Volkmar Kleinert

The Lives of Others

In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.

Otto – The Alien from East Frisia

Otto is the only one who is able to save his Frisian fatherland; but he needs the help of his brother, who is abroad. But his brother does not want to fulfill what he has sworn as a child. So it takes Otto a while to convince him while time is running low for his plans to save East-Frisia.

Long Roads - Secret Love

Long-haul driver Hannes picks up a young hitchhiker, Herb, who had a falling-out with his parents after dropping out of college and now travels around doing odd jobs. After a series of adventures, they are joined by Johanna and her child, who missed their bus and need a ride to Berlin. Johanna has left her husband so that he can reflect on their broken relationship and both men gradually begin to fall in love with her.

Leben zu zweit

Karin, who is in her mid-thirties, works as registrar but has been divorced for several years. Together with her 16-year old daughter Nora, she leads a happy and independent life. Then, she finds a new partner in the mathematician Peter, but does not tell her daughter about him. When Peter proposes marriage, Karin always comes up with new excuses why such a step is still too early for her. She mainly fears that Nora would not be able to cope with another marriage of her mother. But when Peter cannot be dissuaded anymore by her excuses and finally wants to marry her, Karin comes up with a bizarre plan.

Der Clown 2: Feindschaft

Second TV movie to precede the German series Der Clown (1998-2001). On the grave of his parents, who disappeared under terrible circumstances, Max Zander vows to fight crime and terrorism for the rest of his life. He becomes one of the best agents in an elite intervention group. During a dangerous mission, his best friend is killed before his very eyes. To defend the law and justice, he decides to die and be reborn as a ghost: the Clown is born. Max Zander is the Clown!

Lara

Today is Lara’s 60th birthday, which happens to fall on the same day as her pianist son’s career-defining concert. A failed pianist herself, Lara spends the time before his performance pacing about Berlin—boiling with jealousy, nerves, and pride—trying to get hold of her elusive son.

Fear and Misery of the Third Reich

Film adaptation of Berthold Brecht's play of the same name, in which he depicts everyday life in Nazi Germany in loosely connected scenes.

Imaginative King

The Lives of Others

In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.

Otto – The Alien from East Frisia

Otto is the only one who is able to save his Frisian fatherland; but he needs the help of his brother, who is abroad. But his brother does not want to fulfill what he has sworn as a child. So it takes Otto a while to convince him while time is running low for his plans to save East-Frisia.

Long Roads - Secret Love

Long-haul driver Hannes picks up a young hitchhiker, Herb, who had a falling-out with his parents after dropping out of college and now travels around doing odd jobs. After a series of adventures, they are joined by Johanna and her child, who missed their bus and need a ride to Berlin. Johanna has left her husband so that he can reflect on their broken relationship and both men gradually begin to fall in love with her.

Leben zu zweit

Karin, who is in her mid-thirties, works as registrar but has been divorced for several years. Together with her 16-year old daughter Nora, she leads a happy and independent life. Then, she finds a new partner in the mathematician Peter, but does not tell her daughter about him. When Peter proposes marriage, Karin always comes up with new excuses why such a step is still too early for her. She mainly fears that Nora would not be able to cope with another marriage of her mother. But when Peter cannot be dissuaded anymore by her excuses and finally wants to marry her, Karin comes up with a bizarre plan.

Der Clown 2: Feindschaft

Second TV movie to precede the German series Der Clown (1998-2001). On the grave of his parents, who disappeared under terrible circumstances, Max Zander vows to fight crime and terrorism for the rest of his life. He becomes one of the best agents in an elite intervention group. During a dangerous mission, his best friend is killed before his very eyes. To defend the law and justice, he decides to die and be reborn as a ghost: the Clown is born. Max Zander is the Clown!

Lara

Today is Lara’s 60th birthday, which happens to fall on the same day as her pianist son’s career-defining concert. A failed pianist herself, Lara spends the time before his performance pacing about Berlin—boiling with jealousy, nerves, and pride—trying to get hold of her elusive son.

Fear and Misery of the Third Reich

Film adaptation of Berthold Brecht's play of the same name, in which he depicts everyday life in Nazi Germany in loosely connected scenes.

Imaginative King

Jan on the Barge

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.

