Thomas Plenert

Beauty & Decay (2019)

Sven Marquardt might be the most famous bouncer worldwide. But beside standing in front of the legendary techno club Berghain in Berlin, he is also a well-known and skilled photographer. Long before the Berlin Wall came down, Marquardt portrayed the subcul ...

Sealed Lips (2018)

A German communist wrongly accused and sent to a labour camp has to keep her past life hidden for the sake of her and her family's freedom. ...

Familie Brasch (2018)

Director Annekatrin Hendel delivers a portrait of three generations of Brasches as a microcosm of societal tensions being carried out on a large scale — between East and West, art and politics, communism and religion, love and betrayal, utopia and self-d ...

Ausgerechnet Sylt (2018)

Project manager Kevin returns to his childhood on the island of Sylt on a vacation with his daughter, motivated by closing a big deal there, since his company plans to build luxury apartments on a piece of land. ...

Beyond Boundaries (2016)

Beyond Boundaries is a lyrical, essay-like road movie tracing the scars of war in Europe and telling of places where a border is known as "Meja", "Granica", "Határ" or "Frontiera" – the borders of Slovenia to Austria, Croatia, Hungary, and Italy. ...

Als wir die Zukunft waren (2016)

Seven directors remember their childhood and youth; to the 50s and 60s in the GDR. They appear to be curious, vulnerable children and teenagers who also want to be cool (even though the word doesn't exist for them yet). They live in well-adjusted or resist ...

In Sarmatien (2014)

Volker Koepp revisits locations and people from his earlier documentaries in the wide Eastern European region of Sarmatia. ...

Livland (2012)

Documentary by Volker Koepp. ...

Berlin - Stettin (2009)

In his film "Berlin-Stettin", well-known documentary film director Volker Koepp embarks on a journey to the places of his own past: Born in 1944 in Stettin (now the Polish city of Szczecin) and grown up in Berlin-Karlshorst, Koepp has again and again met p ...

This Night (2009)

Werner Schroeter directed this dark and surreal tale of a man determined to save a lost lover from a grim fate at the hands of a violent mob. The city of Santa Maria is falling into chaos as an armed military faction is poised to take power in a coup d'eta ...

Memelland (2008)

Documentary about the region next to the river Memel. ...

First Leipzig Autumn Salon (2008)

In 1984, the "First Leipzig Autumn Salon" took place – a risk and a caesura for Dammbeck. Bypassing every state institution, six painters, sculptors and filmmakers organised an art exhibition. It was the first and last of its kind. This recapture of publ ...

You're Not Alone (2007)

Master painter Hans Moll and his wife, the television announcer Ms. Wellinek and her husband, and the German-Russian Jew Yevgenia have many things to live on: food, drink, an apartment. What they do not have is work. They all discover the yearning for a ch ...

Elder Blossom (2007)

The film tells the story of the East Prussian landscape and its inhabitants. At one time Germans, Poles, Lithuanians and Jews lived here alongside and with one another. After World War II and the expulsion of Germans by Stalin, the Prussian province turned ...

Söhne (2007)

In early 1945, the mother Elisabeth Paetzold flees from the Red Army from West Prussia towards the west with the two oldest of her four sons. Taking all the children at the same time seems too dangerous to her, so she leaves her two youngest in the hope of ...

Die Hochzeit meiner Töchter (2006)

Hilde Reimer is overjoyed when her three grown-up daughters and their partners move into the old family villa. The only thing that really bothers Hilde is that her three girls are still not married, despite having children and being very much in love. ...

Schattenland - Reise nach Masuren (2005)

A documentary about Masuria, a province in the northeast of Poland, which is probably the most renowned part of former East-Prussia. Albeit a recent boom in tourism, the sparsely populated region still remains one of the poorest regions in Europe. The impr ...

Pommerland (2005)

In his documentary film, Volker Koepp portrays the picturesque Polish region of Pomerania. But although the region appears to be idyllic, its inhabitants are struggling with big problems. The villages and cities of Pomerania that traditionally live from ag ...

