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- A German stage actor's cult following and popularity after protesting the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia
- After a six year journey, the Spaceship Cyrno lands on the planet TEM 4 from where they had received a call for help. Strangely enough, the Temers deny having sent this message. As commander Akala prepares the spaceship to leave they get an invitation from the rich ruler of TEM 4 to be a part of a lush party. Not only do the opulent food and the seductive dancers cloud their minds, but also the drugs mixed into their food manipulate their consciousness. Only navigator Suko was left behind on the spaceship for security reasons and makes an unexpected, terrible discovery.
- Nine-year old George, son of British settlers, is kidnapped by Iroquois and raised by the chief who adopts him. Later he gets the chance to return to his family but refuses because he has discovered that the palefaces are the true savages.
- Eduard and Charlotte live an isolated, idyllic life together. But soon Eduard feels that something is missing and he invites his friend Otto to come and stay. Meanwhile, Charlotte decides that her foster daughter Ottilie should come live with them. Complex and passionate relationships begin among the four people. Based on Goethe's novel of the same title.
- In this film, Wolf and scriptwriter Wolfgang Kohlhaase explore the role of art and the artist in socialist society. A sculptor questions the reception and value of his work, in a delicately nuanced narrative interweaving personal memories, historical dilemmas, and political defeats.
- In 1961, Rita returns to her childhood village after a breakdown. As she recovers, she remembers the past two years: her love for chemist Manfred, 10 years her senior; his enthusiasm about his new chemical process, which turned to bitter disappointment in the face of rejection; his escape to West Berlin a few weeks before the Wall was built; and his hope that she would follow him. This East German classic, praised by critics as one of Germany's 100 Most Important Films, is based on Christa Wolf's internationally-known novel, criticized in the GDR for questioning the construction of the Wall. Produced during a brief cultural thaw in the early 1960s, this film was strongly influenced by French Nouvelle Vague cinema.
- Farsighted Falcon, the Dakota chief, seeks refuge in the Black Hills with his wife Blue Hair and two warriors, the sole survivors of his tribe, in order to join part of the Cheyenne headed by Chief Little Wolf. On the way, they are attacked by the bandit Jim Bashan and his gang. On the orders of mining boss Harrington, Bashan is terrorizing the inhabitants of Tanglewood and regularly stealing goods from the successful trader Sam Blake. Blue Hair is shot by Bashan from behind. Farsighted Falcon pursues him to Tanglewood where he befriends Sheriff Patterson, an honorable man, who wants to help him. Together, they prevent a raid on a shipment of money belonging to Blake. Patterson tries to prove to the incensed citizens of Tanglewood that Bashan is behind the robberies, but the city had surrendered itself to the mining company long ago. Boss Harrington now gives the orders. He revokes the sheriff's badge and incites the whites to lynch the Indians. Although Farsighted Falcon manages to kill Blue Hair's murderer, he falls victim to the the whites' powerlust.
- As a painter in the court of King Carlos IV, Goya - played by the great Lithuanian actor Donatas Banionis (The Red Tent, Solaris) - has attained wealth and reputation. He believes in King and Church, yet he is also a Spaniard who dearly loves his people. This contradiction presents him with a dilemma. Based on Lion Feuchtwanger's novel, Goya is one of ten East German films originally shot in 70mm. This release is the director's cut and shows the influence of great filmmakers from Buñuel and Saura, to Eisenstein. Goya was nominated for the Golden Prize at the 1971 Moscow International Film Festival.
- During Great Depression, a family is evicted from their apartment and with no other option they move to a tent camp called Kuhle Wampe.
- Eight space cargo-ships disappear without a trace within three days. And the orbit station "Margot" has suddenly fallen silent. The space council is faced with a mystery and the scientist in charge, Maria Scholl, sees no other solution than ordering a total flight stop to this mysterious sector of space. Her colleague, Prof. Tal seems to be suspicious since he knows things before they are even released. A forbidden look into his personal file brings to light that Tal was part of the Eolomea project that never found approval of the commission in charge.
- Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rotkaeppchen. She lived with her father and mother at the edge of a village, and often visited her grandmother on the other side of the woods. Her rabbit friend, Haeschen, lives with Grandmother and was sent one day to fetch medicine and milk from Rotaeppchen and her mother. Although her mother was reluctant to allow her to visit Grandmother alone, Rotkaeppchen convinces her that she will be safe with Haeschen. Together they set out through the woods. Unfortunately, there were many distractions in the woods: mushrooms to pick and Rotkaeppchen's other playmate, the bear. There are also the dangerous fox and wolf, who plotted to capture Rotkaeppchen and eat her. Haeschen did his best to keep them safe, but he could not prevent the wolf from eating Grandmother . . . and also Rotkaeppchen! Who will save them? The DEFA version of Rotkaeppchen differs from the Grimms' version in some minor areas: the mother plays a greater role in the film; DEFA has the father save the day, rather than the huntsman; the wolf does not die at the end, though he is carried away by the family; the second encounter with the wolf at the end of the original tale is left out; and a few animal characters are added (Haeschen, Baer, and das Eichhoernchen). All the animals (other than the Eichhoernchen) are played by people in animal costumes, and Jochen Bley as Haeschen was the big hit with critics and viewers alike. Both warmly and critically received by the press upon its release, Rotkaeppchen followed closely on the heels of the very successful Schneewittchen; hence, in some cases, the disappointment. Many reviews cited Goetz Friedrich's background in theater (both in positive and negative interpretations) to explain the spare, two-dimensional feel of the set. Yet nearly all commented positively on the color and interesting characters, and the Progress press materials summed up the morals for the viewers to learn: "Do what you are told, but act independently when it is necessary; never leave the path, especially the path that your friends have marked with love and experience; be brave, fight against evil, help your friends." Since its release, Rotkaeppchen has become one of the most popular DEFA fairy tale films.
- Fall 1989: Jan is almost 16. Caught while trying to escape to West Germany, he is transferred from prison to a juvenile detention center. Here, he meets Jana ... and what starts as a bet, becomes true love. When Jana gets pregnant, the situation spirals out of control. In the summer of 1990, Jana and Jan flee into the unknown, insecure future of a new Germany. In this film, the director, internationally known for his critical films about children and young people, cast non-professional actors - some from juvenile detention centers - in the leading roles.
- Rebellious young Werther is passionately, but hopelessly, in love with Lotte. Although he knows that she is married to somebody who can offer her a secure future, Werther tries to be near her. Lotte cannot decide between these two men. She eventually rejects Werther, who does not survive her decision. Based on the novel by Goethe. Director Egon Günther and set designer Helga Schütz make cameo appearances.
- Once upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters: one was her own, the other was a stepdaughter. The eldest relative was ugly and lazy, and the youngest was beautiful and hardworking.
- Although the Indians were assured their lands adjacent to the Black Hills by contract, the Whites want to expel them. Meanwhile, gold has been discovered there and the unscrupulous settler, Red Fox, demands of Mattotaupa, chief of the Bears Clan belonging to the Dakota tribe, to reveal to him the location of a cave with gold deposits. Mattotaupa refuses and is stabbed to death by Red Fox in the presence of his son Tokei-ihto. Lieutenant Roach orders Tokei-ihto to Fort Smith in order to negotiate. The son of the slain chief suspects that the Whites are planning an ambush, a fear that is confirmed when he encounters Red Fox there. Tokei-ihto refuses to move to a reservation in an infertile area with his tribe and is incarcerated. When the Dakota Indians have been defeated and resettled, he is released. Tokei-ihto learns of the murder of the senior chief Tashunka-witko. Tokei-ihto now wants to fulfill his legacy, escaping with the subgroup of his tribe to the fertile areas beyond the Missouri in Canada. While the members of the Bears Clan cross the border, Tokei-ihto encounters Red Fox, his father's murderer.
