The Art of Museums

At the beginning of the 20th century there were two celebrated liberators of music who were the complete opposite of each other: the stylishly nonchalant Igor Stravinsky who revolutionized the musical field from the rhythm-section on the one hand – and on the other the smart and world-weary Arnold Schoenberg with his visionary 12-tone-music. What started as a respectful meeting of two composers soo turned into a bitter rivalry that led to a fundamental debate about progress and truth in music. We travelled to L.A., Vienna and Venice to trace the steps of the two genius composers.

Hardly anyone knows the artist, but almost everyone knows her paintings: Tamara de Lempicka, icon of the 1920s. Her art deco paintings of women in cars or in evening dress adorn book covers and break auction records. But who was she? The ARTE documentary by Grimme Prize-winning author Sylvie Kürsten ventures a self-portrait of Lempicka, narrated and played by Nicole Heesters.

Florence Foster Jenkins is known as "the worst singer of all times" and yet she is a cult figure whose recordings still outsell many contemporary singers. Opera superstar Joyce DiDonato interprets the flamboyant "queen of dissonance". The involvement of the celebrated virtuoso makes it possible to contrast two different musical perspectives and gives viewers a vivid impression of the film's key conflict between inner delusion and external reality.

The film brings Peter Tchaikovsky in a radical way into the present and draws an emotionally charged psychogram of the most famous composer of Russia. Tchaikovsky's fate of being a homosexual at the mercy of gay men moves into close proximity. In addition, well-known international artists and experts appear in the film and reveal their very personal approach to Tchaikovsky and his music.

The controversial German composer's life is re-enacted, illustrated and analyzed.

Tristan, King Marke’s most loyal vassal, takes the Irish princess Isolde to Cornwall to be married off to his master. During the journey, Isolde uses a deadly poison in an attempt to extinguish the intense but unspoken love between her and Tristan that had arisen beforehand. Isolde’s confidante Brangäne, however, replaces the poison with a love potion. From that moment, Tristan and Isolde become inseparably linked. Their secret love is soon betrayed to King Marke by the jealous Melot, who also fatally wounds Tristan. He is brought to his island, longing for one final meeting with Isolde before he dies. When she eventually comes, he himself pulls open his wound and collapses in her arms. Isolde follows him, dying in the most sublime ecstasy.

Wagnerwahn is a documentary in a style of a thriller.

After growing up as a girl and being celebrated as a women's downhill skiing champion, Erika Schinegger's career came to an abrupt end in 1967 after a sex test. Against the wishes of her family and the national skiing association, Erik started learning to be a man at the age of 20.

A documentary about the life of Karlheinz Böhm from his film career to his charity activities in Ethiopia.