Caligari: When Horror Came to Cinema(2014)

From Caligari to Hitler(de)

Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1919, when the Republic of Weimar is born, to 1933, when the Nazis come into power. (Followed by Hitler's Hollywood, 2017.)

Praktikum - Der Film(de)

The female protagonist finally makes it to get a job as an intern. But after a while working at this weird company, she finds out the criminal site of it and learns to be a criminal herself.

Bach - A Christmas Miracle(de)

Leipzig, December 1734: Christmas brings the Bach family together. The first snow has fallen and the children Gottfried and Elisabeth are delighted about the arrival of their older brothers Friedemann and Emanuel. The Thomaskantor has retired to his music room. Anna Magdalena supports her husband, as there are only a few days left and his latest work, the six-part "Christmas Oratorio", must be finished on time. It is awaited with suspicion by the city council and the gentlemen of the consistory, who have long found Bach's waywardness a thorn in their side and fear that, after the premiere of the St. Matthew Passion a few years earlier, the St. Thomas Church will once again be filled with "operatic" music. With the oratorio, Johann Sebastian Bach hopes that he will finally become court composer in Dresden. And, as always, he demands that all members of the family join forces to help him. But differences of opinion are increasingly delaying the completion of Bach's most famous work.

There Is Land!(pt)

"Há terra! is an encounter, a hunt, a diachronic tale of looking and becoming. As in a game, as in a chase, the film errs between character and land, land and character, predator and prey."

The Nativity Scene of Michele Pascuzzi(it)

A short documentary about the intricate nativity scenes of Michele Pascuzzi.

Homeless for the Holidays(en)

A smug executive enjoys the perfect life - until he loses his job, and finds himself working at a burger joint. Now he's falling behind on his bills, and if something doesn't change soon, his family could lose everything by Christmas.

Uncle Moustache(fa)

A lonely old man takes to terrorizing the kids who build a football pitch next to his house.

Are These Our Children?(en)

A tale of juvenile delinquency, about a high-school student neglecting his studies, partying hard, falling in with the wrong crowd and finally finding himself on trial for murder committed during a robbery.

Il tacchino prepotente(it)

According to Ferrara, Rossellini told him it was a satire in which “Perfidious Albion,” a big turkey representing England, goes around pecking at the hens representing the nations of Europe, until defied by a rooster representing Italy. “Rossellini detested it,” said Ferrara, “[though his] genius was such that he could achieve extraordinary effects out of nothing.

The Million Hare(en)

Bugs races Daffy to get to the TV station first and win the prize on the "Beat Your Buddy" show.

Behind The Feline: 'The Cartoon Phenomenon'(en)

In depth look at the creation of the main title sequence and the subesquence animated shorts series

Buffalo Police on Parade(en)

A street scene showing parade of the entire Buffalo Police Department, 16 men abreast, with military band.

Les plus grands magiciens du monde - Les Mandrakes d'or(fr)

Scratch Harry(en)

A wife discovers that her husband is cheating on her. Enraged, she puts together a plan to take her revenge on him. What she doesn't know is that her husband has a similar plan in mind for her. What neither one of them knows is that someone else has the same plan for both of them.

Dis Koue Kos, Skat(af)

When Clara Brand discovers that her husband is cheating on her with her friend and colleague, she plots her revenge, all the while juggling new friendships, new romances and the rediscovery of her passion for food.

Firearms and Fireworks(si)

Gini Awi Saha Gini Keli (Firearms and Fireworks) is a Sri Lankan epic crime film based on a popular fictitious novel written by Anura Horatious. The plot revolves around the ascension and downfall of Padmasiri, a gang leader in Sri Lanka. The film also provides a clear overview of the underworld thuggery and political corruption during the latter part of the 1980s in Sri Lanka.

Max von Sydow(en)

One of the greatest actors of the twentieth century, von Sydow is best known for his long creative partnership with director Ingmar Bergman, whose psychologically probing dramas—including their most famous collaboration, THE SEVENTH SEAL—gave the actor freedom to bare his soul and showcase his unfailingly commanding screen presence. In addition to the string of masterpieces he made with the Swedish auteur, von Sydow embodied a wide range of characters in films by art-house titans such as Jan Troell, Lars von Trier, and Wim Wenders, leaving behind a body of work that spans more than six decades and a dozen different countries. He appeared in more than one hundred and fifty films and television series in multiple languages. Max von Sydow received his French citizenship in 2002 and lived in France for the last two decades of his life.

Lay Me Down to Sleep(en)

A young mother battling post-partum depression and the tragic loss of her husband struggles in a lonely and friendless existence. She's failing at her job, she can't sleep or stay awake, and soon notices that someone may be breaking into her home. Her psychiatrist feels this is nothing more than a symptom of her depression, but the truth is worse than her darkest dreams.

