The Cuckoo Years

Munich, 1968: a period of liberation, student revolts, state repression. Amidst the restlessness, chemistry student Robbie meets the Irish cello player Nancy. They feel compelled to pursue a passion in spite of their careers. But does romantic love have a place in such convoluted, contesting times?

ZERO IN THE UNIVERSE is a comedy, a cryptogram–a message in code to the viewer. Who is Zero? What universe? What is the opposition of Zero and his arch enemy, Steinmetz? What does it come from, and where, if anywhere, does it go. The film presents abundant clues, but the answers are never stated. –J. L.

This film takes a decidedly satirical look at the inner workings of the gangster underworld. Alfred Lowell is a washed-up actor sent to London to take care of some mob business. Alfred's mind is not on his job, as he prefers to probe his past for the reasons why he has failed as a thespian. He entertains thoughts of suicide, but his involvement in the gang prevents him from ending his life.

Film adaptation of the short Büchner story of the same name, which tells of the stay of the psychotic Sturm und Drang poet Lenz in the home of the Alsatian priest and philanthropist Oberlin. The poet, whose pathological hallucinations are becoming increasingly unbearable, hopes for help from the gentle clergyman. But Oberlin, too, knows no advice; he regards his friend's illness as God-given.

The story centers on the Roman merchant Piacchi, who raises the foundling Nicolo after the death of his son and bequeaths all his possessions to the young man. However, the adopted son turns against Piacchi and his wife.

Interview film with the protagonists of the New German Cinema in 1966.

“In-Side-Out” is the debut film by US beat poet George Moorse, a wildly colorful pop poem. The film critic Enno Patalas described “In-Side-Out” as a “fantastic abracadabra and erotic delirium” and considered it the best West German film at the 1965 Oberhausen festival. “In-Side-Out” was also the LCB's first film production: the cheerful and colorful kaleidoscope of romantic love, told as an associatively swirling sequence of images.

Racing driver Jimmy meets French model Annette at the racetrack, who is working in Amsterdam for a while. A romantic relationship develops between the two, but they are unable to continue their mutual feelings of love. Annette realizes this first and feels compelled to return to Paris. Now that he no longer has Annette, Jimmy loses control of himself, which makes him unsuitable for his work as a racing driver.

Homeless Alfred would like to spend his life on Mallorca. A destination far away. But one day he meets the policeman Erwin.

Two surveyors come under the spell of the beautiful Vampira. Vampira then celebrates occult magic rites with her new companions in her castle with the Alder Queen Belladonna, a sorceress, a hunchback, and a werewolf.

Based on H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Out of Time, this is the story of a professor who suffers a seizure which results in total amnesia. As he recuperates he is so different his family deserts him. He gathers knowledge of things outside his specialty for five years, then has another seizure. When he reawakens he is himself again, but now he has no memory of the five years between the attacks. He begins having bizarre dreams, and tries to find out what he was doing during the five years he can't remember. What he discovers, combined with the growing reality of his dreams, convinces him that something much darker than a mere personality shift was going on.

Skoda is the son of a wealthy, overbearing banker and rather than put up with his father to keep a privileged lifestyle, he has chosen to ditch the relationship and drive a taxi for a living. The film follows Skoda on his nightly rides through the city, and though different characters come and go, Skoda meets a kindred spirit in the form of a teenage woman who finds her own home life equally difficult to shoulder. The two young people are gradually attracted to each other, and they end up one night in Skoda's room together. At that moment, the older woman that Skoda had been involved with opens the door and discovers his infidelity. Skoda is living in her house and driving the taxi she gave him -- her commitment was abundantly clear from the beginning. Pushed over the edge, the older woman commits suicide -- and Skoda is blamed for her death by her ex-husband. He swears to avenge her, and the hunt for Skoda begins.

Peter Zadek's 1988 production with Susanne Lothar, recorded at the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen in 1991.

The Grammy award-winning pianist Daniel Barenboim, long known for his Mozart interpretations, turns his attention to Mozart's last 8 piano concertos. The music of Mozart has quite literally been an essential driving force of Daniel Barenboim’s entire life. It remains central to his performing career both as a pianist and as a conductor. These illuminating performances of Mozart’s last eight great piano concertos admirably demonstrate Barenboim’s dictum that even when a true musician has already performed a familiar work hundreds of times, he or she ‘never accepts that the next note will be played the same way as it was played before.