- Inge Herold is in her mid-thirties. She is divorced and lives with her 15-year-old son. She works as a psychologist and social worker and is involved with a married man. Suddenly, Inge finds out she may have breast cancer, which would mean an operation the very next day. The 24 hours before the planned surgery puts her under enormous psychological pressure and she begins to reevaluate her life. With heightened awareness of matters of everyday life, she realizes that what she previously considered meaningful, was actually void of any real meaning. Her relationship with the married man is particularly on her mind. By questioning much of what has been important to her up to now, Inge achieves a high level of sincerity with herself. She finds a faithful confidant in her son who provides much needed sympathy and understanding. Although the anxiety remains, Inge Herold finds the strength to face her illness with a strong will to live and to make consistent decisions in her life. Shot exclusively on location using lay actors. Christine Schorn of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin plays the leading role, delivering a sincere, understated and powerful performance.
- DDR film from the mid-60s: Li and Al, not long married, want to divorce. They feel trapped in their marriage and in their one-room apartment. They long for an unconventional, meaningful life, but the search for meaning confounds them.
- The Rabbit Is Me was made in 1965 to encourage discussion of the democratization of East German society. In it, a young student has an affair with a judge who once sentenced her brother for political reasons; she eventually confronts him with his opportunism and hypocrisy. It is a sardonic portrayal of the German Democratic Republic's judicial system and its social implications. The film was banned by officials as an anti-socialist, pessimistic and revisionist attack on the state. It henceforth lent its name to all the banned films of 1965, which became known as the "Rabbit Films." After its release in 1990, The Rabbit Is Me earned critical praise as one of the most important and courageous works ever made in East Germany. It was screened at The Museum of Modern Art in 2005 as part of the film series Rebels with a Cause: The Cinema of East Germany.
- The second part of the Ernst Thälmann films encompasses the time period between 1930 and Thälmann's murder in 1944. It shows Thälmann's battle to achieve a united front with all German workers against the National Socialists, his arrest following Hitler's seizure of power and the eleven years of his incarceration, in which he is unwavering in his beliefs until his death. An attempt to free him on the part of his comrades ends disastrously, and a corrupt offer of freedom from Göring himself receives Thälmann's refusal. He must also witness how his brave fellow Socialist Aenne Jansen in the women's prison across from his tragically loses her life during a bombing raid. The second primary character of the film is Aenne's husband Fiete Jansen, who already proved his loyalty to Thälmann's side as a friend and fighter in the first part. As the commander of the Thälmann Battalion, he fights in Spain on the side of the people and later in the ranks of the Red Army toward a speedy end to the war against Fascism.
- At the beginning of the 19th century, white settlers regularly make and break treaties with the Native American inhabitants to gain possession of vast hunting grounds at ludicrously low prices without any bloodshed. Harrison, Governor of Indiana, has made and broke no less than fifteen such treaties, driving increasing numbers of Indians out to the infertile West. To put a stop to this criminal practice, the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh tries to unite the Native Americans. In 1811, he founds a tribal alliance and has Native American lands declared communal property. Chiefs who sell their land in spite of this agreement are to be killed. During the chief's absence, however, Harrison raids the "sacred city" of Tippecanoe founded by Tecumseh and his supporters, reducing it to ashes. The few survivors of the bloodbath flee to Canada, where they join forces with the English as they wage war against America. But they, too, fail to keep their promise to Tecumseh concerning an independent Indian state. In a decisive battle, the defeated English betray and abandon their Native American allies. Together with the other members of his tribe, Tecumseh is killed too.
