A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner

Born in Berlin in 1896, Lotte Eisner became famous for her passionate involvement in the world of both German and French cinema. In 1936, together with Henri Langlois, she founded the Cinémathèque Française with the goal of saving from destruction films, costumes, sets, posters, and other treasures of the 7th Art. A Jew exiled in Paris, she became a pillar of the capital's cultural scene, where she promoted German cinema.

Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light

Actor/director Sidney Poitier discusses his life and career. He tells of his upbringing in Jamaica; the difficulties he encountered in New York City at the start of his career; his involvement in the US civil-rights movement; and efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. Friends and acquaintances, as well as other performers, give their insights about what makes him so special.

Pseudo Secular

They are frozen in place, stagnating without any direction. Around them, things change rapidly.

The 'Frankenstein' Files: How Hollywood Made a Monster

The history of Frankenstein's journey from novel to stage to screen to icon.

In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema

This documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when African American filmmakers and studios created “race movies” exclusively for black audiences. The best of these films attempted to counter the demeaning stereotypes of black Americans prevalent in the popular culture of the day. About 500 films were produced, yet only about 100 still exist. Filmmaking pioneers like Oscar Micheaux, the Noble brothers, and Spencer Williams, Jr. left a lasting influence on black filmmakers, and inspired generations of audiences who finally saw their own lives reflected on the silver screen.

Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul

An insider's account of Jack Warner, a founding father of the American film industry. This feature length documentary provides the rags to riches story of the man whose studio - Warner Bros - created many of Hollywood's most classic films. Includes extensive interviews with family members and friends, film clips, rare home movies and unique location footage.

Großes Kino made in DDR

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 Birth of Children of Paradise

Documentary about the making of Marcel Carne's 1945 film Children of Paradise (France), interviewing the director, the actors and production designer, as well as other French directors.

Wings of Desire: The Angels Among Us

This is a documentary about the making of "Wings of Desire" (1987). The director, writer, actors, composer and other contributors speak at length and in detail about how the award-winning film was devised, cast, filmed, scored and edited.

In Search of Tomorrow

A nostalgic journey through ’80s Sci-Fi-films, exploring their impact and relevance today, told by the artists who made them and by those who were inspired to turn their visions into reality.

Hitler's Hollywood

Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1933, when the Nazis came into power, until 1945, when the Third Reich collapsed. (A sequel to From Caligari to Hitler, 2015.)

D'Emmanuelle à Emmanuelle

« Emmanuelle » was released 50 years ago. Its main character, played by the young Sylvia Kristel, delve freely into her sexuality, without taboo. This bold movie became one of the great success of french cinema in the 70s, and Emmanuelle became the face of sexual liberation. Through the gaze of a woman, the character is back on the screen in 2024. This new Emmanuelle, written by Audrey Diwan, go in quest of a lost pleasure.

Mafia Is Not What It Used to Be

Palermo, Sicily, Italy, 2017. Twenty-five years after the murders of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone, on May 23, 1992, and Paolo Borsellino, on July 19, 1992; and on the occasion of the tributes held in memory of both heroes, skeptical photographer Letizia Battaglia, chronicler of their titanic combat, criticizes the opportunism of shady characters who, like businessman Ciccio Mira, profit from the commemoration of both tragedies.

Straight to VHS

Act of Violence Upon a Young Journalist is a film shot in 1988 and released on VHS in 1989; a mysterious cult work of Uruguayan cinema surrounded by strange theories about Manuel Lamas, its unknown creator. Until now.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.

A.B.

A documentary-style capturing of the life of Ab, a young struggling artist trying to find her way, all while dealing with unwanted company.

Time in the Sun

Second attempt to create a feature film out of the 200,000-plus feet of film which Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein shot during 1931-32 in Mexico for American socialist author Upton Sinclair, his wife and a small company of investors. The projected film, to be called "Que Viva Mexico", was never completed due to exhaustion of funds and Stalin's demand that Eisenstein return to the USSR (he had been absent since 1929). The first attempt at editing the footage, in the USA, resulted in "Thunder Over Mexico", released in 1934. In 1940, Marie Seton, from the UK, acquired some of the footage from the Sinclairs in an attempt to make a better cutting according to Eisenstein's skeletal outline for the proposed film. This film has apparently been lost.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Larisa

Elem Klimov's documentary ode to his wife, director Larisa Shepitko, who was killed in an auto wreck.

David Lean: A Self Portrait

A television documentary on the life and career of British film director David Lean. Scenes of Lean directing are intercut with personal interviews in which the director explains his methods, the beginnings of his career, and his relationships with actors and actresses.

Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mk II

Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mk. II delivers with more tongue-in-cheek humor than the first series. In "The Rolling Colony Affair," a colony is hosting a cabaret show featuring the girls of Gundam. But the show turns disastrous when men and mobile suits go crazy over the girls, sending the colony rolling out of control. A parody of the videogame RPG genre, "Gundam Legend" has Amuro, Kamille and Judau sent on a perilous quest to rescue the princess of the Zeta Kingdom from Char Aznable and his vicious Zeon MS forces.

Six A.M.

After drinking all night, Monty and his friend try to get home, but it turns out to be not easy. The next day, Monty tries to win the heart of a theater actress.

The Arctic Giant

A frozen Tyrannosaurus rex is found and put on display in a museum, but when he thaws out and revives, Superman has to stop his rampage!

Around Robin

A young celebrity receives a letter from a mysterious stalker and develops catalepsy, a condition that paralyzes her whenever she feels threatened. After more letters arrive, suspicion falls on members of her inner circle, all of whom are dangerously obsessed with her.

Nana and Kaoru

Kaoru is a 17-year-old boy with an SM fetish, secretly dreaming of an SM relationship with his childhood friend Nana. One day Kaoru's mother asks Nana to hide all his SM toys so that he will study for a change. However, Nana finds the leather one-piece that Kaoru bought and tries it on, but she accidentally locks it and does not have the key! This is the beginning of a very strange relationship..

The Mould

Under the pressure of the international community, the Serbian Government establishes a Mixed Commission, and conferred to it the examination of facts in the affair "missing babies" that has lasted for several decades.

The Bride Wore Red

A poor singer in a bar masquerades as a rich society woman thanks to a rich benefactor.

The Pirate Movie

Left behind by her friends on a boat trip, contemporary teen Mabel takes pursuit but is knocked unconscious on an island, where she has a dream involving pirates, sisters, a modern major-general, romance, and adventure.

Beck 01 - The Decoy Boy

A man working at a garbage incinerator discovers the body of a dead man burned to ashes in the oven. Police detective Martin Beck handles the case. All he knows is that a brutal murder has happened. But he does not know when or where. He has no body, motive or a crime scene, not a single trace. All he has is some teeth and a mysterious Internet address...

Hanni & Nanni 3

The Lindenhof School is expecting a busload of proper young English ladies as exchange students. The shock is great when the students turn out to be teenage boys! But while Mademoiselle Bertoux is delighted to stage “Romeo and Juliet” with real boys, both Hanni and her sister Nanni fall for their “Romeo,” Clyde.

Heat Spell

A hot summer day. A half-unpacked house. A mother who needs room to breathe, and a child who needs space to truly exist. As the afternoon heat turns oppressive, time seems to move entirely differently for each person.

Crime in Connecticut: The Story of Alex Kelly

About a notorious Connecticut convicted rapist.

Boy

Boy is the unsettling story of a young male prostitute, or Rent Boy, in a small rural town who learns the truth behind a hit and run accident which has killed a local girl. When the news of the girls death spreads through the community, the driver and his family decide that the boy must be silenced. The set out to scare him into silence. The pressure becomes more and more violent, but despite this, the boy battles to expose the truth.

Zugvögel - Ein Jahr vergeht im Flug

Iznik, les mystères de la basilique engloutie

Jail Cell

A doctor finds herself criminally involved in a baseless crime after a minor accident causes unbelievable mischief and trouble. She spends her days in police stations, security services and hospitals waiting for her lawyer to prove her innocence.

Dantas

In this film inspired by real events, journalist and lawyer João Dantas prepares for the arrival of the President of the State of Paraíba, João Pessoa, to the city of Teixeira. It turns out that this arrival will influence the fate of the Dantas family, the city of Teixeira, and Brazil.

Sobbin' Women: The Making of 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'

This behind-the-scenes documentary includes interviews with people who were directly involved in the MGM classic musical 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'. Those interviewed include actors and actresses who appeared in the film - as well as the film's choreographer, director, and musical arranger

Strawberry Shortcake: Dance Berry Dance

Dance along to the berry beat with Strawberry Shortcake and friends in four fantastic adventures! In "The Berry Bitty Dance Disaster," Apple tries to keep up with her pals in ballet class with the help of her new groove booties. When her latest invention steps out of line, everyone must help stop the shoes from dancing. Strawberry and Plum then use the groove booties to teach some pups moves before a performance, but Huckleberry's TomTom might soon become a "Doggie Dance No-Show." In "Dance Puppy Dance," Cherry Jam can't focus on her song for the Queen when the music from the puppies' video goes viral. Can Berry Bitty City band together so she can find her rhythm? Join in all the twirly-whirly fun! It's a dance-tastic good time for all!

Retando A La Muerte