The intricate history of UFA, a film production company founded in 1917 that has survived the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime, the Adenauer era and the many and tumultuous events of contemporary Germany, and has always been the epicenter of the German film industry.
A keen chronicle of the unlikely rise to power of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and a dissection of the Third Reich (1933-1945), but also an analysis of mass psychology and how the desperate crowd can be deceived and shepherded to the slaughterhouse.
Also tagged republic of weimar, nazism
Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1919, when the Republic of Weimar is born, to 1933, when the Nazis come into power. (Followed by Hitler's Hollywood, 2017.)
Also tagged republic of weimar
Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1933, when the Nazis came into power, until 1945, when the Third Reich collapsed. (A sequel to From Caligari to Hitler, 2015.)
Also tagged german cinema
A showcase of German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.
Also tagged third reich (iii reich 1933-45)
In late eighties, in Ceausescu's Romania, a black market VHS bootlegger and a courageous female translator brought the magic of Western films to the Romanian people and sowed the seeds of a revolution.
Also tagged cinema on cinema
A portrait of celebrated filmmaker David Chase: his life, his career and his groundbreaking work on the HBO original series The Sopranos.
Also tagged cinema on cinema
The fantastic story of how an ancient martial art, Chinese kung fu, conquered the world through the hundreds of films that were produced in Hong Kong over the decades, transformed Western action cinema and inspired the birth of cultural movements such as blaxploitation, hip hop music, parkour and Wakaliwood cinema.
Also tagged cinema on cinema
Five acclaimed contemporary directors tell the story of five legendary Hollywood filmmakers who enlisted in the armed forces to document World War II.
Also tagged movie business
During his nearly 50 years in show business, Bill Cosby became one of America's most recognizable black celebrities: his career was a model of excellence for millions of Americans, until the painful testimonies of dozens of women uncovered the sinister grimace behind the smile of the so-called America's dad.
Also tagged cinema on cinema
During the Nazi regime, there was widespread persecution of homosexual men, which started in 1871 with the Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code. Thousands were murdered in concentration camps. This powerful and disturbing documentary, narrated by Rupert Everett, presents for the first time the largely untold testimonies of some of those who survived.
Also tagged third reich (iii reich 1933-45)
JB Smoove and Martin Starr host a celebration of 20 years of "Spider-Man" movies, from the Sam Raimi trilogy to Marc Webb's movies and the trio from Jon Watts.
Also tagged film production
A documentary about the rise and fall of the Cannon Film Group, the legendary independent film company helmed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.
Also tagged film production
Capturing Avatar is a feature length behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Avatar. It uses footage from the film's development, as well as stock footage from as far back as the production of Titanic in 1995. Also included are numerous interviews with cast, artists, and other crew members. The documentary was released as a bonus feature on the extended collector's edition of Avatar.
Also tagged film production
Music is an integral part of most films, adding emotion and nuance while often remaining invisible to audiences. Matt Schrader shines a spotlight on the overlooked craft of film composing, gathering many of the art form’s most influential practitioners, from Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman to Quincy Jones and Randy Newman, to uncover their creative process. Tracing key developments in the evolution of music in film, and exploring some of cinema’s most iconic soundtracks, 'Score' is an aural valentine for film lovers.
Also tagged film production
An intimate, authentic portrait of Hitler's Germany as recorded by the people who lived it. Never-before-seen home movies, Nazi propaganda films and personal recollections culled from German's diaries, journals and letters provide a rare look inside the darker pages of world history.
Also tagged nazism
American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999), one of the greatest in history, but also one of the most reserved, gave few interviews throughout his long career, and none of them were filmed. A first-person journey through his life and work, based on a recorded conversation with French film critic Michel Climent.
Also tagged cinema on cinema
Tracing a century of movie and TV history, these four documentary specials explore the unparalleled global impact of Warner Bros. on art, commerce, and culture.
Also tagged movie business
In 1974, Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky embarked on the quixotic project of adapting Frank Herbert's influential novel Dune (1969) for the big screen. After investing two years, and millions of dollars, the gigantic project ended in failure; but the artists Jodorowsky brought together to carry it out continued to work together, and ended up laying the foundations for modern science fiction cinema.
Also tagged cinema on cinema
England, 1021: Born in a miserable mining town, Robert Cole swears to become a physician and vanquish disease and death. His harsh path of many years, a quest for knowledge besieged by countless challenges and sacrifices, leads him to the remote Isfahan, in Persia, where he meets Ibn Sina, the greatest healer of his time.
