Bernhard Stephan

Fantastic cosmopolite ‘nouvelle vague’ film from Soviet Russia about the lives of students living in a dormitory at Moscow State University. The story focuses on the relationships between roommates: Russian students Andrey and Sergey, African student Jules, and Belgian Albert. Tensions arise due to Albert's racist prejudices against Jules, creating conflicts among the group. Meanwhile, Andrey navigates his feelings for Marina, who initially prefers Sergey but eventually reevaluates her choices as the characters confront their differences and personal growth.

In the GDR, purchasing a car was such a difficult process that many families applied for one years in advance. For example, Gisela secretly orders a Wartburg model after the birth of her first child. By the time the vehicle is ready, her daughter is a teenager, and Gisela's husband, who actually prefers walking, has already bought a second Wartburg from a friend in financial trouble. As a result, the couple decides to sign up for driving school together.

In the GDR, purchasing a car was such a difficult process that many families applied for one years in advance. For example, Gisela secretly orders a Wartburg model after the birth of her first child. By the time the vehicle is ready, her daughter is a teenager, and Gisela's husband, who actually prefers walking, has already bought a second Wartburg from a friend in financial trouble. As a result, the couple decides to sign up for driving school together.

A bodyguard who is supposed to protect a world-class tennis player from her violent uncle and ex-manager is confronted with the kidnapping of his charge and is subjected to a rollercoaster of emotions as he falls in love with the athlete.

At the textile company, everyone appreciates the work of 18-year-old Susanne, but nobody really considers her a woman—including Lutz, with whom she is in love. She sets about to make a change, but it is only when she realizes that she is being taken advantage of that a more self-confident Susanne emerges.

On the eve of the German Peasants' Revolt, painter Joerg Ratgeb is occupied by a crisis of his own: finding a model for a Christ figure. He sets off on a journey to consult with his artistic role model, Albrecht Dürer. Although Ratgeb has always tried to stay out of the political conflict, his journey brings him face-to-face with peasant revolutionaries and the brutality and violence of their daily lives.

A new member joins Trumpolt's road construction brigade - Wenzel Heiseke, who has a reputation for being a loudmouth. But he has actually been dismissed because of his critical words. Trumpolt believes he can turn him around with his tried-and-tested hair-pulling method, as there are no problems in his decorated brigade. But unexpectedly for him and his colleagues, the newcomer remains stubborn and silent, refusing to be provoked by anything. His strange behavior divides the brigade. Conflicts in the teamwork that had previously been forcibly covered up erupt. Wenzel's silence is instructive for the brigade; they no longer want to do without him, who has found his way back to some truthful words. However, his behavior with the pretty Martina from the construction office almost leads to shipwreck ..

Seventeen-year-old apprentice Jonas, struggling with his ailing, proud father, pours himself into restoring a decaying ship on a Mecklenburg lake. Neglecting all else, he loses his girlfriend and support at work. After the boat burns, a reconciliatory vocational ceremony reunites him with his recovered father.

A young woman from a progressive middle-class family moves to Shanghai with her husband Rolf in the mid-1930s. Although she has a child, she is not prepared to retreat into private life. She meets Dr. Richard Sorge and decides to become a scout. After training near Moscow - she is given the cover name Sonja - she is sent to Manchuria on her first assignment with her comrade Ernst. She has an affair with Ernst and has a child with him. A new assignment that takes her to Poland separates her from Ernst. She is awarded the Order of the Red Banner in Moscow for her work. She then goes to Switzerland and radios information about the impending war to the Soviet Union. She meets Rolf and Ernst, who are on an assignment in the Far East. Sonja marries an Englishman to avoid being extradited to Germany.

25-year-old electrician Thomas Tänzer is happily escaping the provincial confines of everyday life in the GDR – to the desert, to work in Algeria. Behind him lie a failed marriage and abandoned studies. But he can't cope in Algeria either. The rules have traveled with him – in the form of his superiors. Unordered solidarity, his relationship with the married Doris, and similar issues cause him difficulties. His father falls seriously ill, and he cuts short his stay abroad. At home, he realizes that his wife and child have become complete strangers to him. Doris, his "Algerian affair," now has a child by him, but treats him coldly. He makes a half-hearted suicide attempt by car, which he survives. When he hears about a disaster in Algeria, he volunteers for service, but is not accepted because of his poor personnel file.

The 18-year-old construction worker Schultzendorf, known as Schulle, sets off for Berlin from his home town of Ankershagen. He is taken with the Marzahn construction site. He dreams of making archaeological finds there. He searches every excavator load for treasures, which not only earns him ridicule, but also the anger of his colleagues because he delays the work. They try to change his mind and get him a wife. This fails, but Schulle finds one himself - the slightly older Helga, who needs his help to get away from her divorced husband. Once she has succeeded in doing so, she breaks away from Schulle, whose youthful impetuosity unsettles her.

Ernst is a student in Hamburg around 1900 and leads a life like many other young people. In his free time, he roams the colorful metropolis with his buddy Karl. After school, he helps his father, whose business he is to inherit one day. Ernst has many questions about the world and life, but it is difficult to find satisfactory answers... At this time, nobody suspects that he will go down in the history books as the workers' leader Ernst Thälmann.

On the eve of the German Peasants' Revolt, painter Joerg Ratgeb is occupied by a crisis of his own: finding a model for a Christ figure. He sets off on a journey to consult with his artistic role model, Albrecht Dürer. Although Ratgeb has always tried to stay out of the political conflict, his journey brings him face-to-face with peasant revolutionaries and the brutality and violence of their daily lives.

At the textile company, everyone appreciates the work of 18-year-old Susanne, but nobody really considers her a woman—including Lutz, with whom she is in love. She sets about to make a change, but it is only when she realizes that she is being taken advantage of that a more self-confident Susanne emerges.

A new member joins Trumpolt's road construction brigade - Wenzel Heiseke, who has a reputation for being a loudmouth. But he has actually been dismissed because of his critical words. Trumpolt believes he can turn him around with his tried-and-tested hair-pulling method, as there are no problems in his decorated brigade. But unexpectedly for him and his colleagues, the newcomer remains stubborn and silent, refusing to be provoked by anything. His strange behavior divides the brigade. Conflicts in the teamwork that had previously been forcibly covered up erupt. Wenzel's silence is instructive for the brigade; they no longer want to do without him, who has found his way back to some truthful words. However, his behavior with the pretty Martina from the construction office almost leads to shipwreck ..

Seventeen-year-old apprentice Jonas, struggling with his ailing, proud father, pours himself into restoring a decaying ship on a Mecklenburg lake. Neglecting all else, he loses his girlfriend and support at work. After the boat burns, a reconciliatory vocational ceremony reunites him with his recovered father.

Ernst is a student in Hamburg around 1900 and leads a life like many other young people. In his free time, he roams the colorful metropolis with his buddy Karl. After school, he helps his father, whose business he is to inherit one day. Ernst has many questions about the world and life, but it is difficult to find satisfactory answers... At this time, nobody suspects that he will go down in the history books as the workers' leader Ernst Thälmann.