ARTE

East Germany, in autumn 1999. Gudrun Pfaff is about to turn sixty when she finds out that the orphanage she grew up in is being sold to turn into a hotel, and she is willing to do anything to stop it.

The amazing story of electronic music: its epic journey from its origins in Europe, at the hands of the great artists of the post-war classical avant-garde, to the great post-industrial cities of the USA, where this genre of genres took over music stores, shady clubs and, eventually, the big stages.

After three unsuccessful attempts at the Olympics, the 30-year-old Aljona Savchenko finally wants to win a gold medal with a new partner in four years. A rather bold plan, especially since the young Frenchman Bruno Massot, chosen by the German-Ukrainian ice princess, has no international successes in pairs figure skating. He moves to Germany and has no idea of the manic perfectionist he's getting involved with. Aljona's training is tough. Constant disputes about the right course threaten to bring the project to failure. Two completely different characters collide. However, the team of trainers manages to calm things down. February 2018: The competition at the Winter Olympics in South Korea begins with the short program. Inexplicably, Bruno blunders and the pair sit fourth by a wide gap. Gold is hardly possible anymore. It only remains for them to show the world their unique free skating. Their intoxicating, perfect run will go down in history. It will be the free skating of their life!

Barbara Hug is a young radical lawyer fighting Switzerland's antiquated prison system in the 1980s. Walter Stürm is in and often escaping out of jail becoming known as the Jailbreak King. When the two meet an unlikely alliance is formed.

Ava and her girlfriend Sascha are fighting for a tolerant world. When Ava's father comes to stay with them, their own tolerance is tested.

Since the outbreak of the global corona pandemic, the number of anti-Semitic content on the Internet and social media has also been increasing. Researchers see a connection between online radicalization and anti-Semitic violence – and also attacks. "Jud Süß 2.0" documents the visual roots of this new anti-Semitism.

January 6, 2021 marks a turning point in U.S. history. The storming of the U.S. Capitol brings the United States to the brink of a political abyss. An angry, armed mob invades the Congress building to prevent Joe Biden from being officially confirmed as the winner of the 59th U.S. election and thus becoming the 46th President of the USA. The lie about Donald Trump's stolen election victory explodes into violence, five people die in the heart of U.S. democracy. The attackers' actions are documented almost completely, as is the helplessness of the security forces. Since then, most of the perpetrators have been identified and charged. But the rift in society continues. Many Republican congressmen remain with Trump, a renewed candidacy for the presidential election in 2024 is still possible. The attack on the U.S. Capitol leaves a shock with all convinced democrats. How could it possibly come this far? This documentary tries to reconstruct and analyze from very different perspectives.

This documentary tells the story of the creation and cultural impact of the world's most famous Christmas carol, composed in 1818 in Salzburg, Austria, and since then translated into about 140 languages.

They are the most common beings on earth. They have possibly been around as long as biological life has existed. They are considered dangerous and deadly – but they are much more than that. They are everywhere. Viruses.

Mireille Mathieu, along with Edith Piaf and Dalida, is part of France's national cultural heritage. The documentary shows the tension between the celebrated and at the same time banished, the ambassador of France in the world, who appears only rarely in her own homeland. Why is Mireille Mathieu, the unusual star, so divisive?

Alexander is 30 years old and has never been in love - or has never been in love. He then sees in Paula, a theater actress, the possibility of sharing a future with someone.

Year 1763, the Seven Years' War is about to end. August III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, has died, leaving empty the royal treasury and an extraordinary collection of paintings, sculptures, jewelry and goldsmith masterpieces, which he considered a symbol of his greatness, and that of Dresden, one of the European capitals of Baroque art.

Thomas Brasch was born as a German-Jewish emigrant in England in order to move to the young GDR with his family at the beginning of the 1950s. His father Horst is primarily interested in helping to build the new German state. But Thomas prefers to realize himself as a writer and in doing so discovers his potential as a poetic rebel. His very first play was banned and soon afterwards he lost his place at the film school. When the tanks of the Soviet Union roll through the Czech capital Prague in 1968, Brasch and his girlfriend Sanda and other students try to call for protest in the streets of Berlin - and fail. His own father betrays him to the Stasi and allows Thomas to go to prison. After being paroled, he continues to try his hand at poet writing about love, revolt and death. In the GDR, however, you don't want to have anything to do with someone like him.

Screw It takes us into a world in which all living creatures have a screw in their back, that has to be winded up regularly. If not, the body freezes into a lifeless doll. In the domicile of the renowned art collector Viktoria, we get to know Helen and her brother Henri, who work as assistant and butler in Viktoria's service. When the siblings want to snatch the heart of Viktoria's collection - The Golden Tit - the renowned art collector is facing the end of her great career. Helen and Henri confront Viktoria with her dark past and teach her a ribald lesson.

A hike between father and son. Joël wants to experience a special day with his 15-year-old son Ethan and show him the upcoming solar eclipse at the same place where he once experienced it with his mother. Since the divorce, they rarely see each other and Ethan is also happy to finally have the opportunity to tell his father about his plans for the future. But with every step they take towards the summit and the eclipse, the mood between them darkens. They find that their attempts to communicate amount to nothing, until their simmering argument finally culminates in a cathartic moment.

The young Colombian Luz gets a coveted position as a housemaid with a diplomatic couple. Finally, she will earn enough money to support her family in Bogota. Arriving with great expectations in faraway Germany Luz discovers a dark abyss behind the perfect facade.

In the Southeastern-most part of Germany, rises Mount Watzmann. This mighty peak is a stone guardian of a remarkable wild region that holds tight to its secret nature. There are more secrets to reveal where the mountains disappear into the depths of Lake Königssee, a lake that holds a stark resemblance to a fjord at the coasts of the Atlantic ocean. Underwater, fossil marine creatures in limestone rock tell of an ancient seabed, buried deep then heaved skywards by battling tectonic plates. Deep grooves and gouges in the rock were left by an ice age glacier, more than one kilometer thick as it chiseled its way down the valley. Though the ice age ended 12,000 years ago, the mountains still carry echoes of that frozen past. "Echoes of the Ice Age" is a portrait of the wildlife in this breathtaking scenery of the Berchtesgaden Alps.