DE
Wanting to start a new life, 40-year-old Heli has found an institution in which she can put her younger, mentally disabled sister. Her three egocentric brothers have agreed to the plan and come to share their sister's final weekend at the house where they all grew up on the outskirts of Berlin. They find that the "baby of the litter" has turned into an unpredictable "monster". The fallout brings them closer together than they'd expected.
Jul 2018
The story of the dog from the title, who in a frame narrative explains how he came to be transformed from an unemployed communist filmmaker into a canine with a philosophical bent. Unable to finance his new project, young Berlin-based director Julian tells foreign exchange student Camille that his job in the countryside is research for an upcoming film. When Camille offers to help, he is forced to uphold the lie. The plantation isn’t the proletarian idyll he had hoped for, but fortunately the reincarnation of Francis of Assisi provides spiritual insight and a new aim in life.
Jan 2017
Maik, a fourteen-year-old teenager, sets out on a road trip during summertime with Tschick, a new classmate, in a stolen car. The two share life changing experiences during the eventful journey.
Sep 2016
The last years of Heinrich George's life are reconstructed with documentary footage and play scenes. His son Götz, named after Heinrich's favorite role of the peasant war hero from Goethe's play "Götz von Berlichingen", plays scenes from his father's life and allows his enormous creative power to shine through. Nothing is left out, nothing glossed over in this story of a man with many facets. Götz George, one of Germany's best-known actors, is at the center of this homage, which is also a reappraisal of the contradictions in his father's life. As the only follower from the acting profession, Heinrich George had to pay with his life. He was not officially rehabilitated until 1998.
Jun 2013
A Danish summer: long days turn into blue nights. A tunnel is being built to connect Denmark and Germany. Three people meet and part ways again.
Aug 2020
Vivi is exhausted. Actually, she is about to become an attorney and to move in together with her boyfriend Adam, but somehow, she is stuck. She tries to flee back to her Moms couch, only to find that there is no more space for her. Vivi's father assumes that she needs some rest and sends her to an island...
Jul 2016
In 1916, the officer of the German secret service Elsbeth Schragmüller trains the end-of-career exotic dancer Mata Hari as secret agent. Schragmüller has finally an ear directly in the influential circles of Paris, while Mata Hari can uphold her mundane life despite lack of engagements. Both have great hope for this intelligence mission.
Jun 2017
A married couple retreats to a luxury, high-tech, fully automated house on a remote island. The house AI system goes rogue and turns against them.
Oct 2021
The high-rise building block near the forest is famous for its carefully curated community. As a dog disappears and her daughter refuses to leave the bathroom, security officer Anna faces an absurd battle against the fear, that slowly spreads among the residents and shakes the utopia with a view.
Sep 2022
Between 1933 and 1945 roughly 1200 films were made in Germany, of which 300 were banned by the Allied forces. Today, around 40 films, called "Vorbehaltsfilme", are locked away from the public with an uncertain future. Should they be re-released, destroyed, or continue to be neglected? Verbotene Filme takes a closer look at some of these forbidden films.
Mar 2014
15 years ago the sea at the coast of Windholm just vanished. Now two young physicists try to find out, why it happened...
Nov 2016
Full of anticipation, the young and ambitious Commissioner Carsten Lanner (Florian Lukas) is moving from Berlin Cloppenburg in Lower Saxony for a further education. However, he did not expect the outspoken chutzpah of the Berliners and, above all, the rude nature of his colleagues, who in no way received him with open arms. And so he slips more accidentally than wanted shortly after his arrival in Berlin in his first case.
Aug 2017
Eugen and Roger Cicero were father and son, but above all they were extraordinary artists. While Eugen achieved fame as a piano virtuoso in the 1960s and performed with star singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Bassey, Roger filled huge concert halls years later as one of Germany's most gifted singers. Their life stories are inextricably interwoven and show fascinating parallels - genius paired with an unparalleled passion, the overcoming of boundaries, the balancing act between commercial success and artistic integrity and ultimately the tragic outcome that still shakes the music world today.
Mar 2022
In the 1980s, Sankt Pauli, a district of Hamburg in Germany, was a hotspot for prostitution and drug trafficking. More or less large thugs cross paths or clash there, sometimes fatally. A recently created police unit is working to eradicate organized crime in this city, one of the most densely populated in Germany.
Dec 2022
A portrait of Alexei Navalny (1976), the staunchest opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, severely poisoned in 2020, arrested in 2021 and died on February 16, 2024 in a Siberian prison camp under unclear circumstances.
Feb 2024
Startups are using AI to create avatars that allow relatives to talk with their loved ones after they have died. An exploration of a profound human desire and the consequences of turning the dream of immortality into a product.
Jun 2024
Frank Zander is a phenomenon: he combines change and consistency like probably no other artist on the German music scene. In the 70s, he attracted attention as the gloomy Nick-Nack-Man, at the beginning of the 80s he landed his biggest hit with the kitschy and cheerful "Ja, wenn wir alle Englein wären", later he parodied the big city cowboy with "Hier kommt Kurt" and then brought tears to the eyes of even hardened soccer fans with the Hertha anthem "Nur nach Hause". On one of his CDs, he even follows in the footsteps of Rammstein and declares the German pop song dead.
Dec 2004
WWII is over, the director’s family goes separate ways: Her great aunt moves to Israel and joins the Kibbuz movement. Her grandmother returns to East Germany to help build a Socialist society. Only after the German reunification young Esther finds out about her Jewish relatives and spends carefree days in Israel. The Golan Swimmingpool lovingly explores the Jewish identity of a family living in two political systems. The film investigates their ideals and worlds and questions how much of it is left in today’s generation.
Nov 2019
As Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger wanted to lead the Church back to its former strength, but instead he plunged it into a deep crisis. He reacted largely inactive to the revelations of multiple cases of abuse by clergy. In order to understand the thinking of this unconditional hardliner, documentary filmmaker Christoph Röhl delves deep into Ratzinger's past - but what really leaves us speechless are the testimonies of how the church, on a large and small scale, dealt with the crimes of its priests.
Oct 2019
Who is the funniest Berliner? Helga Hahnemann or Edith Hancke, Brigitte Mira or Cindy from Marzahn? rbb television is looking for the Berliner with the biggest mouth and the even bigger heart. Who will be number 1? To this day, they inspire TV audiences with their big mouths and big hearts - genuine Berliners such as Ingrid Steeger, the nation's "funny girl", Helga Hahnemann, the unforgettable "Henne", or Cindy from Marzahn, the cult figure in pink and jogging pants. From a selection of 15 ladies, rbb Fernsehen is looking for the funniest Berliner of all time. Highlights from 60 years of German television entertainment will be presented: legendary appearances and sketches, curious finds and lots of music and artistry. There will be a reunion with the master cake thrower and fast-talker Gisela Schlüter, the funky rock star Nina Hagen, the "Drei Damen vom Grill" and many, many more.
Apr 2018