Gerd Ehlers

„White mouse“ Fritz controls the traffic on Dresden’s Körner Square. Helene, who crosses the junction on her motor scooter every day, has taken a shine to Fritz a long while ago. Although Fritz yields right-of-way to her remarkably often, the two have not spoken to each other. In order to finally get to know him better, Helene deliberately performs a traffic violation. Her plan is working: She is ordered to take road safety education lessons from Fritz and they get closer. New problems arise in the shape of Mrs. Messmer who must pay a monetary fine. She feels discriminated against by Fritz and complains about him to his supervisor.

On August 12, 1961, eight people in three cars set off for Berlin from Leipzig. They want to go to the West. The initiator is the philistine Spiessack, who drives the others, who have embarked on the adventure with mixed feelings. It becomes a journey with numerous incidents and panic, which causes the different characters to clash. When they finally arrive in Berlin the next day, they are not allowed to cross the border. The only option is to return. At home, Spiessack is met by a policeman in his living room - with the slogan "We'll be back" written on the wall.

Using the example of three generations of a Hamburg working class family, the rise of the working class from the founding of the Wilhelmin Empire to the First World War, over the time of the Weimar Republic and National Socialism to the destruction of the Third Reich.

It's Saturday lunchtime in a small town near Munich and there's not much going on. The local bank is already closed, doors and windows are barred. The few passers-by in the main shopping street do not notice that a violent crime is being committed behind these windows. When the police later take up the investigation, a young bank employee becomes the only witness. His statements seem contradictory. And yet it is several other people who now have to struggle with conflicts of conscience. The more gaps in the police's chain of evidence, the more serious the decision to tell the truth and risk their own happiness. It's Saturday lunchtime in a small town near Munich and there's not much going on. The local bank is already closed, doors and windows are barred.

His passion for hunting almost spells doom for the sales manager of a GDR convenience store: his ambition to shoot a big buck just before the start of the closed season leads him to fall for a joke played by his son. He has tied horns to a prize-winning breeding goat, leading the hunter on the wrong track. While he tries to cover up the incident, there is a great deal of excitement in the village; resentment and schadenfreude arise, intrigues are played out and village gossip makes the rounds.

In a village, there is reason to gossip and mock. As a kind of reward, the workaholic tractor driver Andreas is sent on vacation for a few days before being called up for military service.

The director of an art museum in Thuringia and an art dealer from Constance entered into an extremely lucrative business relationship. Director Trützschler illegally supplies Ms. Münzenberg with valuable works of art, which she smuggles into West Germany through an intermediary, abusing the transit routes. The business flourishes until they both fall into the CIA's intricate web. They are put under pressure and used to recruit a scientist from Jena. Will the GDR security forces succeed in thwarting the CIA's espionage operation...?

It is the 65th birthday of Wilhelm Lehmann, foreman of a chemical company. All members of the large family are expected. Preparations are also being made in the company: Wilhelm is to be awarded the »Labor banner« and, as every year, the sons are responsible for the may bowl. But instead of family members, telegrams with rejections flutter into the house.

It was supposed to be a cozy Christmas evening with the family. Labor Director Walter Lörke was particularly looking forward to it. But then his daughter Anne surprised him with her future son-in-law Thomas Ostermann. And that's not all: Lörke is to become a grandfather. This doesn't suit him at all, especially as the young man clearly shows his critical attitude towards the state whose ideals Lörke has fought for all his life. An argument ensues - on Christmas Eve. Lörke leaves the apartment in a rage. But he is driven by unrest: He wants to know what kind of person his future son-in-law is and why he has such a negative attitude towards the state. It turns out that Thomas has had bitter experiences with the opportunistic attitudes of many adults and that, although he was the best student in his class, he was not admitted to university because of his critical opinions.

Psichinski rings Mr. Semmler's doorbell and alerts him to strange noises in the attic. Together they sneak upstairs and discover a full-grown horse, which they report to the police officer. He triggers the alarm. The fire department and several workmen marvel at the event and ponder how it could have gotten there in its full size. The return transport requires structural measures and reconstruction work. After completion, Psischinski's house resembles a "jewel box". Later, the policeman asks Psischinski how he "managed" the matter and learns that he had brought a foal there 1½ years ago in order to draw the attention of the public, especially the tradesmen, at the appropriate time so that work that was difficult to carry out could finally be completed. Shaking his head, the official, who also owns a house, leaves the property with the comment: "You should have a horse!"

