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Browse 48 movies from Praesens-Film
The search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession.
Jun 1958
When a young European woman assumes a false identity in 1920s Argentina, she gets more than she bargained for.
Sep 1990
In postwar Germany, a displaced Czech boy, separated from his family during wartime, is befriended by an American GI while the boy's mother desperately searches for him.
Mar 1948
A sailor on leave meets a beautiful girl on the ski slopes of Switzerland.
Nov 1949
Kuhle Wampe takes place in early-1930s Berlin. The film begins with a montage of newspaper headlines describing steadily-rising unemployment figures. This is followed by scenes of a young man looking for work in the city and the family discussing the unpaid back rent. The young man, brother of the protagonist Anni, removes his wristwatch and throws himself from a window out of despair. Shortly thereafter his family is evicted from their apartment. Now homeless, the family moves into a garden colony of sorts with the name “Kuhle Wampe.”
May 1932
Florestan Mississippi, a public prosecutor by profession, visits a lady named Anastasia and, while drinking coffee with her, convicts her of poisoning her husband. At the same time, he asks for her hand in marriage, as he too has killed his wife with poison; the marriage is to be the "atonement" of the two poisoners. The four allegorical personifications in this comedy are, in addition to the loveless, absolute justice in the form of the prosecutor Mississippi, perfect equality, represented by the world revolutionary Saint-Claude, Christian love, embodied in the down-and-out, alcoholic tropical doctor Count Uebelohe-Zabernsee, and finally the "Frau Welt" of the old mystery play – Anastasia, who falls for everyone and betrays everyone, loves nothing but the moment, and dies with an invoked untruth on her lips.
Jun 1961
The life of 20-year-old Nico from upper class Zurich is all party, sex and drugs when she meets Paco, the front man of a rap band. She finds herself drawn to his independent, creative and profound way of life, so different from her own. With naiveté and infinite self-confidence, she tries to adopt his lifestyle - without anticipating the consequences.
Aug 2005
In the 1770s, Swiss farmer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi established a school for poor orphaned children in the Aargau. Up to total exhaustion he sacrificed himself for his pedagogical theories. Five years later, the project of the idealistic educator failed after bloody attacks of the French. In retrospect, the disappointed Pestalozzi experiences the last few months with "his" children.
Mar 1989
Heidi, a young orphan girl living with her aunt in Frankfurt, is forced to move to the Swiss Alps to live with her ornery grandfather. At first, he resents her presence, but, after a short while, Heidi manages to pierce his gruff exterior, and the two become close. She also befriends a young shepherd named Peter. After three years, Heidi's aunt arrives and demands Heidi's return to Frankfurt.
Nov 1952
In the dense and murky woodlands of provincial Hungary, the search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession enshrouded by irresolution and despair, even long after he has been taken off the case. What emerges is not a crime story, but a harrowing venture through the darkness of the human soul.
French Guyana, not so long ago. Eliott, a young and naive anthropology researcher, goes on an expedition to study the Otopis, a mysterious tribe from the Amazon rainforest. It is also an opportunity for him to get away from the grip of his possessive mother, Chantal de Bellabre, an ethnologist hated by the profession for her biased and cold-hearted practices. Arriving in the forest Elliot realizes the Otopis are not the “good savages” he had imagined. Alcoholic, violent, crooked: they will turn his expedition into real hell in the jungle. Fortunately, Chantal, consumed by remorse and worried about her son, decides to abandon her own expedition and goes looking for him in the jungle, with the help of the not so helpful Lieutenant-Commander Raspailles and his men.
Jul 2020
Soviet, British, French and American allies patrol post-war Vienna.
Mar 1951
Norbert Lang inherits a hotel and has to deal with a multitude of problems at the end of the year. There's the pushy singer who wants to get closer to him than he'd like. The staff quickly takes off after arguments. When the heating starts acting up, he has to hire a repairman. But the repairman shows up with unexpected backup and causes even more chaos.
Dec 1962
Escaping a Nazi prison train in war-torn Italy, an American and a British soldier set out for the Swiss border and find themselves leading a multi-national party of refugees for the Italian underground.
May 1945
Glacier pilot Hermann Geiger flies over a four-thousand-meter peak in the Valais Alps and observes a glacier collapse. The next day, three rope teams climb through this glacier to Dent Blanche. However, Dr. Gruber, accompanied by his wife, a young engineer named Gisler with his girlfriend Monica, two young men named Charly and Roby, mountain guide Perren, and the athletic Englishman Puckle get caught in a storm. Due to the weather conditions, Gruber slips and drags the other participants down with him. His wife, who had stayed behind in a hut, alerts the mountain rescue service. The storm initially prevents glacier pilot Geiger from taking action, but he then risks a breakneck landing to rescue the group.
Mar 1959
While on a longer business trip, a wannabe poet urges his beautiful but more simple wife to answer his overly swollen love letters. With no idea how to respond she forwards the letters to a new young school teacher to use his answers instead...
Nov 1940
The titular Marie-Louise is a young French lass who is evacuated to Switzerland when her country is overrun by the Nazis. Suffering a nervous breakdown, she is given comfort and shelter by a wealthy family. Unfortunately, living in the lap of luxury makes Marie-Louise hesitant to return home to her mother and war torn home. Eventually the girl comes to her senses, but it isn't easy.
Jun 1944
A policeman is not convinced that the prime suspect in a murder case is realty guilty and so decides to reinvestigate the case, despite the lack of co-operation from locals.
Oct 1939
Shortly after the outbreak of World War I August 1914, Eastern Front. The Russian surprise attack on the northeasternmost part of the country causes serious problems for the German defenders.
Sep 1932
Heidi lives with Alp-Öhi n the Swiss Alps in the summer, where she helps Peter tend the goats. In winter, she stays in the village and attends school. One day, a letter arrives from Heidi's German friend, Klara Sesemann, announcing her visit. Klara indeed appears the next summer along with her grandmother and the prim governess Miss Rottenmeyer. Klara is quickly convinced to stay with Heidi, but Peter becomes resentful that Heidi now spends so little time with him...
Mar 1955