SWR

He is considered the greatest European poet of the Middle Ages and his work unfolds the whole panopticon of occidental education – theology, philosophy, sciences, politics and literature. But who has really read it, the “Divine Comedy”? Who knows more of its creator Dante Alighieri than that he had an eagle-like profile and was in love with a woman named Beatrice? 700 years after Dante’s death, the filmmaker Adolfo Conti travels through Italy with Dante’s words in mind and eyes to see the world as Dante did. As the film encounters the beauty of arts and the Tuscan landscape, the forces of nature, a dramatic life story is unfolded.

Franz Schubert's "Winterreise" is considered the pinnacle of German art song. Hans Zender (1936 - 2019) arranged the cycle in 1993, and his version for tenor and small orchestra brings to light emotions that pulsate beneath the surface in Schubert. Similar to Hans Zender, the choreographer Christian Spuck is also concerned with a journey into the interior of the human being.

90-minute TV portrait of German composer Helmut Lachenmann.

On June 1st, 2019, around 11:30pm, the shoot which represents a turning point in the federal republic falls. In the hessian small town Wolfhagen-Istha, the district president of Kassel, Walter Lübcke, is murdered during this night, while, just a few meters away, the annual carnival is putting the locals into a festive mood. It is DNA-evidence on the clothes of Walter Lübcke which leads the investigators on June 15th, 2019, to his presumptive murderer: Stephan Ernst. The previously convicted right-wing extremist Ernst gets arrested by a SEK unit in Kassel. A first background check reveals: Stephan Ernst was known to the security authorities, but they did not have him on their radar for six years. Now he is back. And a person is dead. The docu-drama “Schuss in der Nacht” („Shoot in the dark“) tells emotionally, and simultaneously factually, how the deadly attack on Lübcke came to be. It tells about the first far-right motivated murder of a politician since the era of national socialism.

A portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), a genius of modern architecture, whose life passed between glory, scandal and tragedy.

Who are the young people who are involved in the "Fridays for Future" movement and who relentlessly take to the streets for environmental and climate protection? What are their life like and how will their activism be influenced or changed by current events in 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic? The documentary accompanies them and shows how diverse, creative but also exhausting the protest work is, in that the filmmakers impressively tell of the fears, dreams, successes and defeats of the young people portrayed.

Supposedly innocent citizens from the middle of society who march with right-wing extremists, esotericists and conspiracy theorists against the corona measures, including entrepreneurs, single mothers, teachers, normal families. Michael Ballweg's "Querdenker" demos mobilize thousands of lateral thinkers from all walks of life and milieus who would otherwise not meet. What they have in common: the frustration, the anger and the hatred of the corona measures and the "elites" who have decreed them. Where does this frustration and anger come from in the rich southwest of Germany of all places? Why does a minority withdraw into their filter bubbles and ignore scientific facts? And why do they play such a big role in traditional and social media? The documentary accompanies participants and organizers at various corona demos, but also those affected who have experienced COVID-19 up close and have no understanding for these misguided extremists.

17-year-old Rebekka is feeling hollow and empty after her brother Dennis died by suicide two years ago. Dennis' friend Vincent is the only one who can help her through this difficult time. But Vincent is an outsider, accepted by nobody, especially since he jumped off the bridge with Dennis and survived.

Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old student in Sweden, started a school strike for the climate as her question for adults was, if you don’t care about my future on earth, why should I care about my future in school? Within months, her strike evolved into a global movement as the quiet teenage girl on the autism spectrum becomes a world-famous activist.

In 2020, the USA experienced a multiple catastrophe: No other country in the world was hit so badly by the coronavirus pandemic, the economic slump was dramatic, and so was the rise in unemployment. A rift ran through society. In the streets there were protests of both camps with violent riots, authoritarian traits were evident in the actions of the leader of the nation. And all of this in the middle of the election year, when the self-centered president fought vehemently for his re-election. From the start of his presidency, Donald Trump had divided American society, incited individual sections of the population against one another, fueled racism, hatred, xenophobia and prejudice, insulted competitors and denigrated critical journalists as enemies of the people. The documentary shows how this could happen and what role the targeted disinformation of certain sections of the population through manipulative media played.

A subversive love story between clashing cultures and families, KISS ME BEFORE IT BLOWS UP is a romantic misadventure crossing all borders. When two generations of Israeli women fall for a German woman and a Palestinian man, chaos follows. What happens with lovers who don't fit but do belong together?

Nine-year-old Max moves to Geroldseck Castle, together with his mother, who takes up a position as a geriatric nurse there. Apparently a shrewd thief is up to mischief here. His mother is suspected, she is threatened with dismissal. Therefore, together with the three residents of the old people's home at table no. 7, Max does everything possible to convict the real perpetrator.

Year 2047: "Inifinitalk" is the AI developed by some guys, offering possible eternal life through digitization of peoples mind and when they want to sell it they get into major trouble.

The documentary fiction is about courageous, unknown heroes who risked their lives offering resistance against the Nazis. This 90 minutes documentary drama wants to honor these unknown heroes with fictional acting scenes, interviews with family members and eyewitnesses and with statements of experts.

A documentary about the Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) in Germany.

Nowadays we associate Johannes Kepler with his famous laws of planetary motion. But the history of his discoveries is a drama of Shakespearian proportions - full of intrigue, passion, depravity and corruption.