When German police viciously quell a protest against the shah of Iran, popular journalist Ulrike Meinhof rebels against her dishonest marriage, walks away from her children and joins radical anarchist Andreas Baader. Together with Baader's girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, they form the violent Red Faction Army, and together perpetrate a slew of terrorist attacks as a way of disrupting the fabric of what they see as an increasingly fascist state.
The story of the final seven months in the life of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
This feature film based on the events of 1938 is a chronicle of the futile efforts of the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (Jirí Pleskot), politicians and ordinary citizens, to save the independence and the territorial integrity of the state from the advance of Hitler's Germany. On the 29th of March 1938 the leader of the Sudeten Germans Henlein (Werner Ehrlicher) has a meeting with Hitler (Gunnar Möller). Hitler orders him to intensify pressure on the Czechoslovak government. On the 24th of April in Carlsbad, the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party) decides upon eight demands that are unacceptable to the Czechoslovak President, since they would ultimately lead to the break-up of the Republic. Benes still shows a certain willingness to negotiate, and Henlein resents this. The Germans are determined to make further negotiations impossible through incidents and violence.
Taking place at the Concentration camp Buchenwald at the end of March 1945, prisoner Hans Pippig discovers in a carrying case of an incoming prisoner a Jewish child. If reported the three-year-old is sure to die. On the other hand, a violation of the rules of the camp would threaten the long prepared uprising of the concentration camp prisoners against the SS.
From Murnau to Herzog, and until modern incarnations, a mischievous exploration of a cinematographic legendary character, with Nosferatu himself as a guide...
Utilizing potent TV interviews and many forgotten performances from his 30-year career, we are immersed into Frank Zappa’s world while experiencing two distinct facets of his complex character. At once Zappa was both a charismatic composer who reveled in the joy of performing and, in the next moment, a fiercely intelligent and brutally honest interviewee whose convictions only got stronger as his career ascended.
The story of a great friendship between Bruno Balz and Michael Jary. The most successful duo in schlager and film music has shaped German-language popular culture for five decades. The wild twenties, then cinema glamour and Gestapo imprisonment, new beginnings, and swinging sixties - their songs are still alive today.
Documentary is a look back at the varied life of the Olympic competitor, inventor and actor Bud Spencer, who became particularly famous in Germany for his "Hau drauf" comedies with film partner Terrence Hill. Through numerous interviews with family members, fans and connoisseurs, the film also provides a very private insight into the life of the man who, by his own admission, actually has nothing in common with the fictional character "Bud Spencer", and attempts to fathom the cult that still surrounds him today.
Between 1933 and 1945 roughly 1200 films were made in Germany, of which 300 were banned by the Allied forces. Today, around 40 films, called "Vorbehaltsfilme", are locked away from the public with an uncertain future. Should they be re-released, destroyed, or continue to be neglected? Verbotene Filme takes a closer look at some of these forbidden films.
Documentary of 3 parts that narrates based on the film "The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen" (1943), the progression of color cinema developed in Europe.
A documentary of the life of German actress Sybille Schmitz (1909–1955) who rose to prominence in the German cinema of the 1930s and whose final years were used as the basis for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1982 film 'Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss'.
Documentary on the life and work of F.W. Murnau.
Berlin, 1920-1930s. A colony of Russian cinematographers is creating film production on a truly Hollywood scale. Hundreds of studios, dozens of "stars", European blockbusters.
An unprecedented and intimate look at the life, work and enduring legacy of British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).
Viewers also picked
For the 20th anniversary of "Titanic," James Cameron reopens the file on the disaster.
Viewers also picked
In 1936, Victor H. Green (1892-1960) published The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that was both a travel guide and a survival manual, to help African-Americans navigate safe those regions of the United States where segregation and Jim Crow laws were disgracefully applied.
Viewers also picked
On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school. It was a crime that shocked the nation--and a defining moment in the history of the civil-rights movement. Spike Lee re-examines the full story of the bombing, including a revealing interview with former Alabama Governor George Wallace.
Viewers also picked
A portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), a genius of modern architecture, whose life passed between glory, scandal and tragedy.
Same director
Journey into the extraordinary world of "The Witcher" — from casting the roles to Jaskier's catchy song — in this behind-the-scenes look at the series.