A murder has been committed in "Pension Boulanka", a famous guesthouse for artists and circus people. Captain Bruckner is heading the investigating team.

Ulf would do anything to win Biggi's heart. Because he wants to impress her, he decides to join the sailing club. Despite the mockery of his friends, he is not dissuaded from his plan and spares no effort to make an impression on his beloved. But she only gives him the cold shoulder, whereupon he manipulates her boat. As a result, Biggi ends up in last place in an important regatta race. Both are threatened with expulsion, which is why they have to pull themselves together.

A flamboyant comedy about love, work and money—revealing that the "planned" economy produced some unconventional entrepreneurial methods.

Adam receives a flashlight with special powers: every liar it shines on flies into the air. Production was cancelled in 1965/66 due to the film's political content. Only in 1989/90 could the director reconstruct the film, where missing sounds and images are replaced with script inserts.

In order to escape her narrow and restrictive life, Senta, the daughter of a rich shipowner, seeks refuge in her fantasies and dreams. In this realm of imagination, a bold and restless sea captain appears to her—the Flying Dutchman—who is cursed to wander the seas forever. In her obsessive dreams, Senta frees this man through her love for him.

This East German movie was co-produced with studios in Hungary and Yugoslavia, with many interesting location shots (border checkpoint to West Berlin, the Gellert bath in Budapest, and more). The plot is about French drug dealers, who obtain heroin somewhere in the Middle East, and smuggle it in several steps to East Berlin, and from there to France (or so it appears), killing when necessary. The hero is an officer of East German customs, who with detective work, some masquerade, and occasional violent action ultimately unravels the whole network, of course with the support of the local customs departments.

In a remote Prussian village, the shepherd Krischan with his fantastic stories is the attraction point for the children. One day they experience together how the Müller Düker beats his horse to death and intervene. Düker sues her for body injury at the district court, and because the main accused, Krischan, lives illegally in the village without papers, the village community decides to deport him before the trial. Krischan disappears. The children feel the loss painfully, are outraged by the adults. The boys Martin and John search for Krischan on an adventurous ride and are put by the police. Krischan remains gone.

Seventeen-year-old Martina has a paralyzing fear of heights, which prevents her from fulfilling her father’s wish that they perform a tightrope act together. As she is quite taken with the black panthers in the circus, as well as their trainer Dittrich, she decides to be an animal trainer instead.

Alma Krause is the proud owner of a thoroughbred French bully. Even otherwise, she nurses and harbors several two- and four-legged friends in her apartment - just as one would expect from a veterinarian's widow. Her nephew Heinz, on the other hand, is kind of beaten. Not as for the love of animals, that would fit badly to a nascent vet, but for a small animal practice, as the blessed uncle operated, he seems to have no ambitions. A future as a "Bazillenscheuche" in the cowshed would like to spare him again Aunt Alma. And she takes her appropriate action.

Ekke and Karsten are newcomers to the shipyard. Paddy claims to have heard it on Rügen radio. But the two did not fall on their heads, even if they still fear that their accommodation, the "Fritz Heckert" accommodation ship, could be - as it is called - a "working-class monastery". Not only do they find out from Paddy that such worries are unfounded, they experience it for themselves.

The Federal Republic of Germany. Journalist Rohmann, seriously injured in a car accident, is dying in hospital. Before his death, he bequeaths his unfinished novel to his friend, the famous writer Frank Seburg, and asks him to complete the work he started. Frank Seburg examines the materials collected by Rohmann. It turns out that the journalist was trying to uncover the mystery surrounding the deaths of several West German officials. According to the official version, they all committed suicide. Seburg was unable to fulfill his friend's request to reveal the true causes of their deaths. The fight against the followers of fascism proved too much for him.

Götz von Bredow's elk-leather trousers have their own special meaning: whoever wears them cannot come to any harm. Only they must not be washed. The meticulous Mrs. Brigitte cleans them anyway - but they get lost because the squire Hans-Jürgen, who is guarding them, has to save the life of Eva von Bredow, who is floating in a wash barrel. Meanwhile, Privy Councillor Lindenberg has arrived at the Bredows' house and loses a large sum of money in the game that does not belong to him. He wants to make up for the loss with a robbery. Suspicion first falls on Bredow because his trousers were involved, but Lindenberg is convicted and sentenced to death. This throws the cavalry into turmoil, as robberies are an important source of income for them. The four of them march against the Elector, who is hunting in the Köpenicker Heide. But Bredow, who has his protective trousers back, comes to his aid.