- Herr Steinkoehler is a passionate pedestrian, yet he suddenly finds his family coming into ownership of two Wartburgs. One of them Steinkoehler bought out of pity from a friend who needed the money to pay off his divorced wife, whereas the second one his wife Gisela secretly ordered years ago and has now just arrived. Both of them enroll in a driving school. For Steinkoehler, the lessons, or more precisely the driving instructor named Hempel, are nightmarish. Hempel exercises his powers to their fullest extent with Steinkoehler. In addition, Steinkoehler becomes jealous when his wife Gisela distinctly mixes very well with her own driving instructor. Yet fate would have it that a flighty, young, female driving student mistakes him for a driving instructor. Her devotion both lifts and confuses him with equal measure, but he is nevertheless determined to use this unexpected opportunity for adventure.
- After WWII, Berlin lies in ruins. For Gustav, Willi and their friends the rubble provides an adventurous, dangerous playground. Especially for Gustav, it helps pass the time, as he longs for his father's return from a POW camp. One day a stranger arrives, looking helpless and hopeless... Gerhard Lamprecht built his reputation during the 1920s and '30s with films like Emil and the Detectives (1931, script Billy Wilder) and socially-critical Berlin films based on the drawings of Heinrich Zille. In Somewhere in Berlin-his first postwar film, made just months after the cessation of hostilities-he portrays the people of the shattered city with precision and psychological realism.
- When the Fairy of Industry is not invited to the birth of the princess, she sees that the child pricks her finger on a spindle and falls in a cursed sleep. For 100 years she has to wait for a prince to awaken her again.
- This historical-biographical film begins in the first days of November 1918 on the western front. News comes to the soldiers of a revolutionary uprising in Kiel. Young Thälmann, a soldier against his will, would like to join the expanding conflict on the side of his comrades in Hamburg. As the revolution becomes threatened by the betrayal of the right-wing Social Democrats and the splintering of the working class, he nevertheless tries unremittingly to unite the workers. The reactionaries grow ever stronger and the neediness of ordinary people multiplies. In this dire situation, the Hamburg police commissioner would like to block the unloading of a ship full of provisions that were sent from Petrograd as a message of solidarity. But Thälmann prevails in unloading it. The high point and conclusion of the first part of the Thälmann films is established at the Hamburg Uprising in October 1923.
- Once upon a time, there lived a lazy miller who spent all his time drinking wine and telling stories. When the king's treasurer comes to him with a demand to pay the tax, the miller lies that his daughter Marie can spin gold from straw.
- Every morning, Helene rides her motor scooter past Fritz, the police officer who controls traffic at the intersection. He shows his affection by favorably switching the green light for her. However, for their relationship to gain momentum, she has to break some traffic laws. An invitation to Fritz's traffic course is the desired consequence. Frau Messmer, whose traffic offences resulted in surcharges, and who felt discriminated against, has a jealousy that brings Fritz trouble. He is threatened with being reported to Captain Gabler for his conduct. In the end, however, things work out for Helen and Fritz.
- Farmer Has is drawn into war as a soldier. Returning from the front, having been defrauded of his pay by his own king, he makes his way home. On his trip, he encounters a witch who asks him to fetch the light from a spring. He keeps it when the witch tries to deceive him and he discovers her foul magic. When the light is ignited, a little man appears who must serve the owner of the light, but it only has power if the owner has faith in himself. His courage bolstered, Hans goes to the king once more to demand his wages be paid. He is refused again, so he kidnaps the king's daughter, who is now forced to lead Hans' household. The king's bounty hunter captures him and has already erected the gallows when an accidental gunshot delivered by an unsuspecting robber saves Hans' life.
- In the latter half of the 19th century, gold is discovered in the Black Hills, an area which has already been allocated to the Dakota Indians as a winter reservation in a treaty. Nevertheless, gold diggers, profiteers and adventurers flock to the region. Among them is the hard-hearted land speculator Bludgeon, who tries to expel the Indians using brutal methods like slaughtering entire herds of buffalo. The Dakotas take their revenge by attacking a Union Pacific train. While Chief Farsighted Falcon and his men are out hunting, Bludgeon and his gang massacre the Indian village. The Dakota warriors retaliate and soon the gold diggers' town becomes the scene of a giant battle. Only the advancing cavalry manage to head off certain defeat for the Whites. Farsighted Falcon conquers Bludgeon in single combat, however. Gathering up the remaining members of his tribe, he leads them to safety elsewhere.
