Christoph Engel

East German adaptation of Grimm‘s fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin". A boastful miller pretends that his daughter Marie can spin straw into gold, and so she is locked into a room full of straw and ordered to spin it into gold by the next morning. A little man appears and offers his help in exchange for Marie's necklace. The greedy treasurer makes Marie spin twice more until the only thing she has left to give the little man is the promise of her first-born child…

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.

A crime writer on a train to Berlin shares her compartment with a mysterious man who claims to be a cannibal. Initially intrigued, she tries to humorously dismiss his claim while her imagination sparks a new novel featuring Detective Rosa Roth, who investigates a similar case. As the journey progresses, the writer’s confidence fades, replaced by fear and mistrust. The man’s behaviour becomes more unsettling, especially after a young girl reports inappropriate comments from him. In the dining car, he claims to have eaten a fellow passenger and reveals his tools are nearby. Despite her fear, the writer is drawn to learn more about his methods, blurring the lines between her novel and reality. Ultimately, her fantasy merges with reality, leading to dire consequences.

Based on a true story of inmates at KZ Buchenwald that risked their lives to hide a small Jewish boy shortly before the liberation of the camp.

A musician seeks a peaceful vacation in a Vogtland village but is soon overwhelmed by requests for a symphonic composition and a pop song for a local dance band, leaving him with no time to relax.

Otto Scheidel (Manfred Krug) has been captain of the Elbe steamer Jenissei for over twenty years, but his ship, the last of its kind, is going to be converted into a floating restaurant. Otto, whose his strong attachment to the ship has already cost him his relationship with his girlfriend Caramba (Renate Krößner), refuses to take another job and instead joins a railway construction brigade.

A story spanning three generations, from 1871 to 1945. When Gustav Wengler, a farmer’s son, returns from the Franco-German war in 1871, he goes to work for a precision mechanics and optical company, where he soon becomes a master craftsman. Wengler loyally promises the owner on his deathbed that his sons and grandsons will also stand by the company.

Summer holidays are beginning for 13 years old Daniel, a boy from East Berlin. He does not know yet that his parents are going to get divorced. They are afraid of Daniel`s reaction, so they have not told him about their decision until now. Together they drive to a village in the mountains. There Daniel finally recognizes the truth about his parents marital problems. When Daniel has an accident, this brings his parents together again, at least for the moment...

Post-war Germany: Like so many other women, Gerda Krause has lost her husband during the war and has to fend for herself and her two children. She finds work as a seamstress but refuses the offering of her department chief Zimmermann to upgrade her qualifications. One day she meets Uschi, an old friend of hers, whom she has helped with schoolwork before the war and subsequently lost track of. The reunion reminds Gerda of her childhood dream: to become a teacher. Thus, she decides to enroll at university to make her dream come true.

In November of 1939, the British consulate in Norway receives documents saying that the Nazis are conducting secret rocket research in Peenemünde. But the British doubt the authenticity of the so called "Oslo report". Thus, the Germans continue their experiments unimpeded. At the same time, resistance groups from France, England, Poland, and Germany try to find and to sabotage the secret Nazi research base. When the first "V 2" rocket is successfully launched, the Allied commanders finally become interested in the "Oslo report".

1934, Germany. Jan is a 13 year old boy, who is raised without a mother. His father, a communist, is accused of a political murder, and predicted to be shot by the police when he was on the run. Jan lives with his aunt and finds a friend, Max, who wants to help him to find out what really with his father happened. During a conspirative gathering Max is shot by SA (Nazi paramilitary) and Jan succeed to escape in a barge. Erika, the daughter of the captain of the barge, and a boatman hide him. They try to help Jan to escape from police and find his father, who really survived.

Four directors - four styles - four episodes, all relating the events of a single night which has entered the history books: August 12-13, 1961. There are thousands of complex narratives connected with the frontier drawn through the middle of Berlin, and each episode relates the story of a difficult decision made on that night...

A funny adventures of a two young boys who are trying to rebuild the ship called "Emma" for their friend - the old captain.

Wolf Brandin is in his mid-twenties and lives with his wife and child in East Berlin at the end of the 1950s. In West Berlin, the student of electrical engineering is recruited by the American secret service CIA. But Brandin immediately notifies the State Security of the German Democratic Republic and from then on lives a dangerous life as a double agent. When Brandin reaches the breaking point, his marriage starts to unravel because Brandin is not allowed to tell his family about his double life.

After a breakdown, Rita returns to her childhood village in 1961. As she recovers, she remembers the past two years: her love for the chemist Manfred, ten years her senior; how his enthusiasm about his new chemical process turned to bitter disappointment in the face of official rejection; how he escaped to West Berlin a few weeks before the Wall was built and hoped that she would follow him …

Stasi agent Alexander Berg has to uncover a plot of sabotage.

