Advanced search

18-year old-Georg and 13-year-old Barbara played together as children; later, play becomes love, which leads to a catastrophe, as their parents are hostile, leading to a report being filed to the court, as Barbara is underage.

Life changes dramatically for a Czech housemaid when the family coachman gives her three magical hazelnuts.

Paul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. They meet and discover a strong passion for each other. Life seems like a dream when they're together - but their short flights from the burdens of reality are once and again interrupted by Paul's ties to family and career.

Eight space cargo-ships disappear without a trace within three days. And the orbit station "Margot" has suddenly fallen silent. The space council is faced with a mystery and the scientist in charge, Maria Scholl, sees no other solution than ordering a total flight stop to this mysterious sector of space. Her colleague, Prof. Tal seems to be suspicious since he knows things before they are even released. A forbidden look into his personal file brings to light that Tal was part of the Eolomea project that never found approval of the commission in charge.

Jan's communist father accused of murder, goes into hiding. Jan befriends Max who aids in search for truth. Max killed by Nazis. Jan flees on barge, meets Erika who helps him escape police and find his surviving father.

An idealistic teacher is shocked to discover her pupils are already cynical and opportunistic. Her colleague soon grows resentful when she uses new and challenging techniques to help her students overcome obstacles.

A village must be destroyed for coal mining. Henning, a 15-year-old boy who wants to visit his grandfather again, realizes that nothing will be the same anymore.

The 16-year-old upper school student Elisabeth has grown up as a well-protected daughter of an established comrade and council chairman. By the sudden death of the father, she is torn from her privileged, even rhythm of life. Elisabeth sees herself exposed to truths that make her look at the image of the father who is a role model for her in a more differentiated way. Because not all judge their father as positively as they do. So she deals with a critical school friend and with her depressed mother; she also makes contact with her brother, who long ago distanced herself from the parents' home. Elisabeth pursues the contradictions and finally finds a new self-concept.

Little Sabine has spent her childhood in an orphanage after her parents died in a car accident. When one of the women in charge at the orphanage, Edith, leaves to have a baby, Sabine runs away, because Edith was the only adult there she could trust. She then wanders through the city to find someone to take her in. She meets a lot of people on her journey, but she seems out of place everywhere she goes until, at last, she realizes that there is a special place where she belongs.

Although at first Ina barely takes any notice of Matti, the two teenagers gradually fall in love at their dance classes and begin their first real relationship. Their parents are upset about this development and try to prevent their children from seeing each other. But Ina and Matti continue to meet in secret and their first sexual experience together brings mixed feelings for Ina.

Film student Ralf is assigned to make a documentary on a team of six women at a Berlin light bulb factory. He soon finds himself pulled into the conflicts and hopes and emotions of the workers as work and life converge.

Young seminary student Franziskus (Benjamin Besson) has been ceremonially ordained. He wants to escape the harshness and injustice of the world and devote himself to the service of God in the quiet seclusion of a monastery. He is also hoping to forget the beautiful lady Aurelie (Jaroslava Schallerová), whose life he saved in a flooded brook and with whom he spent an amorous night. He knows that her father would never allow her to marry him. But the devil dressed in a monk's habit and under the name Viktorin (Andrzej Kopiczynski) intervenes in Franziskus's destiny and attempts to lead him astray. To do so he first uses the diabolical elixirs kept at the monastery as a rare relic. When the young monk gets expelled from the monastery, Viktorin prepares another trap with the help of Aurelie's stepmother Euphemie (Milena Dvorská).

A realistic portrayal of the early days in the Russian occupation of Berlin.

She is a skilled surgeon and he is a successful actor. Can they juggle their extremely busy careers, marriage, and raising their small child as their seventh wedding anniversary fast approaches?

Nina Kern is a divorced woman in her late twenties who will soon be fully deprived of her custody rights for her three children, who already reside in a home for the displaced, due to many years of willful neglect. Although she has broken her promise to change her moral conduct many times, she is given one last chance on probation. A civil engineer and a teacher assume responsibility over her bond, trying to help Nina, or at least her 5 year-old daughter Mireille, to be released from the home. Nina makes a diligent effort to hold down her job as part of a subway cleaning crew and be a good mother to her daughter. She experiences some successes, but also some setbacks. Though in the end her probation is eventually dropped, she believes that she is not mature enough to bear the full burden of raising all of her kids. With a heavy heart, she resigns her custody rights for her daughter Jacqueline, with whom she has not come to terms.

