LOOKSfilm

This film undertakes a journey into the amazing parallel universe of East Berlin’s fashion designers and experts in the art of survival. For, in the midst of the constraints of life in the GDR, there existed a fantasy world where it was possible to dance to another tune, be individual and even provocative. The most important characteristic of this bohemian scene was one’s per- sonal style. But this certainly wasn’t something that could be bought off the peg in the GDR. In this parallel universe it was up to you to create your own individual image – with your own hands. This film tells the story of the desires, the passion and the dreams that were tried and tested, lived and performed in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.

In 1937, amidst Stalin's Great Terror, a newly appointed prosecutor for the USSR is made aware of alleged corruption in the Secret Police, and takes it upon himself to investigate.

Hindenburg was active at a time when events in Germany and Europe came thick and fast within a few years: defeat in the war and revolution led the German Empire into a deep crisis, while inflation and the global economic crisis plunged the Weimar Republic into severe turmoil. The world was coming apart at the seams and Hindenburg played a decisive role in determining the fate of Germany: in the Supreme Army Command during the First World War, at the fall of Kaiser Wilhelm II in November 1918 and in January 1933, when as Reich President he appointed Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor.

In the 16th century in the Cévennes, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy and prosperous family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, this pious, upstanding man raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.

A woman lives in a small village in Russia. One day she receives the parcel she sent to her husband, serving a sentence in prison. Confused and angered, she sets out to find why her package was returned to sender.

Is it morally acceptable to use the civilian population as yet another tool for waging war? Is it possible to justify death and destruction for the sake of supposedly lofty ideals? The question remains as pertinent today as it was at the beginning of World War II, and it is becoming increasingly urgent to answer, as countless tragedies have been caused by unethical political decisions.

Wallis Simpson is one of the most reviled women of the 20th century. It was to marry this twice-divorced American that King Edward VIII of England renounced the throne in 1936, after less than a year on the throne. Born in Pennsylvania in 1896, Wallis, orphaned of her father, grew up in precarious conditions, and very early on relied on marriage to advance socially. But her matrimonial choices were far from always happy. From 1935 onwards, her affair with Crown Prince Edward opened the doors to "a shimmering new world", but it also made her the target of numerous rumors and public animosity.

Driven by extensive archive material and interviews with those who know her, this is the astonishing story of how a triple outsider – a woman, a scientist, and an East German – became the de facto leader of the “Free World”, told for the first time for an international audience.

2024 is likely to be a decisive year for Sahra Wagenknecht's political future. In the arena of power, she might assume a role that she is already very familiar with. In the early years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sahra Wagenknecht became the "most famous face" of the PDS, the successor party to the SED. Yet, even as the youngest member of the party's executive board, she was considered a "disruptive factor." She is unyielding and swims against the tide. Sahra Wagenknecht does not distance herself from Stalinism, nor from the Berlin Wall, and wishes for a reformed GDR.

A three-part portrait of Mao Zedong, a peasant's son who became a revolutionary and then a totalitarian leader. The story of a destiny that tells the collective history of modern China. Mao Zedong was born in 1893 in a rural China beset by political instability and social upheaval. After the revolution of 1911, which precipitated the fall of the Empire, the country was dominated by imperialist powers. The young Mao, whose political conscience was awakening, dreamed of seeing China return to its former greatness. Influenced by the Russian Revolution of October 1917 and embracing Marxist ideology, the activist co-founded the Chinese Communist Party, soon establishing himself as its supreme leader, notably during the Long March that ended in 1935. In 1949, after the war between the Kuomintang nationalists and the Communists, he seized power and proclaimed the People's Republic of China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the first politicians to congratulate Donald Trump on his election as president of the United States in 2016, but over time the relationship between the two heads of state has had its ups and downs. Are they friends or enemies? Has their mutual admiration turned into mutual distrust?

A critical and objective look back at Ukraine's tumultuous and tragic history, from its mythical founding in the 10th century to the Russian invasion in 2022.

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 documentary “Back to the Bunker?” tells the story of traumatic bunker experiences in the World Wars, of empty ruins at the turn of the millennium, and of a bunker renaissance in Germany and Europe, based on the personal experiences of contemporary witnesses. An impressive documentary about the culture of remembrance, resilience, and the societal question of how people deal with extreme situations.

Fireworks enchant our senses – for a short but wonderful moment. Old family businesses have saved the tradition of fireworks to the present day. The film shows how this art form has developed over the centuries: Starting in China over a thousand years ago, we journey through the opulent Baroque era in Italy, Germany and France, experience Japanese hanabi artists in action and are also on hand to experience Guy Fawkes’ Night in the UK. We see how fireworks were democratised, becoming something that everyone could enjoy and have access to - before arriving in the present where the art of fireworks is again what it was in its heyday, a celebration of money, power and beauty.

18th century Vienna. Maria Theresia von Paradis, a gifted piano player and close friend of Mozart's, lost her eye-sight as a child. Desperate to cure their talented daughter, the Paradis entrust Maria to Dr. Mesmer, a forward-thinking-physician who gives her the care and attention that she requires. With the doctor's innovative techniques of magnetism, Maria slowly recovers her sight. But this miracle comes at a price as the woman progressively starts to lose her gift for music.

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter lived a life of deception and crime before settling on his ultimate scam - impersonating a Rockefeller. How was Gerhartsreiter able to dupe so many people from so many walks of life? A story that begins in a Bavarian village, continues in the most exclusive clubs on the American East Coast, - and ends in a Los Angeles court.

A double portrait of two dictators who were thousands of miles apart but were constantly fixated on each other.