Eikon Media

During the early 16th century, idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.

1779. Eight-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven, called "Louis", is already known as a musical prodigy. He learns to go his own way - much to the dismay of the people around him. Some years later, he meets Mozart during times of political upheaval. The unconventional genius and French Revolution are sparking a fire in Louis' heart; he doesn't want to serve a master - only the arts. Facing times of family tragedies and unrequited love, he almost gives up. However, Louis makes it to Vienna to study under Haydn in 1792, and the rest is history. Who was this man, whose music has since touched countless hearts and minds? At the end of his life, the master is isolated by loss of loved ones and hearing. Surely though, he was way ahead of his times.

A young couple in Berlin's 'Mitte' district. He, a writer, is lying on the sofa, reading. She can't stand it anymore. In the afternoon the parents come to see the baby. She goes out in the evening. The young man waits. She comes back - but not alone.

Success is a question of confidence, particularly in times of crisis. Life would be unbearable if there weren’t beautiful things to brighten it up a little, including pretty faces. Frank Knöpfel constantly flirts with life with his beguiling bright blue eyes. He buys a complete stranger an expensive coat in a designer boutique just because he feels like it. He disguises himself as a businessman from Oslo, a Mafia boss, a stock exchange specialist and an estate agent, whatever it takes to bring in the cash. He is the type of person who enjoys looking in the mirror, and delights in what he sees there. A flirtation with a customer in a boutique leads to Frank’s undoing.

An unflinching look at the rise and fall of one of the most infamous political figures in US history.

Following folk musician Joan Baez on her extensive 2008-2009 tour, this film commemorates her career, which has spanned five decades. It includes concert and archival footage as well as interviews with such disparate colleagues, friends and admirers as Bob Dylan, Jesse Jackson and David Crosby. In addition to the music, it also touchs upon Baez's long history of global social activism.

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.

Jennifer is the capricious daughter of hotel manager Dr. Karl Blankenburg. After all sorts of escapades by the prima donna in Berlin, her father gives his daughter one last chance: to discipline her, he orders her to work as a chambermaid under a false name in his hotel in the countryside. Of course, the spoiled "little one" is quickly overwhelmed by the unfamiliar work and is watched suspiciously at every turn by the housekeeper, Karin Kern.

When Louma dies far too young, she leaves behind four children by two different fathers. The two men are like oil and water. coffee house entrepreneur Tristan and musician Mo only have in common that they were both in relationship with the same woman. What should happen to the children now? Neither would trust the other with their children. When the child welfare services want to separate the children, their daughter Fritte has an idea: To prevent the siblings from being torn apart, the mismatched fathers move in together under one roof. Simple enough, right?

Patrol officers Ida Sörensen and Magnus Vinter are called to the scene where a body has been found. Horik, the son of Kort Holm, a Copenhagen underworld figure, has been killed with two Viking arrows.

Paul Bacher is in crisis. If he could feel in the past as one of the most influential writers of his generation, he has long lacked ideas and impetus for a new great work. His reading tours are becoming more and more a sad affair with too much alcohol and too little public. Then Paul overflows in a drunken hitchhiker, flees first scared and later removes the body, without talking to anyone about the experience. But something is flowing in its interior. Paul starts to write again. The criticism is done, but the story about the death of a hitchhiker also arouses suspicion.

During the night, patrol officer Ida Sörensen hears urgent cries for help coming from the church tower. Together with her young colleague Emma, the policewoman arrives at Ribe Cathedral. There, high up in the tower, a man is threatening a young woman with a knife. Ida and Emma draw their weapons when the mighty bell suddenly rings loudly. In the heat of the moment, Emma shoots the attacker, Finn Eriksson, causing the victim, Bente Bruun, to fall to her death. For Inspector Frieda Olsen, the case is closed before it has even begun. However, Ida soon begins to doubt the explanation that it was a foiled rape attempt. Ida soon discovers that Bente, a young investigative journalist, had been feeling threatened for days. While Ida and her colleague Magnus search for a notebook hidden by Bente, the dubious Konrad Gram and his assistant Viggo try to get to it first. Without realizing it, Ida puts herself in danger.

The family happiness of young mother and wife Jenny is suddenly shattered when she finds her neighbor's seven-year-old daughter Luzi dead in the woods. Everything points to her son Tim being partly responsible for Luzi's death.

During the Second World War, women were for the first time allowed to work as war correspondents. Based on reports, letters and diary excerpts, filmmaker Luzia Schmid sketches a personal portrait of three fearless women and their unique attempts to report on the war.

The turmoil of the last days of the war. 13-year-old Tom loses his mother while on the run. In Vienna he meets the one-legged black marketeer 'Krücke' - a sly, cunning survivalist and at the same time an adorable, kind friend. The two find shelter with Bronka, a Jewish woman who serves alcohol to Allied soldiers and black marketeers. Tom and Krücke settle into this insecure world. Krücke plays the saxophone, Tom waits tables, until one day a return to Germany becomes possible. But the train that the one-legged man and the boy board is stranded in no man's land...

The single package-delivery woman Dora lives a somewhat reclusive life in a high-rise in Leipzig and gets through everyday life with her dry sense of humor. But her quiet, well-ordered life spins out of control when she has to hide her mysteriously fascinating Polish neighbor Jola – who believes to have accidentally killed someone. Dora is hesitant at first to take her in, but she cannot seem to shake her fascination with Jola. Dora's trust in the direct, impulsive woman grows – Jola seems to ask exactly those questions no one else dares to ask. When Dora finds out that the accusations against Jola have been lifted, she lies about the status of the police investigation in order to keep her Polish neighbor for herself.

Reni Wirth is a woman in her "prime," in her late thirties, a housewife like millions of others and seemingly fulfilled by caring for her husband and two teenage daughters. Despite slight irritations about her mere existence as a housewife, she takes good care of her family. A preventive breast cancer screening completely disrupts the apparent family idyll. Although the worst fears are not confirmed, after days of terrible anxiety, Reni begins to understand the misery of her personal situation: her daughters will soon be on their own, and she can hardly return to the profession she once learned. What will be left for her? Reni takes a courageous but uncertain step toward somewhere where she suspects she will find "freedom."

During the pagan Rauhnächte, unbridled revelry reigns in the former Viking town of Ribe. Even at the police station, where conscientious patrol officer Ida Sörensen is helping out on the night shift, chaos reigns. At this moment, no one is thinking about the sadistic serial killer who kidnaps people and leaves them to starve in the forest.

A comprehensive history of European Jazz, exploring the origins of the US-influenced Jazz clubs after the Second World War, the first steps independent of American jazz and the various changes of direction that have repeatedly occurred in European jazz in the search for that "own voice" that European jazz musicians have helped to form. Featuring the great masters of European jazz such as Chris Barber, Jan Garbarek, Juliette Gréco, Stefano Bollani and Till Brönner, to name but a few.

A journey back to the middle of the 20th century: the story of Baden-Württemberg's beginnings 70 years ago.