MDR

Lothar König is an original. The long-term youth pastor from Jena doesn’t fit into any system. In the GDR he was under state surveillance, after reunification he was one of the most tireless warning voices against the growing right-wing radicalism. To this day, he takes to the barricades against the extreme right, often on the frontline. Nevertheless, this film portrait by his son Tilman is not an homage but a critical tribute to an outspoken character forced by retirement to re-invent himself.

It's 1989 in East Berlin: Suzie is kicked out of school shortly before she graduates from high school and has to defend herself as a worker in the cable factory. However, a randomly taken photo leads her to the fashion world of the GDR. The editor-in-chief Elsa Wilbrodt put her on the cover of Sibylle, the fashion magazine of the GDR. In the Berlin underground scene she made the acquaintance of the gay fashion designer Rudi and the photographer Coyote. Suzie must decide if she's brave enough to leave the old strands behind forever.

Harry Belafonte wrote music history. How did the black boy from Harlem manage to become one of the greatest artists of the 20th century in the middle of racist America? The film portrait tells the story of the famous singer, actor, producer and activist.

THE STRAIT GUYS follows Czech-born mining engineer, George, and his fast-talking protégé, Scott, along the proposed route of the InterContinental Railway through Alaska, to the Bering Strait and onward to Russia. The “Strait Guys” endeavor to convince international governments, corporations, and indigenous tribes to green-light their $100 billion railway project, which would provide ground-based infrastructure across the continents, relieve overcrowded Pacific ports, improve global supply chains, and ease tensions between the superpowers. The US and Russia have been successfully collaborating in space for decades. Now the Strait Guys are out to prove it is also possible down here on earth.

Documentary about former German chancellor Angela Merkel’s political ascent and mental strength, featuring interviews with her and a variety of notable politicians.

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.

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!

In Mödling, a small town near Vienna, girls between the ages of 18 and 20 have been disappearing without a trace at ever shorter intervals for the past 13 years. Residents are worried and accuse the police of incompetence. In this environment of fear and mistrust, the 19-year-old schoolgirl Jeanny meets the mysterious but charming tax consultant Johannes, which initially has something threatening about it. But Johannes sees more in Jeanny than just an innocent girl. And he gives Jeanny, who lost her father at a young age, support and recognition. He helps her to pass the Matura, he awakens her self-confidence and gives her the appreciation that she misses. An unusual love grows between the two, which is initially kept secret from everyone. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into the whirl of her feelings, the aggressive climate in the town continues to escalate. A militia is formed. Jeanny is becoming increasingly insecure. Can she really trust Johannes?

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?

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.

A cinematic, character-driven insight to what it meant to produce and to own a car in communist times: the Socialist propaganda dreams and the hard reality of living that dream. The freedom that these slow and clumsy vehicles were giving to their owners; the cars as an instrument in the Cold War battle; legends and homemade tune-ups as an attempt to stand at least a little bit off the crowd.

In a small town plunged into darkness, two children, Kyona and Adriel, are separated from their parents and, facing the path of exile alone, embark on a heroic journey that will take them from childhood to adolescence, in search of refuge, peace and the hope of finding their family.