Susanne Brand

Documentary about Leipzig artist Neo Rauch, who is considered to be one of the seminal painters of his generation. Born in 1960, Rauch lost his parents in an accident while he was still a baby. He studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, and rose to international fame in the 1990s. Rauch, whose paintings often revolve around notions of home, is one of the most eminent figures of the Leipzig New School.

In the 17th century, advances in the natural sciences and the invention of the telescope led Dutch women painters to closely study nature and include reptiles and insects in their art. Women such as Maria Sibylla Merian, Alida Withoos and Maria Moninckx advanced botany and zoology with their highly detailed paintings. Almost forgotten, now their works hang in many important museums around the world.

Loneliness has many faces in Berlin. Young and old are afflicted by it, men, women, single and married people. It’s normal. Nonetheless there’s a stigma attached to this mixture of emotions that makes sufferers stay silent. Director Nicola Graef tries a different approach in her film: She lets the lonely inhabitants of the capital city speak, listens. The result is varied and quite often surprising.

The passionate story of the femme fatale, seductive and dangerous, a myth and a fantasy, through her representation in art.

In Huanchaco, a coastal village in northern Peru, surfing is said to have been invented three thousand years ago by fishermen on "caballitos de totora", small canoes built from reeds. At the age of 60, Lorenzo Ucañan continues to practice this ancestral form of fishing and heads the association that brings together the last remaining defenders of the tradition.

The painter Otto Dix (1891-1969) dissected and exposed his time like no other. The portraits from the world of the milieu of whores and suitors, of sexual violence, were a taboo break. His brutal depiction of war shook society - he was a ruthless chronicler of his day. In contrast, private life with his wife and children shows the gentle side of the provocative painter. Nicola Graef's film "Otto Dix - The Ruthless Painter" is dedicated to this interplay of life and work. Like few other artists, Dix used his personal experiences and experiences as the basis for his work.

In 2016, DEFA celebrates its 70th anniversary: the film embarks on a journey into the exciting film history of the GDR. In a comprehensive kaleidoscope, the importance of DEFA productions is illuminated, the relevance of the films as propaganda productions for the GDR, which socio-political themes were in the foreground, but also which heroes DEFA brought to the screen and celebrated as people from the people.