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rotkaeppchen. She lived with her father and mother at the edge of a village, and often visited her grandmother on the other side of the woods. Her rabbit friend, Haeschen, lives with Grandmother and was sent one day to fetch medicine and milk from Rotaeppchen and her mother. Although her mother was reluctant to allow her to visit Grandmother alone, Rotkaeppchen convinces her that she will be safe with Haeschen. Together they set out through the woods. Unfortunately, there were many distractions in the woods: mushrooms to pick and Rotkaeppchen's other playmate, the bear. There are also the dangerous fox and wolf, who plotted to capture Rotkaeppchen and eat her. Haeschen did his best to keep them safe, but he could not prevent the wolf from eating Grandmother . . . and also Rotkaeppchen! Who will save them? The DEFA version of Rotkaeppchen differs from the Grimms' version in some minor areas: the mother plays a greater role in the film; DEFA has the father save the day, rather than the huntsman; the wolf does not die at the end, though he is carried away by the family; the second encounter with the wolf at the end of the original tale is left out; and a few animal characters are added (Haeschen, Baer, and das Eichhoernchen). All the animals (other than the Eichhoernchen) are played by people in animal costumes, and Jochen Bley as Haeschen was the big hit with critics and viewers alike. Both warmly and critically received by the press upon its release, Rotkaeppchen followed closely on the heels of the very successful Schneewittchen; hence, in some cases, the disappointment. Many reviews cited Goetz Friedrich's background in theater (both in positive and negative interpretations) to explain the spare, two-dimensional feel of the set. Yet nearly all commented positively on the color and interesting characters, and the Progress press materials summed up the morals for the viewers to learn: "Do what you are told, but act independently when it is necessary; never leave the path, especially the path that your friends have marked with love and experience; be brave, fight against evil, help your friends." Since its release, Rotkaeppchen has become one of the most popular DEFA fairy tale films.

The 15-year-old Kurbel, lives in a village in Lausitz and feels really grown up. He is tall and strong, tolerates plenty of rhubarb wine and he has already kissed.

Dark secrets from the Nazi era emerge in 1960's East Germany

Abel Hradscheck, the owner of an inn in the Oderbruch country, faces financial ruin. For this state of affairs, Ursula, his wife and former actress, is by no means free of blame. She is a "newcomer" to the area and even after eleven years in the area, still a "stranger". A Cracow company announces that a money-collector is on his way to the innkeeper. Mr. Szulski arrives and the debts are settled - with money supposedly stemming from an inheritance. The next day, Szulski departs but according to the maid and the stable-boy, behaves in a very strange manner. Soon afterwards, his carriage is discovered in the Oder River, but there is no trace of the drowned man. Hradscheck's neighbor starts casting suspicion on the innkeeper. The Counselor of Justice, who heads the investigations has the spot under the pear tree dug out. A dead body is exhumed - but it has been lying there for more than twenty years. The innkeeper now lulls himself into a false sense of security, but his wife is tormented by feelings of guilt. Finally, she wants to reveal everything to the local pastor. He, however, refuses to become privy to a gruesome crime. Ursula is broken by qualms of remorse. The body lies hidden in the cellar but Hradscheck wants to dump it where everyone suspects it to be: in the Oder River. But he stumbles and falls to his death down the cellar steps. His body is discovered next to that of his victim. Based on the novella of the same title by the great German realist Theodor Fontane.

Karl Erp is a fairly well-off librarian in his mid-forties with two children and a boring marriage. His love for his intern, Miss Broder, brings him out of his lethargy. He tells his wife, Elisabeth, that love never existed between them and that he only married her as a favor to her. He then moves in with Miss Broder. Harassed by her mother, he promises a divorce from his wife and later, a marriage to with her daughter. However, the spark that helped Karl in starting a new relationship doesn't show up in his day-to-day life. He can't find the willpower to start a new life, and he misses his old comforts. Thus, he returns to Elisabeth and their broken marriage.

A young boy fantasizes his way to school into a battle between cowboys and Indians, where the bad guys want to steal some gold medals. Real events and fantasy interacts in his mind.