The Flight

When Dr. Schmith's proposal for international research on infant mortality is rejected, he decides to leave East Germany and strikes a deal with an escape agency that promises him a leading position at a children's hospital in West Germany. But then the decision is reversed: the project is approved and his international colleagues want Dr. Schmith to head the GDR section. Moreover, he falls in love with his new colleague, Katharina. Schmith initially tries to ignore the arrangements he made with the escape agency, but they blackmail him. Things soon turn deadly...

Phillip the Small

Philipp is a small boy, who other guys pick on, because he's not as large as them. But when a musician gives him a magical flute, he can make objects bigger or smaller.

Seegeschichten

Die Drachenprinzessin

Fairytale teleplay based on the fairytale "The Water of Life" by the Brothers Grimm. The wizard, ruler of the black forest, can be defeated if someone manages to draw water from the spring containing the water of life. The princess sets off to find the water of life for her terminally ill father. The sorcerer transforms the girl into a dragon. A fairy gives the king new courage to face life. He defends himself against the sorcerer. He is supported by the blacksmith, who takes up the fight and defeats the wizard.

Freischütz in Berlin

Between 1817 and 1821, Berlin's court theater director Count Brühl has been fighting desperately for years for a German theater, for German opera. He knows that the man who could do it lives in Dresden: Carl Maria von Weber. Brühl could win him over as Kapellmeister for Berlin, but the king prefers Gasparo...

The Flying Windmill

Olli, the main character in the movie, got a very bad grade and is terribly annoyed. She runs away from home and, together with a dog and a horse, finds a (mad? nutty?) scientist in a windmill. They experience the strangest adventures in this windmill and find other interesting characters, a lot of excitement and peril. While you may well interpret something as the "socialist value system" into this movie, it is more meant to be a children's movie, showing the kids that there are more exciting things out there than the ones that your parents and teachers show you, and that you will only find out most of those things on your own, if you show enough curiosity.

Heroes Like Us

A young man from an early age falls in love with a girl whose family is not in good standing with the ruling Communist party. His father however is a member of the "Stasi", the secret state police. The father not only hinders his son's relationship with the girl, but he arranges for his son, after finishing school, to become a Stasi spy himself.

Rabbit Heart

The thirteen year old Janni is depressed, because she's still a little behind in her physical development. This leads to bullying remarks from her classmates. One day, a film crew comes to her school to find a candidate for the role of a Prince in a movie. They choose Janni, who they think is a boy. She takes on the role. At school, she tells her classmates she plays a Princess. When the moment of truth approaches she must find the self-confidence to invite the class to the premiere.

Die eigene Haut

Eighteen-year-old Wolfgang has just passed his A-levels and still has a few months to go before he has to start his military service. Instead of sitting around lazily, he wants to experience something during this time before the serious side of life begins. Wolfgang decides to hitchhike to Poland. There he makes friends with a group of young mountaineers, and Wolfgang's last period of complete freedom begins.

Boxhagener Platz

Feature adaptation of adaptation of Torsten Schulz's novel set in East Berlin in 1968.

Despite It All!

October 1918: Karl Liebknecht is released from prison and Berlin workers celebrate his release. Although WWI is almost over, the German Kaiserreich in vain sends its last reserves to the slaughter. The working class is in a rebellious mood; the uprising of Kiel’s sailors against war and militarism sets off a call for revolution led by Liebknecht. On November 9, Liebknecht declares the Free Socialist Republic of Germany. But pro-Kaiser military and right wing Social Democrats oppose him.

Johann Strauss: The King Without a Crown

A biopic about Austrian composer Johann Strauß.

Pianke

The story of a young German boy and his father who befriend a Jewish family during WWII.

Love's Confusion

The film tells the love story of two young couples. According to their social ranks, construction worker Edy is dating employee Siegi, while medical student Dieter is dating art school student Sonja. Rather unintentionally, they exchange partners. During a carnival ball, Dieter makes out with Siegi because he falls for her her fresh and happy girlish manner. Sonja coolly observes this game and sees this intermezzo as a test for their relationship. While Siegi and Dieter vacation at the sea, Sonja falls in love with Edy. Now the die seems to be cast for new constellations. But when both couples stand in front of the registrar’s office, they finally come to their senses.

