Claus Küchenmeister

Günter Walcher, 40-years-old, is a hardworking, apolitical West German businessman caught in a moral conflict. He is offered a promotion to become the head of a division—on the condition that he find a reason to fire Zacharias, a communist and the work council chairman.

On one very fine sunny day, a fourth-grader Thomas, as always, is out of the house in the morning to get to school by subway. But on this day he has a too good mood and that, along with the good weather, prevents him get to the lessons. He decides to skip his station, and take a walk through Berlin.

Episodes from the life of German poet and communist Erich Weiner: his stay in Paris, participation in the Spanish Civil War, years of exile in Russia. Moscow, May 1941. Children play in the sun, young people fall in love, make plans for their future. German emigrants, including 50-year-old Erich, are concerned about events in their homeland and sense impending disaster...

Berlin in the early 1930s. Bello is an unemployed young man who loves the underage Frieda. In order to earn a living for both of them, Frieda goes on the streets. An inspector from the political department takes advantage of this to blackmail Bello into providing informer services. But that's not all. A jealousy murder among pimps, whose victim is a high-ranking Nazi, is blamed on the Communists, and Bello is supposed to be the key witness. He refuses. When the Nazis come to power, they reopen the case to turn the murdered man into a martyr. Bello still refuses. He now believes he is safe because Frieda is now of age. But he pays for his refusal with his life.

A refugee from a Nazi concentration camp is discovered by some boys in WWII Berlin. They provide him with food and help him to continue his flight. Later one of the boys, the son of a communist, is charged with theft, arrested and sent to a concentration camp.

It’s the spring of 1945 in a small resort town on the Baltic. Günter is 16 and firmly believes that the Germans will win the war. During the hunt for a forced labourer who is on the run, Günter catches him and watches as he is shot to death. He proudly accepts the award of an Iron Cross before being shipped to the nearby front as part of the last contingent of troops. He is quickly captured by Soviet soldiers, but manages to escape and return home. When the town is occupied by the Red Army, Günter is arrested for the murder of the forced labourer. The film was banned in 1968 before it was completed, and a large portion of the negative was later destroyed.

Two 17-year-olds, Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, are pulled out of school and into Hitler's army. Gilbert becomes a fanatical soldier; but at the front, Werner begins to understand the senselessness of war.

East German film about the history of Red Orchestra, a real life German pro-Soviet spy ring created after the rise of Hitler that turned into a resistance movement led by a leftist Nazi officer, Harro Schulze-Boysen, and Arvid Harnack.

Little Daniel is a huge fan of cycling. He constantly drives around on his three-wheeler, knowing that he wants to become a famous racing cyclist – just as fast and famous as the world champion Täve Schur. But until then he has to struggle with the difficulties of growing up. His mother, for example, wants him to drink milk – even though Daniel does not find this very suitable for world champions. To get affirmation, Daniel starts searching for his role model Täve. On the way, he has some interesting encounters and experiences many adventures. When he finally meets Täve at a race, Daniel is astonished to watch him pleasurably drink a bottle of milk after an outstanding victory.

Screen adaptation of Eichendorff's famous novella. A penniless drifter roams the land with his violin and preferably sings his songs to beautiful women. Two of his female admirers get him employed as a gardener at a castle. Yet he doesn't settle down for long, and moves on to his next temporary job as a customs officer. Finally, he travels to Italy where he joins the gang of Rinaldo Rinaldini and eventually meets the love of his life.

Ernst is a student in Hamburg around 1900 and leads a life like many other young people. In his free time, he roams the colorful metropolis with his buddy Karl. After school, he helps his father, whose business he is to inherit one day. Ernst has many questions about the world and life, but it is difficult to find satisfactory answers... At this time, nobody suspects that he will go down in the history books as the workers' leader Ernst Thälmann.

Once upon a time, there was a poor farmer who had thirteen children. Since the farmer was so poor, there was never anything left for the youngest of the family. Therefore, the farmer chose Death as the godfather of his son, Jörg, because all people are equal in the eyes of Death. The Grim Reaper is happy to look after the boy and turns Jörg into a skilled doctor who earns wealth and fame.

A biographical documentary about the Bulgarian born film director Slatan Dudow (1903–1963).

The early 1930s in Berlin. Cabaret artist Emil Damaschke wants to entertain people with his program - together with Ida, the attraction from Hungary. But because he risks a lip that is too big, he is thrown out of the "Rosenthaler" cabaret, ends up on the criminal circuit and briefly in prison. Back out again, he and his colleagues leased the "Rosenthaler", whose Jewish owners had fled abroad to escape the Nazis. They set up a cooperative. However, a gang of criminals who professed allegiance to the Nazis wanted a share of the profits and believed they had a free ride. Emil rejects Ida's intention to win over the workers as a new audience, he makes money with advertising and refuses to join the criminals. They kidnap Ida, murder her in the forest and make sure that Emil is framed for the murder. Emil ends up in prison and the criminals take over the cabaret - in Nazi uniform.

A master thief returns home. There he is threatened with the gallows if he fails to solve the tasks set by the count. So he has to steal the count's personal horse, the bed sheet and the wedding ring as well as the priest and the sexton.

The girl Jorinde and the foundling Joringel grow up sheltered in a farmer's cottage behind the moor, but the dense forest around them harbors deep secrets. One day, a sorceress, omnipresent as an owl, juniper tree or in fairy form, takes the beautiful Jorinde away. Her mother, father and Joringel are left behind in sorrow. However, determined Joringel sets off in search of Jorinde. Although the enchantress tries to convince him that his search is in vain, he succeeds in finding his beloved in an enchanted castle. There she lives, enchanted, alongside many other beauties, unattainable for reality. But it is the special power of the love between the two that enables Joringel to recognize Jorinde, who has been transformed into a nightingale, among many other nightingales. The spell expires. But peace only returns when Joringel saves his family from marauders and defeats them in battle.

Documentary about the German poet Erich Weinert.

The clever but poor farmer Klaus infuriates the rich big Klaus with his mischief. But little Klaus always manages to get out of the most difficult situations and emerge victorious in the end. But one day, big Klaus has a fit and wants to drown little Klaus. Now he once again has to rely on his intuition and his wit ...