October 1918: Karl Liebknecht is released from prison and Berlin workers celebrate his release. Although WWI is almost over, the German Kaiserreich in vain sends its last reserves to the slaughter. The working class is in a rebellious mood; the uprising of Kiel’s sailors against war and...
Martin′s and his girlfriend′s Kathrin′s childhood comes to an abrupt end in 1920, when their Mecklenburg village is drawn into the events surrounding the Kapp putsch. By accident, Martin discovers a charge of weapons that land owner von Bröder had put away for the reactionary forces, and...
This is part one of a two-part biopic about Karl Liebknecht. In 1914, Germany is arming itself for war. Karl Liebknecht, left-wing revolutionary Social Democrat, workers’ leader and a virulent antimilitarist, is one among 110 SPD members of Parliament who vote against approving war loans. From...
This film is the first of a two-part historical and biographical portrait of the communist politician and anti-fascist Ernst Thälmann. In early November 1918, Ernst Thälmann is an unwilling soldier serving on the western front. As the revolutionary movement at home is threatened by the betrayal...
Bad planning and shortages prevail on an East German construction site. Foreman Hannes Balla uses unconventional methods to overcome the problems. New Socialist Unity Party secretary Werner Horrath is charged with bringing the rough-and-ready builder crew into line. The task seems doomed to fail as...
A senior professor is kidnapped in the park by residents of a veterans home. Once there, he is asked to invent a "rejuvenating machine" to restore their youth.
Railway employee Fritz Marr is not regarded well by his superiors. It is the year 1920, and trains regularly pass the railway hub of Erfurt to the East to secretly transport weapons for the fight against the young Soviet Union. Marr knows about this and wants to mobilise other workers to stop these...
Young Kuttel belongs to a group of working-class children who live in Berlin at the beginning of the 1930s. In the big summer holidays in 1931, the children want to make a race with their model boats and choose as a venue for the small artificial water in the park of their neighborhood. All...
The late summer of 1918. Paul, Willi and Heinrich from an age-old German town are good friends, although there is a great deal that divides them. Heinrich comes from an officer's family with an army tradition and is preparing to enter cadet college. Paul's father and grandfather are workers, and...
In February of 1918, in Boka Kotorska, the greatest uprising of Austrian sailors broke out. Forty warships, with 6.000 sailors, rebelled against the Austrian Monarchy. The uprising was bloodily crushed after two days, and it's leaders shot.
A commercial artist with a lisp chooses silence, unexpectedly propelling his career. His perceived innovation leads to rapid advancement in an ad agency. Mueller-Stahl shines in this biting critique of East German workplace culture.
Four directors - four styles - four episodes, all relating the events of a single night which has entered the history books: August 12-13, 1961. There are thousands of complex narratives connected with the frontier drawn through the middle of Berlin, and each episode relates the story of a...
On August 12, 1961, eight people in three cars set off for Berlin from Leipzig. They want to go to the West. The initiator is the philistine Spiessack, who drives the others, who have embarked on the adventure with mixed feelings. It becomes a journey with numerous incidents and panic, which causes...
At a farm-equipment plant, production lags at 89 % and a new, untested combine proves a “failure” in the fields. A promising redesign exists, crafted by a transplanted West German engineer, but he’s mistrusted. Meanwhile, workers and the Party secretary blame plant director Berendonck’s...
Eight-year-old Christian lives with his grandparents after the death of his mother. When his grandmother falls ill, grandfather Meschka wants to take the boy to live with his aunt at the Baltic Sea. But Christian is against it. On the trip, the two develop a new relationship that changes everything.
Dr. Wagner is a scientist currently working on an experiment for the Asta plant in East Berlin. If the experiment is successful its a brilliant new invention. But Wagner is the target of sabotage, and all the decisive experiment fails. Wagner can not explain this setback.