The television play by Werner Bernhardy depicts episodes from the life of Heinrich Zille as well as his much-praised "Milljöh". It tells of Zille's dismissal from the Berlin Photographic Society, of Kommerzienrat Hübel and his wife, of Zille's unreal, loyal friend Gustav Nogler, in whose role the experiences, attitudes and characteristics of many people from those years were incorporated, and of many other Berlin characters.

Based on a true story of inmates at KZ Buchenwald that risked their lives to hide a small Jewish boy shortly before the liberation of the camp.

This comedic musical tells the story of Gabi, a young hairdresser from the Baltic coast who desperately wants to be a jockey. One day, she packs her bags, drives to Hoppegarten, and is soundly rejected by the head coach. Gabi doesn't want to give up, and in order to at least have a roof over her head, she rushes into a marriage with the seemingly nice Freddie. However, this marriage soon proves to be her second rejection, as Freddie openly dislikes the fact that she wants to be a jockey.

Late at night, a guest checks into the small hotel "Zum Spreewald-Idyll". The man seems suspicious. And he becomes even more suspicious over time. That's why they don't just call him "Katulla", he's "A certain Katulla". And he is not suspicious because he is suspected of evil, quite the opposite: he is suspicious because of his boundless helpfulness and kindness. Katulla is still kind even when he has to suffer disadvantages as a result. That's just not normal. So it is only normal that everything in the small hotel has been abnormal since this Katulla appeared.

After meeting the woman on the train Erwin Retzmann kills her in the forest.

Vienna, 1813-1819: Beethoven (played by Donatas Banionis) is at the peak of his fame. Orchestras all over the world play his music, but he lives modestly and is dependent upon private patrons. Nagged by his patronizing brothers, spied upon by officials for his republican beliefs and faced by his progressive hearing loss, the composer becomes more and more isolated. Seeman’s poetic film explores the joys, heartbreak and artistic spirit of the great composer as he works on his Ninth Symphony.

In Scotland in 1751, young David Balfour is shanghaied aboard a ship where he meets Jacobite rebel Alan Breck Stewart with whom he escapes to the Scottish Highlands, dodging the redcoats.

Berlin, 1948: Paralyzed and robbed of her memory, Fleur regains consciousness after a serious fall. The doctor treating her recognizes that her problem is of a psychological nature and encourages her to face up to her past. The daughter of a brothel owner is reluctant to look back: on a hapless childhood, her relationships with bon vivant Dr. Goldner and the politically committed locksmith Philipp (Hilmar Thate) as well as the difficult period of fascism... This exciting journey into the German past is based on Dinah Nelken's novel "Das angstvolle Heldenleben einer gewissen Fleur Lafontaine".

Grandpa Lörke is preparing for a contemplative, quiet Christmas Eve. But nothing comes of it, because his daughter Anne informs him that his 17-year-old granddaughter has disappeared.

Small town policeman Holms suffers from a rather unusual problem: Because of the low crime rate, there is simply not enough to do for him. Deadly bored, he sinks into the depths of depression and requests the help of a psychiatrist. But his imagination is far more effective: In his dreams, he chases gangsters in London. Finally, some small-time crooks find a way to help "their" policeman out of his emotional misery: They steal a memorial from the market square and thus help Holms to a spectacular case.

Ella Conradi, a dedicated journalist from Germany, is in Jerusalem to report about the trial against the Nazi criminal Eichmann. Disgusted by the monstrosities that are revealed, she eventually returns to Germany. There, she wants to cover common cases and trials again. Her first assignment is a murder trial against a man called Ralf Jordan who constantly maintains his innocence. Conradi, who believes Jordan and wants to help him, starts to investigate the case - and thus opens up a political can of worms. The backgrounds of the case reach back to the Nazi period and involve officials of the Third Reich, who in the meantime have returned to their powerful positions.

Europe, 1620: The well-known astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, who teaches as a professor in Linz, receives the message that his mother is prosecuted as a witch in Württemberg. The truth behind the allegations is rather simple: His mother has been denunciated by a former friend after an argument with the authorities. Kepler tries desperately to convince the prosecutors of the absurdity of their allegations with rational arguments.

