ARTE

Elaha, 22, believes she must restore her supposed innocence before she weds. A surgeon could reconstruct her hymen but she cannot afford such an operation. She asks herself: why does she have to be a virgin anyway, and for whom?

Asta Nielsen: pioneer of cinema and first European film star, tragedienne and comedienne, writer and artist. As a working-class child and single parent, she works her way up from the bottom - and consciously stages herself as the first role model for independent women and queers. We retell the story of this singular phenomenon with her own words and film clips.

A drama centered around a German construction manager who works with undocumented workers and an Albanian girl searching for her missing father.

He is the most sought-after man in Europe in the 1960s. Lex Barker embodies the flawless hero in his films and, as Old Shatterhand, becomes a role model for generations of fans. Revered in Europe, misunderstood and almost forgotten in his native America. But who was this American who rode through Yugoslavia in a leather costume for the European audience? In 1973, Lex Barker died of a heart attack on the streets of Manhattan in New York. But no one recognizes the man who was Tarzan in Hollywood. Nobody knows him or cares about that he, as Winnetou's friend, is revered as an icon in Europe. Lex Barker's European western adventures are just a footnote in American film history. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, the documentary tells the story of one of the most beautiful men who ever flickered across Europe's cinema screens, for whom European cinema proved to be a stroke of luck and for whom a failed Hollywood career took him via Italy to Germany.

Forensic biologist Inga Ehrenberg is so absorbed in her work at the Forensic Medicine Institute that she doesn't initially notice how lonely she is after her divorce a few years ago. It is only when her father claims that she has a half-sister and a falconer asks her to take care of a young falcon that she finds herself in a whirlwind of long-hidden, painful feelings. She begins to tame the falcon, convinced that the bird will never leave her.

In 2020, the author Anatol Regnier published Jeder schreibt für sich allein, a book that examines the life and work of writers in Nazi Germany. In collaboration with Regnier, Dominik Graf, Constantin Lieband, and Felix von Boehm have adapted this book into a polyphonic essay film of the same name – almost three hours in duration – that takes a meticulous look at the contradictory biographies of Hans Fallada, Gottfried Benn, Erich Kästner, Ina Seidel and Will Vesper.

A special forces veteran, an uptight property developer, an influencer with half a million followers and an incompetent instructor are thrown together on a high-end fear of flying course. The course's final challenge is an experience flight from London to Iceland, which ends up being a horrendous ordeal. Lost in Iceland, freezing and terrified, they must find a way of facing their fears and working together to spread their wings... and fly.

1895. The son of a wealthy industrialist, Hermann has known twins Emil and Klara von Schönaich since childhood. By marrying his friend Klara, the young man would join the nobility, while the von Schönaichs would be able to maintain their extravagant lifestyle thanks to his fortune. But the twins don't see it that way...

Rügen is the largest island of Germany. Located off the Baltic Sea coast of Western Pomerania, two thirds of its area is protected. The green beech forests of the Jasmund National Park are considered an original virgin forest that is unique in Europe and are part of the UNESCO World Heritage. The white chalk cliffs, which can be seen from afar, are the island's distinctive symbol and were immortalized in the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich more than 200 years ago. On the small island of Vilm, which belongs to Rügen, there is another core area of nature conservation with a 500-year-old, untouched beech forest. Within sight of this refuge, organic farmers are trying to bring more diversity back to the fields. Small-scale agriculture with a great diversity of species has emerged between hedges, tree islands and biotopes. The documentary shows Rügen's natural treasures and introduces different people who have found their home here and are fighting to preserve nature.

Endless beaches, dunes, heath and the Wadden Sea characterize the landscape of Sylt. Germany's largest North Sea island is also a paradise for numerous animal and plant species. Around half of its area is under landscape or nature protection. In spring and autumn, thousands of migratory birds stop here on their way between Siberia and East Africa. Sheep graze on the dike meadows, female seals give birth to their young off Sylt. And the Sylt Wadden Sea is one of the last large wilderness areas in Europe. But in winter storms hit the island. If the “Blanke Hans”, as the storm on Sylt is called, causes the North Sea to rage, it hits the island with tremendous force. Only a few places on the German North Sea coast are as exposed to the force of the sea as the west coast of Sylt. The documentary shows Sylt's nature in fascinating images. People who are particularly connected to the island and its nature are accompanied in their everyday lives.

War and Justice is the first and only true-life documentary about the International Criminal Court (ICC), thanks to unprecedented access to Ben Ferencz, Luis Moreno Ocampo (ICC’s first prosecutor), and Karim Khan (its current prosecutor). Film directors Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile follow Ocampo around the world as he enlists the support of Academy Award-winning Angelina Jolie and as they join Ferencz in the uphill battle against wars in the Congo, Libya, Palestine, and Ukraine.

The undercover investigator Robert is supposed to win the trust of a criminal through a fictitious relationship with Leni. However, the feelings are not just a game. It is the spied criminal, of all people, who makes him confront his contradictory feelings…