MDR

Year 1763, the Seven Years' War is about to end. August III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, has died, leaving empty the royal treasury and an extraordinary collection of paintings, sculptures, jewelry and goldsmith masterpieces, which he considered a symbol of his greatness, and that of Dresden, one of the European capitals of Baroque art.

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?

It's 1989 in East Berlin: Suzie is kicked out of school shortly before she graduates from high school and has to defend herself as a worker in the cable factory. However, a randomly taken photo leads her to the fashion world of the GDR. The editor-in-chief Elsa Wilbrodt put her on the cover of Sibylle, the fashion magazine of the GDR. In the Berlin underground scene she made the acquaintance of the gay fashion designer Rudi and the photographer Coyote. Suzie must decide if she's brave enough to leave the old strands behind forever.

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.

From 1945 to 1989, after the capitulation of Nazi Germany, two rival ideologies, communism and capitalism, faced each other in a merciless battle. On one side of the Iron Curtain and on the other, throughout the Cold War, the USSR and the United States sought to shape children’s imaginations through their magazines and films. Never in the history of mankind have so many comic books been published and so many cartoons produced for young people. In November 1989, communism collapsed with the Berlin Wall; capitalism was left to decide the future of the world. What if this victory had been prepared for a long time, and our thinking conditioned, from our early childhood, to ensure this absolute triumph?

When Katja, Henning's girlfriend, is sentenced to prison, he kidnaps the judge to free Katja.

In September 2015, the world of science experienced a sensation: researchers in the USA succeeded in proving the existence of gravitational waves for the first time in the history of physics. A milestone. This proof opens up a completely new perspective on our universe - perhaps even on the birth of the cosmos itself, nothing less than the Big Bang. Gravitational waves are created when something gigantic happens in the universe: a stellar explosion, the merging of neutron stars or black holes.

Martin Greenfield learned to sew while mending shirts for the Gestapo in Auschwitz and went on to make suits for U.S. presidents and stars. Now, at 95, America’s greatest tailor is grappling with his legacy.

Eleven-year-old Linh shows great grace under pressure. When her mother, who’s raising her kids on her own, has to return unexpectedly to Vietnam, Linh looks after her little sister Tien and the family restaurant on her own. Of course, no one is supposed to find out, not the school, not the neighbours, and definitely not child protective services. But Linh’s biggest problem has red hair, a telescope and a sly grin: Pauline. The daredevil from across the street has the whole neighbourhood under surveillance and can’t imagine anything cooler than a life without parents. When Pauline blackmails the Vietnamese sisters into starting a gang with her, the three girls set off on a daring adventure.

Andreas Dresen is one of the most successful German directors. The documentary accompanies him through the year 2023 until the opening evening at the Filmmuseum Potsdam, which is honoring him and his team with an exhibition and film series. The portrait looks at his career, his artistic work and social commitment. Numerous companions have their say.

Radical West German terrorist Rita Vogt abandons the revolution and settles in East Germany with a new identity provided by the secret service. She lives in constant fear of having her cover blown, which unavoidably happens after the reunification.

Armin Mueller-Stahl was one of the few Germans to become a celebrated Hollywood actor. He had to start all over again several times: after the Second World War, after his break with the GDR and finally in Hollywood. He often decided to take the risk of possible failure. The documentary also shows his life as a musician and painter and, above all, as a person.

Berlin, summer 1988: While Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd perform in the West, East Berliners can look forward to Bruce Springsteen, Depeche Mode and James Brown. The documentary reveals how the organizers enforced the concerts with the state authorities. On the anniversary of the fall of the Wall.

We get to know a few inhabitants of central European rivers.

East Germany, in autumn 1999. Gudrun Pfaff is about to turn sixty when she finds out that the orphanage she grew up in is being sold to turn into a hotel, and she is willing to do anything to stop it.

Away from home, away from her mother - that is 16-year-old Zoé's goal. She ends up on a small island with her older brother Theo and a 6-year-old neighbor boy. Zoé's world is fine here - until Theo falls in love with Sanja.

Young Piano teacher Lukas accidentally meets DJ Nathalie, the love of his life. After losing her telephone number, he starts looking for her. Finally, he finds her place and stays with friends of hers while she is abroad. Now Lukas falls in love with Alice, but does not want to admit it. And while his relationship with Alice is in doubt, Nathalie comes back home. Trouble had been breeding all along.

Over the course of a fifty-year career, the British band The Cure has released fourteen highly successful studio albums; but it was their 1989 album Disintegration, released during a pivotal year for Europe and the world, that would capture the imagination of so many fans.

In 1989, thirteen GDR scientists and technicians set off from East Berlin to the Georg Forster research station in the Antarctic. During their expedition the Berlin Wall fell on November 9th. Cut off from the images that go around the world, the men can only experience the historical events passively. When they returned in the spring of 1991, their homeland was a foreign country. The documentary reconstructs the thoughts and feelings of the East German researchers on the basis of eyewitness accounts, diary excerpts, letters, film material, grandiose landscape shots from the location of the action and unique photos to make the consequences of the events tens of thousands of kilometers away on the small GDR expedition in the middle of the eternal ice tangible.

Leni Riefenstahl's flamboyant Nazi aesthetics shaped the public image of the 1936 Olympics. Never before had sports and politics been mixed. Through archive photos and reconstructions, we get a closer look into the historical propaganda show.