- A young, naive and enthusiastic theater director named Kai comes to a grim provincial town to put on Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Although the lethargic theater company shows no interest in the play, his spirit remains undaunted. Meanwhile, it is fall 1989. The world is changing and somewhere, far away in the capital, a revolution is taking place and it seems that wishes might come true. Great hopes emerge in the little town and unexpected events overtake Kai's mutating production.
- Nina Kern is a divorced woman in her late twenties who will soon be fully deprived of her custody rights for her three children, who already reside in a home for the displaced, due to many years of willful neglect. Although she has broken her promise to change her moral conduct many times, she is given one last chance on probation. A civil engineer and a teacher assume responsibility over her bond, trying to help Nina, or at least her 5 year-old daughter Mireille, to be released from the home. Nina makes a diligent effort to hold down her job as part of a subway cleaning crew and be a good mother to her daughter. She experiences some successes, but also some setbacks. Though in the end her probation is eventually dropped, she believes that she is not mature enough to bear the full burden of raising all of her kids. With a heavy heart, she resigns her custody rights for her daughter Jacqueline, with whom she has not come to terms.
- A film gala featuring a colorfully mixed program of musical numbers, along with the most popular artists of the GDR music, film and television scenes. The majority of the show is comprised of music performances, which are visually altered or transformed. Cabaret-style written contributions and one acts round out the program. Before each performance, the artists involved are seen in an everyday situation in their life.
- Two boys from West Berlin, Klaus and Max, live in poverty. Their dream is a career in boxing, and they save every penny in order to buy boxing gloves with which to train. Nevertheless, it does not suffice. And so they let themselves be hired by the bartender Klott for a twisted scheme. By happenstance, Klaus overhears one of Klott's conversations in which he learns that he is intended to participate in a horse theft at the East Berlin Barlay Circus, where he just found some new friends. He is outraged and thus aids the execution of an adventurous intervention to obstruct the theft.
- Two 17-year-olds, Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, are pulled out of school and into Hitler's army. Gilbert becomes a fanatical soldier, but at the front Werner begins to understand the senselessness of war. When Gilbert is hanged by the SS, Werner turns his gun on his own army. This film, based on Dieter Noll's novel, is a political and artistic masterpiece. Its fresh and surprising frankness about the toll war takes on youth found great public resonance after the film's release.
- The wrenching story of a woman sentenced in 1934 to 10 years in prison for antifascist activities. The love between her and her fiancé enables her to survive the tribulations of her time in prison, where she is one of few political prisoners.
- This is the story of four German women during the Second World War. The mother Voß, her two daughters Agnes and Lisabeth, and her daughter-in-law Emmi, all live in a house on the river. They accept the war as inevitable and decide to make the best of it for themselves. Before leaving for the war, Paul gave Emmi a blouse. Agnes asks her husband Jupp, who has been stationed on the eastern front, to bring her back some fur. While the men are off at war, in a moment of weakness, Agnes succumbs to her boss's seduction. Emmi commits suicide as soon as she receives new of Paul's death. Agnes receives her Russian fur coat, but at a great price: Jupp returns disabled. When Agnes kills her intrusive boss, the mother Voß, who had up until that point put up with everything, takes the initiative. With her younger daughter Lisabeth, she liquidates the body and the Russian fur coat along with it.
