Jan Schmidt-Garre

When the pianist Francesco Piemontesi hears an unreleased recording of the pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, it comes as a shock to him. This freedom of playing, these colors and nuances, this virtuosity, which is always presented with a smile, overwhelms him. He decides to explore what he believes he is hearing here: the alchemy of the piano.

Balkrishna Doshi (1927-2023) is one of India's most influential 20th century architects and recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Doshi and his practice Vastu-Shilpa has a portfolio spanning over 70 years, including collaborations with both Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. The film introduces viewers to his famous buildings and offers an exclusive look into his work process. Doshi shares his sources of inspiration and motivation and is also a brilliant storyteller. His presence of mind, his humor and his wisdom create the image of a man from whom we can not only learn to build humanly, but from whom we can learn – to be human.

For us today, Wilhelm Furtwängler is a monument: immense and unapproachable. The documentary Furtwängler’s Love from 2004 provides us with the opportunity to get to know the man behind the conductor. At the centre is his wife Elisabeth, who gives a vivid and thoughtful account of her years at Furtwängler’s side, full of charm and wit.

A Journey to the Origins of Modern Yoga. Yoga is known to go back to God Shiva, who perfected 8,4 million postures, according to Indian tradition. Far less known is the fact that yoga is at the same time an early 20th century-creation of Indian savant T. Krishnamacharya, which is what this film is about. Krishnamacharya's life and teachings are seen through the eyes of the director on his search for authentic yoga. His journey leads him from students and relatives of Krishnamacharya's such as the legendary teachers Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois to the source of modern yoga: the palace of the Maharaja of Mysore, where Krishnamacharya founded the first ever yoga school. A feature-length documentary including rare historical footage as well as lavish reenactments.

A portrait of the artist Andreas Gursky and his work „Hamm, Bergwerk Ost“. It follows the genesis of the image from conception to construction to contraction and reaction – until it finds its home in a worthy collection holding many of its „siblings“.

John Baldessari is one of the pioneers of conceptual art, which revolutionized contemporary art in the 1960s, and is still a profound influence on young artists today. The film shows John Baldessari in all aspects of his work: as an artist in his studio, with the technicians he collaborates with, as a teacher interacting with his students, as a passionate observer of the contemporary scene and visiting the Biennale in Venice as well as the Basel Art Fair. This film provides us with insights into the work of a radically modern-thinking artist and sharpens our perception of the often inaccessible world of contemporary art.

Stefan Zucker, the world's highest tenor, visits the opera divas of his childhood. The journey from apartment to apartment, from diva to diva, from Rome to Milan, turns into an opera road movie.

Orchestra rehearsals with Teodor Currentzis. The House of the Radio of the GDR in Berlin. A young couple in love. The artistic process viewed from the outside – and from the inside. Mahler’s boundary-breaking Third Symphony. What triggered the composition 130 years ago, and what does it trigger in us today?