Kobalt Productions

Last bastion of freedom of expression or playground for extremists and criminals? Opinions are divided on the messaging service Telegram. Just like on its mysterious founder, tech billionaire Pavel Durov. Is this man an uncompromising advocate of radical freedom or an accomplice of criminals of all kinds? Author Aleksandr Urzhanov searches for answers.

In the 1960s, a white couple living in East Germany tells their dark-skinned child that her skin color is merely a coincidence. As a teenager, she accidentally discovers the truth. Years before, a group of African men came to study in a village nearby. Sigrid, an East German woman, fell in love with Lucien from Togo and became pregnant. But she was already married to Armin. The child is Togolese-East German filmmaker Ines Johnson-Spain. In interviews with Armin and others from her childhood years, she tracks the astonishing strategies of denial her parents, striving for normality, developed following her birth. What sounds like fieldwork about social dislocation becomes an autobiographical essay film and a reflection on themes such as identity, social norms and family ties, viewed from a very personal perspective.

Hate, political manipulation, uncontrollable filter bubbles, mental illness: In the eyes of many, our social media world has a corrosive effect on society. What can be done?

They are reclaiming their bodies and freely expressing their sexuality: Women musicians such as Rihanna, Cardi B, Liza Moet and Megan Thee Stallion are pushing the boundaries of female desire in pop culture just as Jane Birkin, Madonna and Donna Summer did in previous decades. A focus on sex positive popstars in contemporary culture.

Gudrun Gut – post-punk legend, musician, icon. In GUT, she stages her own life: as director, lead actress, and composer. Between the Berlin underground and the Uckermark region, she tells a story of music, creativity, and freedom. A unique documentary about 40 years of music history and a powerful woman.

Immersion in a world of contemporary design in search of more virtuous practices. In Helsinki, German designer Julia Lohmann uses seaweed to create dyed garments; in Amsterdam, Marjan van Aubel creates objects powered by organic photovoltaic cells; in London, the Superflux duo develops futuristic installations to alleviate potential food shortages.

Get ready to rock with Simple Minds at this moody show shot in a Berlin night club. You’ll want to clap your hands and sing along to their classic hits “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” “Alive and Kicking,” and more!

In 1889, Gustave Eiffel decides to attempt the impossible for the Universal Exhibition in Paris: to build the tallest tower in the world. Before this project, this pioneer and visionary had created more than 300 metal structures around the world.

In the heyday of rock 'n' roll, Vernon Subutex was one of the most knowledgeable and renowned record store owners in Paris. But since the digital revolution finally forced him to close his doors, this soon-to-be fifty-something, penniless, single and unattached man has been scraping by on the charity of Alex Bleach, an old friend who became a pop star. When Alex is found dead in a hotel bathtub, Vernon finds himself out on the street. The shortened film version of a very rock 'n' roll show.

My mother googles the film hero of her youth: Helmut Berger. She is shocked: only an addicted shadow of the former icon seems to be left. She decides to halt the obvious catastrophic decline of the once “most handsome man in the world”. As a consequence, this one-time god of the screen is suddenly sitting on my mother’s sofa in Nordsehl in Lower Saxony. And he stays put - for several months. While he trustingly rolls out his whole life before us, the dividing lines between film team, world star and family intermingle. This is a film about ageing, rising and falling - and about the fact that it is sometimes possible to regain an element of dignity in life.

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.

Born in 1941, Eric Burdon was – along with his band The Animals – one of the most important standard-bearers of the British Invasion of America, right after The Beatles and ahead of The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Kinks. Their 1964 interpretation of House of the Rising Sun was a global hit and inspired Bob Dylan (who recorded an acoustic version on his first album) to go electric and hit the stage from then on backed by a rock band.