- Professor Hans Mamlock is the distinguished chief of surgery in a university hospital. The year is 1933, and although the Professor is Jewish, he remains unconcerned with politics and the growing Nazi threat. Mamlock identifies strongly as a German, and he believes his culture to be simply incapable of the common barbarism associated with the Nazi party. Accordingly, he shows little understanding for people with strong or unpopular political views, such as Walter, a patient, and Rolf, his own son. Indeed, when Rolf joins the communists in resisting the Nazis, Mamlock throws him out of his house. As the persecution of Jews intensifies during the 1930s, Mamlock's own daughter is targeted for anti-Semitic attacks at her school. Professor Mamlock, however, refuses to believe her, and at work he disregards the anti-Semitism of his colleague, Dr. Hellpach. By 1938, however, anti-Jewish racial laws demand Mamlock's removal from office. He is physically marched from the hospital by Nazi guards, leaving him shocked to realize that his German citizenship has been revoked. Professor Mamlock's devastation drives him to desperate measures.
- Four young Germans in a Soviet POW camp decide to join the Red Army to hasten the end of the war. Their new identities elicit different reactions from Germans and Russians, and are difficult to live up to when they are sent behind German lines.
- The lecherous, tyrannical prince of Guastalla falls in love with Emilia, the daughter of colonel Odoardo Galotti. He dispatches his chamberlain Marinelli to convey her to him and obstruct her upcoming marriage to Count Appiani. After his attempt to send Appiani away on a diplomatic mission fails, Marinelli approaches the situation with less subtlety by ambushing the wedding coach with bandits. Appiani is shot in the fray, and Emilia and her mother are brought to the prince's pleasure palace. The mother correctly guesses the intentions of the prince and their corresponding connotations for her daughter. The father, having just rushed up to the palace, learns of the same from Countess Orsina, the prince's jealous mistress. He is beside himself with anger and wants to immediately bring Emilia home, the one outcome that the prince will simply not allow to occur. When Emilia is allowed to speak with her father in private, she asks for him to kill her. This request stems not from her fear that some man is forcing himself upon her, but from her shame that she might eventually succumb to the prince's seductive advances. Odoardo then stabs his daughter to death.
- In one fairy-tale kingdom, the princess stopped laughing. No one knows the cause of this sudden illness. The worried king promises half the kingdom and a daughter in marriage to the one who will make the princess at least smile.
- In the little town of Herzsprung - whose name harks back to an ancient legend of broken hearts - almost nothing has changed since German unification, except a rise in unemployment. Johanna, a young mother and widow, becomes one of the unemployed and lives on welfare. To make matters worse, she falls in love with a dark-skinned, roving adventurer and the whole village starts talking about it. Director Helke Misselwitz became internationally known for her documentary Winter Adé (1988), about women in the final years of the GDR. Herzsprung was her feature film debut. The lyrics for the song, "Oh, Your First Love," sung by Eva-Maria Hagen, were adapted by singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann, expelled from the GDR in 1976.
- Carola is a mischievous girl who doesn't care much for school - except for sports and recess, of course. Without her good friend Willi to keep her on the straight and narrow, she would really be in trouble. One day at school, Carola has an idea. She invents what she calls "International Ghosts' Day" and a ghost named "Buh" to go with it. When Buh turns out to be less-than-imaginary the two decide to switch places, with Buh taking on all the schoolwork, and Carola taking the opportunity to play practical jokes on all her friends. However, Carola soon finds that being a ghost loses its appeal, and when she decides to switch back, Buh doesn't play along. It's up to her playmate to step in and help her get her body back.
- Little Sabine has spent her childhood in an orphanage after her parents died in a car accident. When one of the women in charge at the orphanage, Edith, leaves to have a baby, Sabine runs away, because Edith was the only adult there she could trust. She then wanders through the city to find someone to take her in. She meets a lot of people on her journey, but she seems out of place everywhere she goes until, at last, she realizes that there is a special place where she belongs.
- 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.
