Frank-Otto Schenk

Paul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. They meet and discover a strong passion for each other. Life seems like a dream when they're together - but their short flights from the burdens of reality are once and again interrupted by Paul's ties to family and career.

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.

The film describes the activity of an ABV of the People's Police in its section in East Berlin. A mixture of “positive” characters from the beginning, the extensively staged “owl”, who is introduced as a criminal and over the course of time, especially due to the influence of the ABV, develops into a good citizen, and incorrigible characters, with whom the ABV fails with its extensive attempts at rehabilitation and who are arrested after having committed again offenses.

Every year in the spring the pupils of the 8th grade in the GDR receive the 'Jugendweihe' and are admitted to the circle of adults. This year, Tim is ready. For him and his classmates, the day begins with a ceremony in the culture house, then he goes with the whole family in a hotel restaurant, to celebrate the event properly.

Eighteen-year-old Wolfgang has just passed his A-levels and still has a few months to go before he has to start his military service. Instead of sitting around lazily, he wants to experience something during this time before the serious side of life begins. Wolfgang decides to hitchhike to Poland. There he makes friends with a group of young mountaineers, and Wolfgang's last period of complete freedom begins.

This elaborate two-part television film features a section from the life of communist worker leader Ernst Thälmann. It begins with the bloody riots on May 1, 1929 in Berlin, in which police officers shot at demonstrating workers, and ends with February 7, 1933, when Thälmann appeared as a speaker at the illegal meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany in goat neck. This period was marked by the struggle of the Communists against the ever stronger National Socialists and the rise of Adolf Hitler.

A disruption on the Berlin S-Bahn: passengers have an involuntary one-hour layover at Frankfurter Allee S-Bahn station and use the time to take a closer look at their fellow passengers. Alice Räppel, a native Berliner with a heart and a snout, meets Egon Ziesemaus, who is usually plagued by bad luck. Klaus Fiedler, who wants to leave his family, gets to know the actress Inge, and other passengers also quickly make friends.

In 1923, Judge Böhnsdorf and Inspector Dumke convict 22-year-old Fritz Bondersen of treason, accused of selling military secrets on the testimony of General Director Gotthardt, and sentence him to 15 years in a Zuchthaus. Despite his protestations of innocence, Bondersen can’t produce proof. Two years later, his fiancée Edith Volkmann, aided by journalist Günther Borchert, tracks down a French officer whose eyewitness account could discredit Gotthardt’s statement. Their quest to expose a massive fraud offers Bondersen a final hope for justice.

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.

Ralph grows up in pre-war Dresden as the eldest son of a principled and orderly streetcar conductor. With the rise to power of the Nazis, the war, the collapse and the hesitant new beginning, his firmly established middle-class world is also thrown off course. His father is one of the first to be called up to the front. His mother is left alone with the responsibility for Ralph and his younger brother Achim. In the air-raid shelter, during the nights of bombing and later in the daily struggle against misery and hunger, the mother quickly abandons all moral baggage and develops a pragmatic will to survive, for which she admires Ralph. At the same time, the boy is frightened by his mother's desperate claim to happiness because he perceives her affairs as a betrayal of his father, who has gradually faded into a symbol of a happy, carefree childhood.

Major Leska, who has proven himself as a troop officer in a tank battalion in complicated maneuvers, is to become an instructor. He sees this as a challenge and is looking forward to the new task. But then the decision is made in favor of his friend Hans Helbig, who has just graduated from the military academy with distinction and was once Leska's subordinate. The conflict that erupts between Leska and Hans puts a strain on their working relationship and puts their friendship to the test. They have to prove themselves during an important maneuver.

August 24, 1937: a day in the life of expressionist sculptor and author Ernst Barlach (Fred Düren). Barlach lives in the small town of Güstrow, keeping to himself and wanting to steer clear of politics. On this day he learns that the Nazis have dragged his famous 1927 sculpture The Hovering Angel out of the Güstrow Cathedral. Barlach begins to reflect on his life of “inner emigration” and on his work.

