German films

Yesterday Girl is about Anita G., a young girl, whose parents are picked up one morning during the time of the Third Reich. She comes from the East and now freezes her way through the West. Three times Germany. In Parttime Work of a Domestic Slave, Roswitha Bronski is a married mother of three at the centre of the protest movement. She finds her plans for social change are easier to realize outside family life. Two films by Alexander Kluge, both starring his sister Alexandra Kluge. Pictures, stories, quotes, documents and scenes which mark the beginning pof the New German Cinema and reflect the West German society of the 60s and early 70s. The 2-disc DVD also offers texts and short films by Alexander Kluge related to the two feature films.

One of the first gay-themed films in the history of cinema, Anders als die Andern / Different from the Others (1919) was banned at the time of its release and was believed lost. Using recently discovered film segments, still photos and censorship documents from different archives, Filmmuseum München has resurrected this truly groundbreaking silent film. The 2-disc DVD also offers a new restoration of the anthology Gefahren der Liebe / Laws of Love (1927) for which Hirschfeld himself re-edited a short version of Anders als die Andern, as well as Geschlecht in Fesseln / Sex in Chains (1928), a feature film about the sexual hardships of prisoners which was promoted by Hirschfeld.

It was Veit Harlan, the protégé of Joseph Goebbels and the director of the anti-Semitic propaganda film Jew Suess, who dared to do a film about a controversial taboo in 1957: the German penal code's Paragraph 175 which sentenced German homosexual men to jail terms for "unnatural vice between men." Anders als du und ich (Different from You and Me) is not only a film about homosexuality, it also deals with the rebellion of young people against the restorative Germany after the Second World War and with the problems of a mother who broke the law to do "the right thing". The DVD contains the censored version as well as a comparison with the original version Das dritte Geschlecht (The Third Sex), a cut scene and production stills.

The last films for cinema by Alexander Kluge. Both tell about a dozen stories which complement one another by creating a context. The Blind Director: A young doctor feels that she is redundant. People hurry around. A family sits in front of the computer as if it were a fire in the hearth. A kindergarten teacher is supposed to turn a child over to its legal guardians. The blind director. The present becomes inflammed. Without prior events, the future and particularly a sense of the possible, there is no reality. Miscellaneous News are on the last page of the newspapers. With little oversight from editorial offices but with great emotional fuel. The 2-disc DVD also offers a talk with Alexander Kluge and Jean-Luc Godard as well as new one-minute films by Alexander Kluge.

Artists in the Big Top: Perplexed: Like her father before her, the circus director Leni Peickert wants to show off high-class artistic performances. Yet she still feels naturalness to be her ideal. Her innovations cause the business to declare bankruptcy. Circus and revolution are radical forms of self-realization. Leni Peickert and her elephants try hard. "Utopia gets better and better as we wait for it." The Indomitable Leni Peickert: The circus director continues to pursue her activities. Circus in winter. Bitter times. "The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us." (T.W. Adorno). The 2-disc DVD also offers a 1970 TV discussion with Alexander Kluge, screenplay drafts and stories about elephants.

Walther Ruttmann is a pioneer of modern multimaedia art. His first short films are unique experiments with forms, rhythm and colors, his innovative commercials connected abstract animation art with concrete messages. The symphonic documentary Berlin, die Sinfonie der Großstadt is one of the most famous silent cassics, the travelogue Melodie der Welt became the first German sound feature film. With the radio play Weekend Ruttmann created the first "sound film without images" while his sound short In der Nacht transforms music to images and is a prototype of modern music videos. The 2-disc DVD combines for the first time all surviving works by Walther Ruttmann from 1920-1931 in newly restored and reconstructed versions, often with original scores. It also includes lobby cards, posters, programs and text documents as well as little known paintings and drawings by Ruttmann.

The 2-disc DVD set presents new restored versions of two rare classics by Werner Schroeter connecting private stories with history: Der Bomberpilot tells the story of three eccentric women in Germany during the Nazi period who try to become show stars in America after the war. Nel Regno di Napoli is a chronicle of post-war Italy told from the perspective of a Neapolitan family. Additional features are an interview with Werner Schroeter by Gérard Courant, a video showing Werner Schroeter in a talk with the audience at the Austrian Filmmuseum, and stills from the shooting of Nel Regno di Napoli by Digne M. Markovicz.

Germany in Autumn: Germany in 1977, the Red Army Faction (RAF), Mogadishu, the prison in Stammheim, the murder of Hanns-Martin Schleyer. A film collage capturing the emotions of these events. "The closer you look at a word, the further it looks back: Germany." The Patriot: The story of Gabi Teichert (played by Hannelore Hoger) who had already begun to dig around in search of the roots of German history in Germany in Autumn. In daily school life, at the party convention of the Social Democrats (SPD), on the Day of Penance and during Advent: She remains stalwart on her quest for a republic, for which the trouble is worth it. The 2-disc DVD also offers short films by Alexander Kluge and his book "The Patriot".

Four documentary filmmakers, four talks, four key players of the German documentary film movement since the 60s: Hans-Dieter Grabe, Elfi Mikesch, Harun Farocki und Thomas Heise. Each of them has developed an own approach to filmmaking and a personal style. Christoph Hübner, a documentary filmmaker himself, succeeds in portraying four very different personalities, their works and their theories. Illustrated with excerpts from their films.

Four documentary filmmaker, four talks, four key players of the German documentary film movement since the 60s: Jürgen Böttcher, Volker Koepp, Peter Nestler und Klaus Wildenhahn. Each of them has developed an own approach and a personal style. Christoph Hübner, a documentary filmmaker himself, succeeds in portraying four very different personalities, their works and their theories. The intimate talks with the filmmakers are illustrated with clips of their films.