DW

A detailed reconstruction of the events from Nov. 9th to 11th, 1989, which led to the Berlin wall tumbling down, on a local, national and international level.

"What would the world be like without Beethoven?" That’s the provocative question posed by this music documentary from Deutsche Welle. To answer it, the film explores how Ludwig van Beethoven's innovations continue to have an impact far beyond the boundaries of classical music, 250 years after his birth.

Documentary about the connection between diet and the brain.

The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is not only waged with bombs, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, but also in the media. It is a "propaganda battle" internally and externally. Russia spreads targeted disinformation in order to systematically devalue news. At the same time, their own population should be convinced that they want to liberate Ukraine from Nazis. Ukraine's narrative wants to emotionally mobilize its own population and strengthen resistance to the aggressor. Spindoctors are of particular importance in the propaganda battle over Ukraine. On the Ukrainian side, it's often influencers like Oleksiy Arestovych. On the Russian side, Vladimir Solovyov, Putin's snout, is supposed to sell the war to his own people with his daily TV talks. The documentary shows the new front lines of virtual warfare and provides insights into the populists' bag of tricks on social networks.

In the Durban South Basin, Themba lives with his father near to an oil refinery. He’s in love with Khanya, his best friend. Khanya has a new boyfriend, KG, who promises her a safe future. The more their relationship grows, the more Themba must fight to get her back, until he goes one step too far.

In Russia, criticizing the war in Ukraine or Vladimir Putin’s regime has become a crime. Thousands of ordinary citizens are being arrested, tried, and imprisoned. They are called “Politzek”: political prisoners. Filmed clandestinely over the course of more than a year, Politzek gives a platform to those who, despite the fear, continue to speak out against Putin’s repressive Russia. Through the intersecting stories of a teenager sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing the government on social media, a young artist jailed for placing anti-war stickers, a human rights activist, and two theater directors facing Kafkaesque trials, the film unveils the machinery of state repression in Russia. With rare footage, broken yet unyielding voices, this is a story of silenced resistance.

For many, the Russian city of Perm might seem like the end of the world, isolated in the foothills of the Ural mountains. But it is in this rapidly developing industrial city – which is establishing itself as one of Russia’s modern cultural centers – that the Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis has been quietly revolutionizing classical music with his ensemble musicAeterna. The film follows the recording sessions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, documenting the artists’ habits and painting a portrait of this exuberant conductor.

June 1941, during World War II. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler orders the mass abduction of particularly well-bred young children from Poland and the occupied territories of the Soviet Union in order to be educated in German culture, by both state schools and German families…

For more than a decade, wildfires of unprecedented force have been devouring our lives, homes and forests at a steady pace. Each year, 350 million hectares of forest go up in smoke, the equivalent of six times the size of France. In the US, the fire season now lasts up to two months longer than a generation ago, and the surface burnt annually has multiplied by three. This film sets out on a gripping journey of investigation from Europe to the US, Canada, Brazil and Indonesia to follow the work of a global team of dedicated firefighters, scientists and fire experts as they investigate why our forests are going up in flames, and act on an unexpected discovery: if we want to save our forests, homes, health and our climate, we need to radically change our attitude towards fire and the way we fight wildfires.

The documentary marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of Germany's best-known art, architecture and design school, the Bauhaus. Exploring the legacy of this iconic German institution, our film crew traveled the world, meeting architects, artists, urban planners, doers and dreamers. Do the Bauhaus' social ideals and design principles still shape how we live today?

Philipp Melanchthon decisively shaped the history of the Reformation in Germany and renewed German education. In the shadow of his fatherly friend Martin Luther, he tirelessly tried to reconcile Reformation and humanism, Protestantism and Catholicism.

The documentary accompanied the work of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

Rodolfo Dugarte Sánchez has a dream. The young teacher from the Venezuelan Andes wants the children of the remote village of Las Plumas to learn to read and write too. He usually walks for almost four hours to teach them. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Rodolfo started building a school. Since then, no progress has been made. The Venezuelan state, hit by the crisis, does not support him with money or materials. Nor does the provincial government of Mérida show much interest in the children of the mountain

Berlin’s Museum Island, the cultural center of the German capital on the Spree river, houses a large number of art pieces from all over the globe, from the Stone Age to the present day. A walk through their great institutions to marvel at their masterpieces.

The stories of Jewish cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who survived Auschwitz, and of star conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who worked with the Nazis, provide insight. The film centers around two people who represent musical culture during the Third Reich - albeit in very different ways. Wilhelm Furtwängler was a star conductor; Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the cellist of the infamous Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. Both shared a love for the classical German music.

Dmytro Dokunov, a Ukrainian cinematographer, is deployed in a combat unit to face the Russian invasion with his mobile camera always recording.

The race for supremacy in the age of artificial intelligence is on: between the USA, China and Europe. Between big tech companies and start-ups. Who will win the competition? Will Europe be left behind? And who will determine a technology that will shape the future of humanity?

The 9th Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most popular pieces of classical music in the world. Even those who are not passionate about the classical music recognize the famous Ode to Joy. Despite the grim context in which it was created, the 9th Symphony leaves us fascinated, moved and uplifted by its creativity, its power and its culmination in the Ode to Joy. More than 160 years after it was written, Beethoven’s hymn to brotherhood was adopted by the European Union as its official anthem. But Beethoven’s Ninth is also met with enthusiasm far beyond the borders of Europe. What’s the explanation for its never ending success? What is it about this work of art that fascinates people all over the world?

A look at the past, present and future of NATO, which has shaped Europe's security and defense policies since 1949.

US student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labor camp in 2016. Warmbier was released the following year, but he died of brain damage shortly after his return to the United States. Was he really the victim of torture?