- Berlin, seven years after WWII. Four women are looking for happiness and a good man in the divided city. Their destinies are loosely connected through one person: the West Berlin dandy and womanizer, Conny. Released at the peak of East German cultural and political dogmatism, the film was heavily critiqued, especially by female party leaders who objected that its portrayal of the four women did not represent the qualities that characterized women in the new society. Now considered as a richly contradictory work, Destinies of Women represents an encore production by the Dudow/Eisler/Brecht creative team that also made Kuhle Wampe in 1932.
- A biography of Johann Friedrich Böttger, who in 1709 invented the first white porcelain in Europe. The apprentice apothecary and assistant to a "gold producer" fled from the Prussian King - into Saxony. But there he finds King Frederick August the Strong after him: the young man is told to produce gold for the king, and is thus brought to a fortress and equipped with everything he would need for the task. Naturally, Böttger has known for a while that actual gold production is a myth and instead experiments with porcelain; it should be as white as it is in China, he figures. Once he finally succeeds in surprising the King with the "white gold," he vainly hopes for freedom... a tragic error.
- Scenes from an East German marriage. A young couple, Sonya and Jens, are very much in love; they get married and have a child. When Sonya wants to go back to work after her maternity leave, they clash for the first time; Jens insists that she remain a full-time wife and mother. Until Death Do Us Part turns an actual police report into a gripping drama, as the director explores the depths of his characters' emotions, driving the conflict to a catastrophic climax.
- One year has passed since Max and Wanda got their divorce. Max has come to the realization that he wants his ex-wife back - no matter what the cost! So he concocts a sneaky plan: he asks Wanda to hide him from the police, who are apparently looking for him. At first, Wanda rejects all his attempts to restart their relationship. But she is soon unable to resist Max's convincing promises and even throws her lover out of the house. But then she discovers Max's lie... Frank Beyer and Jurek Becker were inspired by Ingmar Bergmann's Scenes from a Marriage and created a comedy - their own version of that film from a socialist filmmaker's point of view. While working on the film, the singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann was officially expelled from East Germany. Frank Beyer, Jurek Becker, Manfred Krug, Jutta Hoffmann and others signed a letter of protest, which resulted in the cancellation of the film's premiere. This later fueled Hoffmann and Krug's decision to leave the GDR for West Germany. The film was finally released with only five circulating prints in November 1978. Nevertheless, Krug's fans flooded into the screenings in Berlin. Officials saw this success as a boost for Krug, who had already started a new career in West Germany, and unoffically removed the film from distribution.
- Based on the novel by Thomas Mann. Charlotte Kestner, the love of Goethe's youth, became famous because she was the real-life Lotte represented in his renowned The Sorrows of Young Werther. At age 44 she travels to Weimar to see Goethe again, and high society's posturing and Goethe's personal history lead her to an unexpected conclusion. Dramaturge (later Studio Director) Walter Janka was befriended by the Thomas Mann family, making this adaptation possible.
- Documents important parts of the East German rock music scene of the late 1980s, from well-established bands like Silly, to underground rock bands like Feeling B. This road movie features young people using music to express their take on life, opposition to their parents' generation and opinions on the social and political climate in East Germany. It includes clips from concerts and interviews with fans and members of various bands, such as Feeling B's Christian Lorenz and Paul Landers, now members of Rammstein. This documentary, shot in 35mm, played to over one million viewers in sold-out theaters in East Germany. Audiences were drawn not only to see their favorite bands on the screen; they were also surprised that this film made it past the censors.
- Karl and Richard, two German soldiers captured by the Russians in World War I, become very close friends-so close that Richard shares intimate stories about his wife, Anna. Through these stories, Karl falls in love with her in his thoughts. When Karl escapes and goes to Richard's home, Anna knows he is not her husband. But although she tries to resist Karl's love, she feels a growing response to him. Then, one day, Richard returns... This beautifully shot work was the only East German film ever to win the Golden Bear at the West German Berlin International Film Festival. Shortly after this success, however, the film's distribution was suspended due to problems with the literary rights. After over 20 years, the film is now finally available again.