Viewers also picked
Roddy McDowall takes you, film by film, from production meetings to make-up sessions, then right onto the movie set to see the actual filming of the science fiction masterpiece. The most comprehensive history of Planet of the Apes ever created, this fascinating 127-minute documentary explores one of the most imaginative and influential series in movie history.
Viewers also picked
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
Viewers also picked
An account of the life and work of controversial German orchestra conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908-89), celebrated as one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century.
Same director
A documentary on the making of the three Godfather films, with interviews and recollections from the film makers and cast. This feature also includes the original screen tests of some of the actors for "The Godfather" film, and some candid moments on the set of "The Godfather: Part III."
Viewers also picked
Ida Kronenberg must transfer to a new school, where she soon realizes the students are unkind to each other. However, that all changes when a new teacher, Miss Cornfield, begins to educate them on the value of friendship and magic.
Following the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, investigative journalist Peter Miller sets out to hunt down an SS Captain and former concentration camp commander. In doing so he discovers that, despite allegations of war crimes, the former commander has become a man of importance in industry in post-war Germany, protected from prosecution by a powerful organisation of former SS members called Odessa.
The students of the School of Magical Animals want to perform a musical for the school's anniversary. Will rehearsals end in chaos or will the class pull together? And what's up with the strange holes on the school grounds?
Jenny is young. Her life is over. She killed someone. And she would do it again. When an 80-year-old piano teacher discovers the girl’s secret, her brutality and her dreams, she decides to transform her pupil into the musical wunderkind she once was.
Dramatised origin story of one of Germany's most beloved contemporary comedians, Hape Kerkeling.
The humorous and touching story of six former creative anarchists who lived as house squatters in Berlin during its heyday in the 80s when Berlin was still an island in the middle of the former East Germany. At the end of the 80s, they went their separate ways with the exception of Tim and Hotte, who have remained true to their ideals and continue to fight the issues they did as a group. In 2000, with Berlin as Germany's new capital, an event happens forcing the group out of existential reason to reunite and, ultimately, come to terms with the reason they separated 12 years ago.
A lighthearted look at the opening of the border crossing of Bornholmer Straße in Berlin from the point of view of the confused border guards.
Inspired by true events, Olympic swimmer Harry Melchior defects from East Germany in the 1960s and hatches a daring plot to help his sister and others flee East Berlin through a 145-yard underground tunnel.
A journalist gets caught up in a terrorist plot in Moscow while investigating the Russian secret service.
The devil tricks a little boy off his laughter in exchange for assured wins in all his bets. It depicts his journey after the deal with the devil, how he loses his soul bit by bit with each win.
Silesia, 1844. After her husband dies in a brutally suppressed weavers’ uprising, Mila emigrates to America. En route to Texas, she rescues Countess Cecilie Hohenberg from her violent husband. Captured by Comanche warrior Buffalo Hump, the women must navigate captivity, while Mila forges unexpected bonds amid the struggle for freedom.
The sequel of the "Men in the city" movie which reunites all the characters.
Gabriela once a famous singer who enjoyed great success. She married, had a daughter Andrea, but pursued her career. Now that Andrea has matured into a young woman, Gabriela is overwhelmed by maternal remorse.
After his parents separate and he loses his place on the soccer team, Moritz must put together a new team against incredible odds.
Andreas, a young German student comes to Hungary on an exchange programme. In the Hungarian village he falls in love with the stationmaster's daughter Piroschka and spends much of his time with her. They have an enchanting summer until Andreas gets an invitation to join another young woman at a nearby resort. Piroschka is jealous and follows him there, causing trouble. It takes a long time for Andreas and Piroschka to even talk to each other again. When Andreas has to leave Hungary at the end of his holiday, he is determined to return some day.
After some initial difficulties, the daughter of a circus director who died in an accident follows in her father’s footsteps and takes over the business.
Oliver and the much older photographer Hendrik are a couple. A rather contrasting couple: Hendrik has already achieved a lot in his life and is considered an 'old hand' in his profession. Oliver, on the other hand, is only at the beginning of his career as a photographer and has retained a childlike naivety and playfulness in his life plans. Oliver and the young Silvia meet at a photo session. It is immediately clear to the ambitious Silvia that Oliver is her springboard to a modeling career. That same evening, Hendrik proposes to Oliver. But Oliver makes an almost unfulfillable condition: He wants a child! Hendrik is completely at a loss. What should he do? Then Silvia bursts into his house. All she really wants is to be photographed by Oliver. But things turn out differently...