Inge Herold is in her mid-thirties. She is divorced and lives with her 15-year-old son. She works as a psychologist and social worker and is involved with a married man. Suddenly, Inge finds out she may have breast cancer, which would mean an operation the very next day. The 24 hours before the planned surgery puts her under enormous psychological pressure and she begins to reevaluate her life. With heightened awareness of matters of everyday life, she realizes that what she previously considered meaningful, was actually void of any real meaning.

Set against the backdrop of post-unification Germany, the film explores the breakdown of relations in a decaying social structure.

Elias, born at the end of the war, receives an anonymous phone call on his 47th birthday: his parents are dead. He is now a successful politician, but thirty years ago he had fled from his home and parents in the East to seek a new life in the West. The return to his parental home causes Elias a sense of unease and disturbs the rigid order and complacency of his life.

At a GDR farm, VEAB chief Amann bans cabbage in favor of cauliflower, enraging LPG accountant Gritt. Mistaking visiting writer Hans Brauer for a high-level inspector, Amann backpedals, clearing the harvest issue, while Brauer and Gritt spark an unexpected romance.

Maria, a young student sees her brother Dieter going to prison for sedition against the state. She starts an affair with Paul, a judge who turns out to be the one who sentenced her brother, which eventually leads to a confrontation.

In 1896 the Berlin noble doctor Dr. Wilhelm Holtfreter takes over his well-to-do wife Mathilde and takes over the country doctor's office in the Prussian district of Westprignitz from the late Dr. Tochtenhagen. His decision was met with incomprehension everywhere.

London in 1856. Karl Marx is living in exile in the British capital. One day, "Mohr", as Marx is called by his friends, meets the 13-year old worker′s son Joe. The boy works every day for twelve hours in a spinning mill and even has to work night shifts although that violates current rules. Marx tries to end the illegal activities of the spinning mill owner and one night shows up at the mill together with an inspector. But his foray is undermined by a robbery by the rebellious raven gang that is led by Joe′s brother Billy. The spinning mill owner of course takes this chance to blame his young workers for the theft. But Marx is not let astray and does not stop to fight against child labour. Furthermore, he tries to get the members of the raven gang back on the straight and narrow – with success.

The Federal Republic of Germany. Journalist Rohmann, seriously injured in a car accident, is dying in hospital. Before his death, he bequeaths his unfinished novel to his friend, the famous writer Frank Seburg, and asks him to complete the work he started. Frank Seburg examines the materials collected by Rohmann. It turns out that the journalist was trying to uncover the mystery surrounding the deaths of several West German officials. According to the official version, they all committed suicide. Seburg was unable to fulfill his friend's request to reveal the true causes of their deaths. The fight against the followers of fascism proved too much for him.

Tatort is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD in Germany, ORF in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland.

Polizeiruf 110 is a long-running German language detective television series. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the German Democratic Republic, and after the dissolution of Fernsehen der DDR the series was picked up by ARD. It was originally created as a counterpart to the West German series Tatort, and quickly became a public favorite.

Der Staatsanwalt hat das Wort was an East German television series.

Pastewka is a German television sitcom that began airing on German TV channel Sat.1 in 2005. The series, currently in its sixth season, is set in Cologne, with German actor Bastian Pastewka starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It has been compared to Seinfeld and Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. The series was awarded, among others, the Rose d'Or and the German Television Prize. Series was directed by Joseph Orr and Jan Markus Linhof.

After Elmers, the head of the publishing house, is reported missing, his son-in-law Jürgen Brandt is targeted by the Hamburg criminal police. Inspector Graumann and his assistant Weber presume murder. The suspicion against editor-in-chief Brandt is confirmed by the fact that he is incriminated by the testimony of several witnesses. At a press conference, Brandt claims that the Elmers murder case was staged only to exonerate the innocently convicted family man, Parsetti. But to Brandt's horror, Elmer's body is actually found.

Russian soldier Grisha escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp in the spring of 1917. He is caught and is to be shot as a spy. This decision is controversial. The dispute continues. Grisha is executed on the orders of the army high command.

Four-part miniseries about the theologian Thomas Müntzer, who became a revolutionary and opponent of Luther during the Peasant War in 1525.

In the troubled state of Ocantros, the prime minister is assassinated. Martin Katrup, who is responsible for setting up a large printing plant, is also on the island at this time. A short time later, two of his colleagues disappear without a trace and Katrup sets off in search of them. The situation is exacerbated when the secret service tries everything in its power to spark a coup and a civil war.

She is called Dona Juanita: the attractive young architect Anita Nachtigall, who manages a department on a large construction site with great success. She is said to have had many affairs and, so it is said, the death of a certain Sawallish. The evil afterspeech puts Anita so that she announces her place. But a young safety inspector on the job site doesn't want her to leave. He cares what really happened...

In the 21st century, a global socialist security organization is concerned over a new energy source, of possible alien origin, falling into the hands of one of the last remaining capitalist countries and turned into a super-weapon.