Everbest Virgil(fr)

Virgil Thomson composed many musical portraits of people as they faced him. Like a visual artist using different visual elements, Virgil established personal sketches using the palette of musical expression. EVERBEST VIRGIL perpetuates this tradition by linking the portrait of a composer to his own composition. I filmed Virgil, in his apartment at the Chelsea Hotel, in Manhattan, shortly before his death. These are the last images taken from the life of one of America's most treasured composers.

Tage des Sturms(de)

On June 17, 1953, there was an outrageous action between the Elbe and the Oder: the people in the GDR refused obedience to their political leadership. The story takes place in Bitterfeld and tells the story of a family involved in the political events around 17 June.

The Green Fog(en)

A tribute to a fascinating film shot by Alfred Hitchcock in 1958, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, and to the city of San Francisco, California, where the magic was created; but also a challenge: how to pay homage to a masterpiece without using its footage; how to do it simply by gathering images from various sources, all of them haunted by the curse of a mysterious green fog that seems to cause irrepressible vertigo…

The Tracker(en)

Somewhere in Australia in the early 20th century outback, an Aboriginal man is accused of murdering a white woman. Three white men are on a mission to capture him with the help of an experienced Indigenous man.

Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire(en)

Actress Sally Field looks at the dramatic life and successful career of the superb actress Barbara Stanwyck (1907-90), a Hollywood legend.

Public Enemies(en)

Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger's charm and audacity endear him to much of America's downtrodden public, but he's also a thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover and the fledgling FBI. Desperate to capture the elusive outlaw, Hoover makes Dillinger his first Public Enemy Number One and assigns his top agent, Melvin Purvis, the task of bringing him in dead or alive.

Lenin and the Other Story of the Russian Revolution(fr)

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, is remembered as the instigator of the October Revolution of 1917 and, therefore, as one of the men who changed the shape of the world at that time and forever, but perhaps the actual events happened in a way different from that narrated in the history books…

Coup 53(en)

Tehran, Iran, August 19, 1953. A group of Iranian conspirators who, with the approval of the deposed tyrant Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, have conspired with agents of the British MI6 and the US CIA, manage to put an end to the democratic government led by Mohammad Mosaddegh, a dramatic event that will begin the tragic era of coups d'état that, orchestrated by the CIA, will take place, over the following decades, in dozens of countries around the world.

Grisha(et)

An up-close look into the life of the often misunderstood movie director Grigori Kromanov through the lens of old friends and colleagues.

Auge in Auge - Eine deutsche Filmgeschichte(de)

This is not merely another film about cinema history; it is a film about the love of cinema, a journey of discovery through over a century of German film history. Ten people working in film today remember their favourite films of yesteryear.

Heirs of the Beast(es)

The story of the making and subsequent success of The Day of the Beast, the Spanish cult film directed by Álex de la Iglesia and released in 1995.

Pollock(en)

In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question: "Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The film is a look back into the life of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called "an artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew." As he struggled with self-doubt, engaging in a lonely tug-of-war between needing to express himself and wanting to shut the world out, Pollock began a downward spiral.

Bugatti: A Thirst for Speed(de)

The story of the Bugattis of Milan and Molsheim, the eccentric family behind the brand: Carlo, the patriarch and furniture designer; Rembrandt, the troubled sculptor; Ettore, the gifted engineer; Jean, the unfortunate heir. Art and design. Beauty and luxury. The fastest cars. Races. The need for speed.

The Memory of Cinema: A Film About Fernando Méndez-Leite(es)

A look at the life and work of Spanish filmmaker and film critic Fernando Méndez-Leite, as he writes his memoirs and a novel with autobiographical resonances.

Hitler's Hollywood(de)

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.)

The Nansen Passport(fr)

On July 5th, 1922, Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen creates a passport with which, between 1922 and 1945, he managed to protect the fundamental human rights as citizens of the world of thousands of people, famous and anonymous, who became stateless due to the tragic events that devastated Europe in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Afro Promo(en)

Co-curated by Jenni Olson and the late Black gay activist Karl Knapper, this entertaining showcase of vintage movie trailers traces the evolution of African American cinema through its most crucial period, 1952-1976. Filled with insights on race and social dynamics, this fascinating compendium of coming attractions explores an extensive range of stylistic approaches—Blaxploitation, Comedy, Music Bio, Plantation Drama and more—offering an outrageous joyride through motion picture history. Beyond mere camp, these marvelously condensed gems crystallize a range of African American identities and personalities, tracking the meteoric careers of Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Pam Grier and others through their bold performances in movies both hugely popular and practically forgotten. Afro Promo provides a compact glimpse at the representation of African Americans through twenty-five dynamic years of American cinema history.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

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.

The Tin Drum(de)

Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.

The Last Emperor(en)

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

Memoirs of a Geisha(en)

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.