Helma Sanders-Brahms
Helma Sanders-Brahms directs this inventive film that uses the verse of Jewish poet Else Lasker-Schüler and Nazi poet Gottfried Benn to dramatize the passionate, real-life affair between the two unlikely lovers. Forced out of Germany, Lasker-Schüler makes her way to Jerusalem even as Benn discovers the true nature of the Nazi ideology he had once championed. Lena Stolze and Cornelius Obonya star.
40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes. The results run the gamut from Zhang Yimou's convention-thwarting joke to David Lynch's bizarre miniature epic.
No folkore, no rituals, no klezmer, no political statements, no twee Berlin Jewish quarters. This film is an attempt to make an imageless film; a plea for a religion of imagelessness, of words, of thoughts.
When East Germany ceases to be separate from its western half, one would think that things would be better for the couple in this movie who have been plagued by sexual and political harassment of the most virulent kind, but , they are completely unprepared to cope with the swift changes that are transforming their familiar yet desperately unhappy world. In the story, Heinz is a laborer in the cooperative apple orchards of an East German village and has married his sweetheart Lena. She works to take care of the sickly wife of the co-op's manager and also must cope with the sexual attentions of the perfidious man. One day, after discovering this state of affairs, Heinz blows up and assaults his wife's harasser, which only serves to land him in jail. While in prison, the state secret police (the Stasi) get him to help them entrap the co-op manager, whom they believe is going to try to defect.
Within four episodes ("Er am Ende", "Muss ich aufpassen", "Eva" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" ) are being told adventures of love sick Felix. On Sylt he meets two nymphomaniac women, in Hamburg he meets Eva, a girl who is even more love sick and later he meets Luci who gives him an indecent proposal. Thus he flees again...
Extensive dialogue and the tight focus of a single apartment setting marks this romantic and politically symbolic drama about Malgortzata, a Polish photographer (Krystyna Janda) and her married French lover Paul (Sami Frey). The two rendezvous in West Berlin to spend some time together before Malgortzata has to go back to Warsaw and Paul returns to his wife and daughter. Malgortzata is excited about her recent trip to Africa and shows Paul her photos; Paul is upset because she says there is no way she will move to Paris, Warsaw is the only place she wants to be. The two talk, disagree, argue, make-up, and talk again -- but will all this discussion ever resolve a matter of the heart and not the mind? tt0091379
Emily, a child, stays with her bourgeois grandparents during frequent periods when her mother makes films. Isabelle wraps a picture, flies to her childhood home to pick up Emily, and plans to leave for her place in France. Old wounds between Isabelle and her parents open around Isabelle's life style. It's also apparent that Isabelle's mother, Paula, is unhappy - with her husband and with her youthful hopes dashed when she became pregnant with Isabelle. Unbeknownst to Isabelle, the co-star of the film she's just made has followed her, checked into a nearby hotel, and wants to begin an affair, even though he's married. Can Isabelle sort it out? What's best for Emily?
TV Movie by Helma Sanders-Brahms.
Doctors say that Veronika, a woman in her 20s, is schizophrenic. She is compliant, which makes her an easy target for men. She's religious, believing she is God's favorite child; she searches for Jesus. She has sent a letter to a filmmaker suggesting her life as the subject for a movie. We see her raped than take up with a series of men she believes are Jesus, each willing or insistent on sex. A young man with his own crisis of faith invites her to join a cult. We see her involuntarily committed to an asylum from time to time where medication and constraints await. Her wealthy parents are helpless. Will a medical professional ever talk to her? If one did, would it help?
Germany 1939. Hans and Lene marry the day before the war breaks out, and Hans is sent to the Eastern front. During a bombing raid their daughter Anna is born. The house is destroyed and Lene and Anna moves in with relatives in Berlin. Hans survives the war but he is not the same person as in 1939, and he and Lene find it difficult to live together again.
The story of the unhappy life of the romantic poet Henrich von Kleist (1777-1811). His last letter to the Prussian State Minister is not dealt with until after his death, he lead his fight against Napolean in written form, his relationships to men are by far more passionate that with women, his engagement was a disaster... (www.german-films.de)
In order to be reunited with Mahmood (Ören), a man she was promised to as a young girl, 20-year-old Shirin (Erten) leaves the life she had in a small village in Turkey in search of him.
1647, Santiago, Chile. Don Henrico banishes his daughter, Josephe, to a convent when he learns she loves Jeronimo, a mestizo who's a teacher in the household. The lovers meet in secret, a child is born, the pair are condemned to die, and prelates scheme to seize Don Henrico's fortune. A moment before Josephe's public execution, an earthquake devastates Santiago. Josephe finds her baby and flees the rubble; Jeronimo survives, escapes, and finds her. The reunion brings joy and rebirth. He wants to build a Utopian community, without priests. She believes they can reenter Santiago society, forgiven. Class, race, and religion dictate a world order: is there a place for these lovers?
West Berlin, 1974. The revolution didn't happen like it was supposed. Grischa, a 30-year-old actress dissatisfied with standard left-wing politics, interviews working women to find out how they deal with being both mothers and members of society.
Documentary about the everyday routine of the sales assistant Angelika Urban.