This Year in Czernowitz (2004)

Chernivtsi, an out-of-the-way city in the middle of Europe. It was once part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy as the capital of the crown province of Bukowina. People of many different nationalities, languages, and cultures lived here together: Ukrainians, ...

The Net (2003)

Explores the incredibly complex backstory of Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber. This exquisitely crafted inquiry into the rationale of this mythic figure situates him within a late 20th century web of technology—a system that he grew to oppose. A mar ...

Uckermark (2002)

Volker Koepp returns to the Brandenburg Marches, where many of his films were made. Uckermark describes the coexistence of the various eras using the stories and lives of the local people. They are farmers and returning noblemen, men and women hoping that ...

Fremde Oder (2001)

Documentary observations along the course of the Oder River, which—much like the Rhine—has become a river of destiny in Central Europe. ...

Berlin Babylon (2001)

A documentary focusing on the rebuilding projects in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall. ...

Return to Go (2001)

After Sam, a penniless Afro-German singer, discovers he's HIV positive, he gets utterly drunk, spends a few miserable days, but promptly falls (back) in love. Amidst a crumbling former East Berlin (its bulidings, cars, people & culture), Sam develops a "fa ...

Kurische Nehrung (2001)

The "Curonian Spit" is a 98 kilometre long sand dune peninsula that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The width of the spit between the lagoon′s beach and the beach of the Baltic Sea often amounts to no more than several hundred metres. ...

Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckerman (1999)

In the west of Ukraine, not far from the border to Romania, there is a faraway European city: Chernivtsi. It was once the centre of Jewish culture in the Bukowina, a border area characterized over centuries by a multi-cultural mixture of peoples. Here, Ukr ...

The Master Game (1998)

At the Vienna Art Academy in 1994, an unidentified person painted over 27 works by Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer. Rainer had become world-famous for his abstract art and, in particular, for his over-layering of photographs and overpainting of his own and ...

Das 7. Jahr – Ansichten zur Lage der Nation (1997)

Little Angel (1997)

Ramona lives her lonely life in Berlin working in a lipstick factory. One day she accidentally runs into Andrzei, a Polish mechanic illegally selling cigarettes in Germany during the weekend. One thing leads to another, and soon she finds herself pregnant. ...

Duerers Heritage (1996)

Dammbeck, himself an alumnus of the Leipzig Academy for Graphic and Book Design, presents the origins of the new German realism developed by the so-called Leipzig School, which took place in the context of socialist-realist dogma in the GDR before the Wall ...

Meine Liebe, deine Liebe (1996)

Documentary film by Helke Misselwitz. ...

Nikolaikirche (1995)

The story of a Leipzig family from 1987 to the Monday demonstrations in 1989. After the death of her father, a high-ranking officer in the People's Police, the daughter joins the resistance movement around St. Nicholas Church. Phenomena such as obedience, ...

Cold Homeland (1995)

In this documentary Volker Koepp shows part of the history of Prussia. He begins 700 years ago with the land of the Pruzzen situated between the rivers Weichsel and Memel and proceeds the development of the state. ...

Leben - Ein Traum (1994)

Clearing the sea of lignite, miners move excavators from one colossal mass to the next, which they strip. They float with dreamlike ease, like lost ships in the sweltering heat of the summer of '94 through Lusatia to the Welzow/Süd open-cast mine. Next to ...

Die Wismut (1993)

Documentary about the impact of uranium mining in East Germany. ...

Herzsprung (1992)

In the little town of Herzsprung - whose name harks back to an ancient legend of broken hearts - almost nothing has changed since German unification, except a rise in unemployment. Johanna, a young mother and widow, becomes one of the unemployed and lives ...

Sammelsurium - Ein ostelbischer Kulturfilm (1992)

Time of the Gods (1992)

The film explores what transformations in power and politics do to art, how much opportunism can be found in "pure" art and whether fascist symbols can ever regain their aesthetic innocence. The questions it addresses about the relationship between ethics ...

Jugend ohne Gott (1991)

A teacher at a German high-school in the nineteen thirties has issues with his students who seem to be getting less human and more convinced of Nazi ideals as time goes on. ...

