Lona media

In 2016, DEFA celebrates its 70th anniversary: the film embarks on a journey into the exciting film history of the GDR. In a comprehensive kaleidoscope, the importance of DEFA productions is illuminated, the relevance of the films as propaganda productions for the GDR, which socio-political themes were in the foreground, but also which heroes DEFA brought to the screen and celebrated as people from the people.

Documentary film about the painter and sculptor Jörg Immendorff who ranks among the most important German artists. The filmmakers accompanied Immendorff over a period of two years – until his death in May 2007. The artist had been living for nine years knowing that he was terminally ill with ALS. The film shows how Immendorff continued to work with unabated energy and how he tried not to let himself be restrained by his deteriorating health.

Many twentieth century European artists, such as Paul Gauguin or Pablo Picasso, were influenced by art brought to Europe from African and Asian colonies. How to frame these Modernist works today when the idea of the primitive in art is problematic?

Diva and Hollywood star Zsa Zsa Gabor experienced everything Hollywood had to offer: attention, glamour, and media success. But the Hungarian-born actress (1917-2016) paid a high price for it. Her acting career was thwarted, she experienced domestic violence, and she had to learn to adapt to the Hollywood system.

The passionate story of the femme fatale, seductive and dangerous, a myth and a fantasy, through her representation in art.

Documentary about Leipzig artist Neo Rauch, who is considered to be one of the seminal painters of his generation. Born in 1960, Rauch lost his parents in an accident while he was still a baby. He studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, and rose to international fame in the 1990s. Rauch, whose paintings often revolve around notions of home, is one of the most eminent figures of the Leipzig New School.

In Huanchaco, a coastal village in northern Peru, surfing is said to have been invented three thousand years ago by fishermen on "caballitos de totora", small canoes built from reeds. At the age of 60, Lorenzo Ucañan continues to practice this ancestral form of fishing and heads the association that brings together the last remaining defenders of the tradition.

Loneliness has many faces in Berlin. Young and old are afflicted by it, men, women, single and married people. It’s normal. Nonetheless there’s a stigma attached to this mixture of emotions that makes sufferers stay silent. Director Nicola Graef tries a different approach in her film: She lets the lonely inhabitants of the capital city speak, listens. The result is varied and quite often surprising.

The painter Otto Dix (1891-1969) dissected and exposed his time like no other. The portraits from the world of the milieu of whores and suitors, of sexual violence, were a taboo break. His brutal depiction of war shook society - he was a ruthless chronicler of his day. In contrast, private life with his wife and children shows the gentle side of the provocative painter. Nicola Graef's film "Otto Dix - The Ruthless Painter" is dedicated to this interplay of life and work. Like few other artists, Dix used his personal experiences and experiences as the basis for his work.

In 2019, the Chippendales celebrated their 40th birthday. The documentary observes the troupe and takes a look behind the scenes of the successful show for the first time. And it asks what fascinates the female clientele about these well-trained dancers to this day.