Ev and Peter fall in love at first sight. Peter studies dentistry in Leipzig and is eager to work in the country. There is an unfilled dentist vacancy in his home village. Ev, on the other hand, is drawn to the city. Being a commercial artist, she sees no chance to find a job in the country. This conflict becomes the first real test for their relationship.

The son of a working-class man, Harry Brenner studied medicine at the ABF and quickly made a career as a doctor in Berlin. His lifestyle and his demanding wife swallow up a lot of money, so he takes on any part-time work. After a gross dereliction of duty, he is transferred to Bothenow. He meets Eva again, whom he knows from his student days and who now works here as a nurse. The two hit it off and Dr. Brenner slowly begins to change his life. In doing so, he increasingly comes into conflict with his wife. Their different views on life eventually lead to a separation.

A doctor of social sciences - a specialist in failing marriages - becomes jealous. He imagines his skater wife in various situations, but always on skates.

In a small town, a brigade is working on the construction of a new cultural center. Gerhard loves Karin, the daughter of brigadier Franz, who is not thrilled with the prospective son-in-law. Under the influence of his colleague "Boxer", who wants to go to a big city with him, Gerhard neglects his crane operator course, his work and ultimately Karin too. The failed crane test infuriates him and turns him into a rioter. After quarrels on the construction site, Franz is found unconscious on the crane at night. Gerhard comes under suspicion, but the accident was the fault of "Boxer". When he tries to escape, Gerhard, who has come to his senses, is able to hold him back. Remorseful, they go to the police together. Karin is also reconciled and the wedding is to take place in the finished Kulturhaus.

The black cooperative Cornwall boar achieves single-handedly, so to speak, what the LPG functionaries in Bolbitz fail to do. He takes away the individual farmers' fear of the LPG by secretly covering their sows at night. The black piglets frighten the farmers at first, because black litters mean bad luck and presuppose a sin. Collectivization is seen as a sin by the superstitious, especially Grandma Kahlow. But when even the priest's sow is not spared and they find out who the "culprit" is, the superstition dissolves into laughter and the fear of the LPG is banished.

In the late 1950s, the collectivization of agriculture is in full swing in the East German village of Willshagen on the German-German border. Those in charge have to face many obstacles, especially from a large-scale farmer who is unwilling to join the co-op. All of a sudden, mysterious men in a fancy car appear in the village and show an interest in the rundown manor house. Gossip spreads quickly, and some villagers think there will be a re-parceling of properties and a land swap with West Germany. They assume everything will go back to how it used to be and even expect the count to return to his manor. In preparation, the situation in the village escalates at a fevered pitch.

Santa Claus, expelled from the Heavenly Council because of his alleged failure, finds work on Earth as a stoker in a children's hospital. His willingness to help soon makes him indispensable.

The Germanic pagan deity, The Rainmaker, has fallen asleep, causing widespread drought and poverty. A young couple, Andreas and Maren must trick an old goblin into leading them to the magic garden of The Rainmaker and wake her up.

After the second World War, Dresden has a lot of reconstructing to do. To get the cigarette factory he once worked for running again, Kalle has to travel to Wittenberg - the only place where carbide can be found. Once there, Kalle find himself in the unfortunate situation of having to hitchhike his way back to Dresden, transporting seven heavy barrels of carbide. However, his inventiveness and optimistic attitude help transform the grueling task into an adventurous, entertaining, and funny journey.

The impoverished and homeless orphan girl Anna Barbara sets out in search of the mysterious golden thaler. The rag collector Hans Geiz offers her the promise of it if she toils in his underground kingdom for three years.

Peter, medical student and son of old materials dealer Richard Müller, wants to get engaged to the daughter of the director of a local construction company. The profession of his father has so far only vaguely hinted out of shame. And so his future in-laws think Richard is working in ministry. When he learns about it, he is initially offended. After all, he lives his profession with body and soul. But then Richard takes advantage of the misunderstanding and pays the bride parents a visit.

Jürgen Fohrmann works as a hauer underground. In the course of the coal crisis, his mine closes - he loses the work. In this mood, his wife's prosperity thinking gets on his nerves - his marriage threatens to break. The dismissed coal buddy applys, first becomes an auxiliary worker, but then receives a job in an automated operation of the electrical industry and believes to have socially risen through this "clean work". Fohrmann quickly realizes that wearing a "white coat" is only seemingly better than the arduous work in the pit and understands that he can no longer stay out of the work struggles of the buddies.

A woman meets a blind man who helped her during the war and has fallen on hard times since.