Die ehrbaren Fünf

In a small Saxon town after the Second World War, the former chimney sweep Toni tries to survive on the black market and meets the pusher Ginfizz. Together they initially trade in flour before embarking on a riskier plan: they are to rescue machines from Soviet expropriation for the mill owner Hartmann by transporting them in hidden trucks. In the process, they become entangled in various adventures, from rescuing orphans to transporting pigs, while being constantly pursued by the young policewoman Gisela, who wavers between her professional duty and her attraction to Toni. After Ginfizz is caught and the others remain temporarily free, they help to get the mill up and running again to avert a food shortage.

Scene of the Crime

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

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.

Alarm for Cobra 11: The Motorway Police

A long-running German television series about a two-man team of highway police, originally set in Berlin and later in North Rhine-Westphalia.

SOKO Leipzig

SOKO Leipzig is a German police procedural television programme, a spin-off of the earlier German police programme SOKO 5113. It was first broadcast on 31 January 2001, on German television channel ZDF. On 12 November 2008, the first part of a two-part crossover between SOKO Leipzig and British police procedural The Bill was aired, with the same version being shown on both ZDF and British television channel ITV1.

MDR um 4

Im Namen des Gesetzes

Der Kriminalist

Der Kriminalist is a German television series produced by Monaco Film Hamburg, subsidiary of Odeon Film. Directors during the first season were Sherry Hormann and Torsten C. Fischer, during the second: Thomas Jahn, Jobst Oetzmann and Torsten C. Fischer.

Der Staatsanwalt hat das Wort

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

Stubbe – Von Fall zu Fall

Stubbe – Von Fall zu Fall is a German crime detective television series starring Wolfgang Stumph as detective Stubbe. It is being broadcast on ZDF, the second German public television channel since 1995.

Donna Leon

Murder, Venice, relationships...it's a delicious concoction in the hands of crime novelist Donna Leon. Venice provides the backdrop for the lush film versions of the bestselling novels, which features the indelible Commissario Guido Brunetti, canal boat rides instead of car chases, fine cuisine and crime investigations in one of Europe’s most beautiful locations.

Helen Dorn

Helen Dorn is an expert Police Commissioner, who’s years of experience have given her killer instinct when it comes to crime. On the department head’s orders, Helen Dorn become involuntary partners with Detective Chief Superintendent Gregor Georgi, with Helen in the role of Georgi’s superior. After initially ruffling some feathers, as Gregor thought he was about to take over a case as head investigator and not confronted with a new superior, the two prove to be a solid pairing: Helen’s famed intuition is matched by Gregor’s rational analysis and precision. But will he be able to unearth her mysterious past?

Kommissar Stolberg

Stolberg is a German detective television series, starring chief inspector Martin Stolberg. The series is more serious and less flashy than other contemporary German detective series.

Rosa Roth

Rosa Roth is a German television series.

Spreewaldkrimi

Der Clown

Der Clown was a German television series that ran between 21 April 1998 and 11 October 2001. It ran for 46 episodes, and starred Sven Martinek, Diana Frank, Thomas Anzenhofer and Volkmar Kleinert. Der Clown was also a 2005 film.

Oderbruch

The sinister discovery of numerous murder victims shocks the Oderbruch region. The serial murder case brings Detective Roland Voit to his hometown to work with Polish police officer Stanislaw Zajak. Voit’s former colleague and childhood sweetheart, Maggie Kring, is also called in to join the police investigation when her family comes under immediate suspicion. In their investigation, Maggie and Voit delve deep into their own past to finally uncover the true circumstances of the death of Maggie’s brother and the sinister truth of this case, which lies beyond human imagination.

Agentur Herz

Krupp: A Family Between War and Peace

The Krupps were one of Germany's most powerful and controversial families until their downfall.

Aber Vati!

Ghosts from Outside

An adventures of a Berlin family spending summer in haunted house.

Sherlock Holmes und die sieben Zwerge

Retired police chief Hans Holms is called out of retirement when his grandchildren are visited by fairy tale characters and announce that Snow White has been kidnapped.

Kanzleramt

Kanzleramt is a German television series based on the template of the American tv series The West Wing. It is primarily set in the office of fictional Chancellor of Germany Andreas Weyher, telling stories about the German head of government's political career and private life as a widower and father of a teenage daughter. It was neither a critical nor ratings success, and was cancelled after twelve episodes.

Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria

Love, intrigue, favouritism and corruption at the Dresdner Hof.

Rottenknechte

The film concentrates on the last days of the German navy during World War II.