DW

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.

Ai Weiwei is a global star and an enigma. DW followed him for a year for this intimate portrait. The film shows Ai Weiwei at home, at work, and on the road for work, as he prepares his latest series of works focused on refugees and their fates.

The Hamas terror attack had dramatic consequences for people in Israel, the Gaza Strip and around the world. Here, we hear individual stories from people living in Tel Aviv. What were their lives like before 7 October 2023? What’s their current perception of the war? What do they see, when they look to the future? In the summer of 2023, Tel Aviv was a lively, liberal and open metropolis, known as the “Mediterranean Capital of Cool”. Then came October 7, and changed everything. Here, people’s lives are forever divided: into ‘before’, and ‘after’. Club owners, culture workers, restaurateurs, LGBTQ activists and architects share very personal insights into a traumatized society. And they’ve not given up hope for better times once the war is over.

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.

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.

Documentary about the connection between diet and the brain.

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.

It's one of the seven deadly sins, and it seems to be an integral component of human nature. It could also serve as the gateway to moral bankruptcy and the trigger for global devastation. What drives our thirst for more, what is its impact on our personal sense of peace and the state of the world, and is it a behavior that can ever be unlearned?

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.

"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.

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.

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.

Marvel and its rival DC Comics were long locked in a battle for supremacy in the superhero universe. But then Marvel revolutionized its storytelling palette: Formerly slick comic book heroes were given human traits and problems as well as superpowers. Plot lines became increasingly interwoven. Superheroes like Spider-Man, X-Men and Jessica Jones now enjoy cult status even among an audience that has never read the comic books. Former Marvel insiders and comic experts give a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Marvel universe and reveal how the company fought its way back to become one of the most successful names in the entertainment industry.

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?

Mariam comes from Fana, a town nearby the Malian capital. At 5, she was sexually abused by a family acquaintance, raped by her cousin at 13 and by her brother-in-law at 16. Today, she deals with her traumas through dance.

Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948. Why was he killed and what events occurred before and after his murder? This documentary shows how India was dogged by nationalism and religious conflict on its path to independence - and how these factors mark the country to this day.

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.

It's the smallest and most mysterious army in the world: the Swiss Guard. The film follows these men of faith and combat, from their recruitment in Switzerland to their military training in the heart of the Vatican. Made up of 150 men, this elite corps lives in barracks in the center of Vatican City. All must be Swiss citizens and devout Catholics. They have all sworn to fight to the death to protect their faith and the Holy Father. They are heirs to a 500-year-old tradition in which the Pope's protection and security were ensured by Swiss mercenaries. Trained in the use of both halberds and semi-automatic rifles, the Swiss Guards form a unique army. But who are they really? What motivates these young men to join this military and religious body? A dive into a world normally closed to the cameras.