Europe, 1620: The well-known astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, who teaches as a professor in Linz, receives the message that his mother is prosecuted as a witch in Württemberg. The truth behind the allegations is rather simple: His mother has been denunciated by a former friend after...
The Ruhr area in November of 1918. 13-year old Achim Wolters and his friends get their hands on some potatoes on the market. They want to surprise Achim′s father, who works on a mine sweeper boat, with a decent meal. But Achim′s father does not show up – an informer at the train station has...
A teenager is found murdered, and the examining doctor recognizes her son's knife. The film works its way back to reveal how this situation came about; a rare treatment of the taboo subject of youth criminality in Socialist society.
1831. A village schoolteacher Matthias Spitzbart dreams of the ideal school and writes a textbook on the perfect educational institution. When he becomes principal of a grammar school by chance, he puts his ideas into practice. His almost missionary-like zeal blossoms in wondrous ways, but his...
A morality tale from the time of the Saxon Kingdom. The von Siebenthal volunteer fire department has nothing to do. When their local pub is in a very dilapidated state, but the landlord has no money to renovate it, the fire department tries to help out by setting fire to it themselves, but it...
In her former life, Eva Bernhardt was called Evelyn Frank and was a notorious brothel owner in Berlin. But then she decided to testify as a key witness against her husband and his business partner and was accepted into a witness protection program. With a new identity, she now lives as Eva in the...
In 1757, the second year of the Seven Years' War, Frederick II the Great stands at the gates of Prague. He has been trying to take the city for weeks, as the enemy commander Duke Charles of Lorraine is inside. Frederick has just defeated him, but the tide could soon turn against the Prussians, as...
The film tells the story of the smelter brigade of a steel mill whose members are connected by a strong comradeship. Among the workers are, for instance, young Rolf, whom everybody just calls "Lachtaube" and who always comes through for his co-workers, or the likable Hubert, who works as a simple...
GDR border guard Gunter Rist is a young man from humble homes. During a swimming competition he meets Penny, a professor’s daughter from a good family, and they fall in love. However, their different social backgrounds get in the way of their happiness: Penny’s friends make it obvious that they...
A doctor of social sciences - a specialist in failing marriages - becomes jealous. He imagines his skater wife in various situations, but always on skates.
June 17, 1953 - the day on which workers in the former Soviet Union took a stand against their government for the first time to protest against excessive labor standards. The protests escalated into a political uprising, which was only ended by the Soviet army using tanks. 50 years later, the...
Who doesn't know the dream of an unexpected million-dollar inheritance? For microbiologist Dr. Wolf, it seems to come true when an American lawyer visits him to tell him about the death of his distant uncle in the USA. Wolf is to receive an inheritance worth millions, but on one condition: He must...
Five young, pretty female athletes are training for an international skydiving contest. From heaven they basically fall straight into the arms of five charming young men. Their coach is less than thrilled about the flirtation and urges his athletes to concentrate on the contest. He is convinced...
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.
Adam receives a flashlight with special powers: every liar it shines on flies into the air. Production was cancelled in 1965/66 due to the film's political content. Only in 1989/90 could the director reconstruct the film, where missing sounds and images are replaced with script inserts.
The magician of the court feels offended by princely arbitrariness and senses for revenge. For this, cinnabar alias "Klein Zaches", a misguided being, seems suitable for him. Unsightly, without mind and talent, Zaches is now endowed with wonderful features. Thus, according to the will of the...
Jürgen Stoll is not only a Filou and life artist, but the darling of many women. When the marriage swindler is given the choice, prison in the GDR or a career as "Romeo" in the FRG, he decides to go to the West. Stoll now plays in the big game of secret agents until he realizes that the Stasi...
"Je t'aime, Chérie." These three words and a Bulgarian volleyball jersey is all Martina, a young working woman from Berlin, is left with after a night at the beach spent with a mysterious lover. But then she learns that she is pregnant, and once the baby is born, she starts for Bulgaria to search...
The girl Jorinde and the foundling Joringel grow up sheltered in a farmer's cottage behind the moor, but the dense forest around them harbors deep secrets. One day, a sorceress, omnipresent as an owl, juniper tree or in fairy form, takes the beautiful Jorinde away. Her mother, father and Joringel...