The Soviet boy Kostya is an enthusiastic radio operator. When fascist German troops occupy his home town, the 13-year-old is conscripted into forced labor. His hatred of the occupying forces grows, but he is too young to join a partisan unit. But then he comes across a badly wounded Soviet scout. Kostya summons up all his courage and takes on his dangerous mission.

Based upon a true story, the movie centers on the German communist Robert, a "Kapo" in a concentration camp. When some Polish children are brought to the camp, Robert tries to save them from certain death. Due to his efforts they are being trained as masons and become part of his construction gang. Nevertheless, the boys, and mainly the clever Janusz, are very suspicious of Robert. They have already experienced too much evil and do not want to trust anybody – least of all a German.

Andreas Jungmann has decided to become a professional soldier. He proves himself during his service with the NVA and feels in his element. He and his squad pass the endurance test ordered immediately after an exercise without any problems. His decision is made. But his wife Doris is expecting a child and no longer wants to do without him. She even threatens to terminate the pregnancy if Andreas does not cancel his notification. What will he decide?

The communist and resistance fighter Lorenz Reger, who after the war put all his efforts in the creation of a socialist German state, learns that he has only a short time left to live. Nevertheless, he wants to take on one last difficult new task: He wants to restructure a large firm which has run deep into the red numbers. In a short amount of time, Reger manages to establish mutual trust between the employees and the new management. Furthermore, he motivates the employees with his personal interest for their concerns.

Eight-year-old Matthias dreams that he will someday become a pilot and his divorced parents will get back together. He waits yearningly for his ninth birthday because his father has told him the story of Icarus, and promised to take him on a sightseeing flight. When Matthias' father doesn't come home, he is devastated. He runs throughout the city, talks to his friend about the relationships of adults, looks for his father at his desk, and gets himself into conflict with the police. As he sits alone on the roof of a house, he comes to the conclusion that Icarus didn't plummet to the earth because he didn't listen to his father, but rather because his father had forgotten him.

This film musical is a romantic comedy of mistaken identities set at the 10th World Festival in Berlin. Alexej from Moscow meets and is attracted to Mascha, right before he leaves for Berlin. Mascha also travels to Berlin to perform with her cultural ensemble. While there, she boards with the Krüger family, whose son Hans is attracted to her.

May of 1945. Soviet soldiers conducting an operation to rescue the children in a small town in the territory of Germany.

Otto Kimmel had a long career as a confectioner. Now he is a pensioner and primarily a grandpa. In his house, where three generations live under one roof, Otto is the restless soul; this sometimes causes problems, but also brings a lot of joy. For his grandchildren, Grandpa Otto is a "fragrant buddy" because he is up for a lot of fun and initiates the craziest things. To Martha's chagrin, however, he sometimes oversteps his grandfatherly "sphere of competence". Amusing events and entanglements unfold over 75 minutes, and the "Gesellenstück" (journeyman's play) finally results in something that even Grandpa Kimmel is more than surprised by.

A child abduction story ordered by a non-custodial uncle with the background of the East/West-German separation.

In 1960, farmer Walter Wagemühl learns from the West that his life is coming to an end. In order to pass the farm into loyal hands, he sends his adopted daughter Catharina to the East to marry his prudent nephew Ewald. The surprising request puts him in a huge quandary. He is about to take his final exams and the university officials have earmarked an academic career for him. But Ewald wants nothing more than to become chairman of the socialist cooperative in Hullerbusch. And now this too...

Hannes Peters is delighted that he can escape his unloved job as a chef and join the navy. He is overjoyed to be assigned as a hydroacoustician. But then the cook falls ill and Hannes is transferred to the galley. He resists, serves inedible dumplings and oversalted coffee, but it doesn't help! For a while, he has to do his duty as a smutje and finally realizes that everyone in the navy is in the same boat.