebrated Berlin School, the debut of Ulrich Köhler (In My Room) is a mesmerizing portrait of a young German soldier named Paul who goes AWOL and returns to his childhood home in the countryside. Over a few summer days, Paul evades the responsibilities of everyday life and falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend, disrupting the lives of everyone in his circle. With Köhler’s penchant for deadpan humor and subtle performances, Bungalow becomes a quiet mockery of militarism, familial estrangement, and youthful ennui.

The couple Hanna and Georg are overjoyed when Hanna finally gets pregnant, but things take a turn for the worst when Georg's father demands that abortion be performed because of a hereditary defect in his family.

Klarissa, 26 years old, takes intensively care of her mother Waltraud who has a terminal illness. However, Waltraud isn't grateful, but amused because she doesn't want anyone's pity. As she doesn't like Klarissa's boring boyfriend Marius, she -together with her partner Enno- tries to convince her daughter to leave Marius and enjoy her life. Enno also wants to improve the women's relationship, which changes Klarissa's feelings towards him dramatically.

What To Do In Case of Fire? tells the humorous and touching story of six former creative anarchists who lived as house squatters in Berlin during its heyday in the 80s when Berlin was still an island in the middle of the former eastern Germany. At the end of the 80s they went their separate ways with the exception of Tim and Hotte, who have remained true to their ideals and continue to fight the issues they did as a group. In 2000, with Berlin as Germany's new capital, an event happens forcing the group out of existential reason to reunite and, ultimately, come to grips with the reason they separated 12 years ago.

A woman faces a variety of emotional crises as she spends the summer interacting in various ways with friends, family, and lovers.

Love story spanning 60 years of the lives of Charlotte and Hugo. As a teenager before the war she is in love with him, but he marries her sister. They share some brief happy moments during the difficult post-war period, then they are separated for the longest time. They meet again as 80-year olds.