March Brandenburg, Inc. (1991)

In late 1990 times are changing in Zehdenick, Brandenburg: Russian troops are leaving, the German Reunification brings euphoria and new hope, but unemployment rises steadily. ...

The Wall (1991)

A documentary about the deconstruction of the Berlin Wall which makes no use of vocal commentary but instead focuses on visual elements. From the Potsdamer Platz to the Brandenburg Gate, the camera captures the historic events from all sides and different ...

Locked-Up Time (1991)

Filmmaker Sibylle Schoenemann, imprisoned by the GDR in 1984, was released to the FRG after having West Germany literally buy her freedom. In 1990 she went back and questioned those responsible. ...

Bulky Trash (1991)

In early summer 1989, Helke Misselwitz portrays young musicians in a band who produce their music on other people's waste items. The four boys call themselves "Bulk Rubbish" and they drum out their resentment, having grown up on the new housing estates of ...

Märkische Heide, Märkischer Sand (1990)

Volker Koepp revisits Zehdenick and Grüneberg, East Germany. People are struggling with the new political and economical conditions shortly before the German Reunification. ...

Letztes aus der DaDaeR (1990)

In a loose set of cabaret pieces, Steffen Mensching and Hans-Eckardt Wenzel - highly acclaimed East German poets, songwriters and clowns - satirize East German life in its final days and the arrival of new times after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The clown ...

La Villette (1990)

Only two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in January 1990, almost two hundred controversial East German visual and performance artists—including Jürgen Böttcher, the Autoperforation Artists, AG Geige, Via Lewandowsky, Trak Wendisch, Conny Hege ...

Über die Grenzen (1990)

Documentary filmmaker Paul Krewer follows his friend Thomas Ritter in the Peace Race, aiming to capture a winner's story. When Ritter crashes and falls back, Krewer shifts focus to underdog Steve Baxter's grit and teammate Falck's unexpected lead. In a dra ...

Berlin ohnegleichen - Vom steinernen Anspruch auf ein Weltreich (1989)

The architectural plans for Berlin from 1938 are used as an example to illustrate the fascist claim to power and its aesthetic effect. The basis for this was the "General Building Inspection" under the direction of Albert Speer, whose enormous projects are ...

Who's Afraid of the Bogeyman (1989)

Portrait of a private coal company in East Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district in 1988/89. The feisty woman boss runs the business with humour and understanding. Her seven male employees respect her. To the outside world, they are all tough guys, but as they ...

Märkische Ziegel (1989)

Spring 1988: a cinematic chronicle of the small town of Zehdenick an der Havel in the Mark Brandenburg. Brickworks have determined the rhythm of life in Zehdenick for exactly 100 years. Seasoned brickmakers and young skilled workers speak frankly and criti ...

After Winter Comes Spring (1989)

A locomotive journey traversing the North to the South of the German Democratic Republic on the eve of its dissolution. Labourers, punks, mothers, intellectuals, young and old are implored to reflect on their life choices, the sacrifices they've made, and ...

Tuba wa duo (1989)

Two men sit on the top of a roof, playing the tuba. They continually call out absurd messages making fun of official solutions and of their own slogans. The residents feel disturbed by the tuba's sound and start to attack the musicians, while they themselv ...

In Georgia (1988)

Impressionistic East German documentary filmed mainly in the Georgian countryside in 1986-1987. The director, a painter, wanted to see if similar scenes to those found in the work of Georgian painter Niko Pirosmanishvili still existed there. ...

Feuerland (1988)

Volker Koepp documents life in the Dorotheenstadt in Berlin-Mitte, which was called "Feuerland" in the 19th century. ...

Rock'n' Roll (1987)

In 1987, a Berlin couple hits the small stage with rock'n'roll - petticoat, stripped socks, ducktail and all. A laid-back study of a GDR slice of life. ...

The Kitchen (1987)

This documentary follows a group of women on a typical workday as they prepare meals for a dockyard in Rostock. The viewer never learns their names - there are no interviews. The women are presented simply as workers: cooking, cleaning, hauling, and servin ...

Once I Was a Child (1987)

The interviews conducted by Tamara Trampe in a Pankow kindergarten testify to a rare attempt to enter the world of the young interviewees completely, to give their stories a space where reality and fantasy, worries and wishes can mix freely. A space that's ...

Blond Tango (1986)

For five years Rogelio, a Chilean exile, has been in the GDR, where he works as a lighting technician at a theater. Though his colleagues try to make him feel welcome, he feels lonely and isolated. ...

A Brief Visit with Hermann Glöckner (1985)

This film portraits the artist and model-builder Hermann Gloeckner, who was born in Dresden in 1889. Even at the age of 96 he is still drawing with undiminished creative energy. ...

Shunters (1984)

Experienced shunters working at the Dresden-Friedrichstadt goods yard. In all weathers, day and night, they couple and uncouple the wagons. The air is full of sound: hammering, steps crunching on the gravel, whistles and shunting noises. ...

A Strange Love (1984)

After a hot and steamy company party, Sibylle and Harald, both in their late thirties, spend the night together. He is a widower with two sons, with the younger son just entering school. She is single and relatively satisfied in her current relationship wi ...

Sylvia (1984)

The film shows the concentrated faces of a brigade of women above the microscopes, the sudden bursts of laughter, the familiar conversations during work breaks. Then Sylvia with the pretty face, who is too fat and also handicapped by a hip condition, tells ...

Friedensfahrer (1984)

Apprehension (1982)

Inge Herold is in her mid-thirties. She is divorced and lives with her 15-year-old son. She works as a psychologist and social worker and is involved with a married man. Suddenly, Inge finds out she may have breast cancer, which would mean an operation the ...

Geschlechtskrankheiten (1982)

The film draws attention to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially among adolescents and young adults, and identifies partner changes and alcohol as factors that promote the spread. As basic preventive information about the sexually transm ...

Postcards II; Venus after Giorgione (1981)

Venus after Giorgione is the the second part of the "Over Paintings" (Uebermalungen) trilogy by painter and director STRAWALDE (Juergen Boettcher). Using various methods of "painting over" or projecting on top of Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus," Boettcher ali ...

Postcards III; Woman at the Clavichord (1981)

With films including the 'rubble woman' portrait Martha, the three-part experimental film cycle Potter's Stier, Venus nach Giorgione and Frau am Klavichord, the portrait of the artist Kurzer Besuch bei Hermann Glöckner, and also the documentaries Rangiere ...

Postcards I; Potter's Bull (1981)

Potter's Bull is the first part of the "Over-Paintings" Trilogy (Uebermalungen) by painter and director STRAWALDE (Juergen Boettcher). Paulus Potter's simple postcard scene entitled "The Young Bull" ("den jungen Stier") is artistically alienated in an impo ...

Die Kaminski (1980)

The film revolves around two characters: a high school student who is intelligent, beautiful, and fulfills all the expectations placed on her by her school, her parents, and society—and a young unskilled worker, a loser, whom she is supposed to take care ...

Bei Ossi (1980)

Sonnabend, Sonntag, Montagfrüh (1979)

A documentary portrait of the everyday life of teenagers in Mecklenburg. ...

Home (1978)

Young people living in a children's home in Mecklenburg talk about their unstable home situations and domestic violence. Many of them have alcoholic parents and some are in danger of going down the same path. They speak openly about the past and their hope ...

In the Lohm Valley (1977)

Sculptor Makolies is filmed working on a sculpture in the middle of a quarry in Swiss Saxony. The quarry workers go about their work around him. Both the work in the quarry and the work on the large figure in sandstone require strenght and conscientiousnes ...

Sonntagskind - Die Schriftstellerin Helga Schubert (2024)

The remarkable 83-year-old Helga Schubert lives in the remote landscape between Schwerin and Wismar. Her days are filled with the loving care of her sick 95-year-old husband, Johannes Helm, once a professor of psychology and passionate painter. But amidst ...

Anderson (2014)

Documentary about poet Sascha Anderson. ...

The Arctic Is Calling (1984)

This children's adventure movie is a charming tale of a group of youngsters in Prague who hear that Soviet sailors abandoned their failing ship in the Arctic Sea before it went down, but no one had been able to find the sailors yet. Inspired by the efforts ...