Volker Schlöndorff

Peter Lorre : Derrière le masque du maudit (2024)

He is the despicable child killer in Fritz Lang's M. Drawing on testimonies and archives, this portrait sheds light on Peter Lorre's turbulent career and complex personality, unable to escape the monster that made him famous. ...

Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (2024)

An exploration of the life of Anita Pallenberg, European actress and rock 'n' roll muse. Told in Anita's own words, from her unpublished memoir, and in the words of her family, this bittersweet film is a never-seen-before look at life with The Rolling Ston ...

The Stones and Brian Jones (2024)

A look at the relationships and rivalries within The Rolling Stones in their formative years, as well as the creative musical genius of Brian Jones, key to the success of the band. ...

Merkel (2022)

Driven by extensive archive material and interviews with those who know her, this is the astonishing story of how a triple outsider – a woman, a scientist, and an East German – became the de facto leader of the "Free World", told for the first time for ...

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer (2022)

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into Herzog's everyday life, rare archive material and in-depth interviews with celebrated collaborators – including Christian Bale, Nicole Kidman, and Robert Pattinson, we are given an exciting glimpse into the wo ...

Alain Resnais, the Audacious (2022)

A genius inventor of forms, Alain Resnais is one of the fathers of cinematic modernity. This portrait, rich in archives, looks back on the career of a discreet non-conformist, in perpetual search of renewal to fight against anxiety. ...

Come with Me to the Cinema – The Gregors (2022)

From the 1950s onwards, Erika and Ulrich Gregor brought countless film historical milestones to Berlin and shaped cinema discourse in post-war Germany. A look at the life and work of the couple without whom Arsenal and the Forum wouldn't exist. ...

Romy Schneider & Alain Delon: An Enduring Passion (2022)

Austrian actress Romy Schneider (1938) and French actor Alain Delon (1935), once fervent lovers in the early sixties, maintained a close friendship and a certain working relationship after their breakup until her death in 1984: a universal and eternal love ...

A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner (2021)

Born in Berlin in 1896, Lotte Eisner became famous for her passionate involvement in the world of both German and French cinema. In 1936, together with Henri Langlois, she founded the Cinémathèque Française with the goal of saving from destruction films ...

Volker Schlöndorff: The Beat of the Drum (2020)

The life and work of the brilliant German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff, a cross-border artist who, by leaving Germany and making the whole world his place of work, acquired the objective perspective necessary to portray his country's society better than a ...

Last Year in Dachau (2020)

Near Munich, in Bavaria, Germany, is the Schleißheim Palace, where French filmmaker Alain Resnais shot his film Last Year at Marienbad in 1960. Nearby is the Dachau concentration camp, where thousands of people were killed between 1933 and 1945. An essay ...

Melville, le dernier samouraï (2020)

Like nobody else Jean-Pierre Melville influenced modern filmmaking. This documentary follows his creative process step by step, showing him becoming the father of the Nouvelle Vague and one of the most iconic directors of French cinema. ...

Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power (2019)

The views and thoughts of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood have never been more relevant than today. Readers turn to her work for answers as they confront the rise of authoritarian leaders, deal with increasingly intrusive technologies, and discuss climate ...

Hollywood's Second World War (2019)

For the USA, World War 2 was an all-out war - to mobilize the masses, the US government launched a huge propaganda campaign and cinema, the medium of the masses, was quite simply their most important weapon. Government authorities monitored the production ...

Fuck the Message (2019)

Sympathisanten - Unser deutscher Herbst (2018)

West Germany in the 1970s. Many artists, journalists and intellectuals were branded as sympathizers of Baader-Meinhof's left-wing terrorism. The parents of the director, too: Margarethe von Trotta and his stepfather, Volker Schlöndorff. With extensive arc ...

Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder (2017)

A funny walk through the life story of Billy Wilder (1906-2002), a cinematic genius; a portrait of a filmmaker who never was a boring man, a superb mind who had ten commandments, of which the first nine were: "Thou shalt not bore. ...

Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life (2017)

An account of the life and work of legendary cinematographer and director Carlo Di Palma (1925-2004) and an emotional journey through the great moments of cinema, from Italian neorealism to the masterpieces of Woody Allen. ...

Tangerine Dream: Sound from Another World (2016)

Documentary of German electronic musical group Tangerine Dream. ...

Arthur Miller: A Man of His Century (2015)

An unparalleled portrait of Arthur Miller (1915-2005), a major writer who left an indelible mark on the world. Miller's life is intimately connected with the great themes that marked the 20th century. Glamour, fame, social criticism and Marilyn Monroe. ...

From Caligari to Hitler (2015)

Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1919, when the Republic of Weimar is born, to 1933, when the Nazis come into power. (Followed by Hitler's Hollywood, 2017. ...

The Poet and the Filmmaker: Volker Schlöndorff on Baal (2015)

In this feature-length interview, conducted by Robert Fischer in February 2015, Volker Schlöndorff talks about the making of his film BAAL (1969), based on the first play ever written by Bertolt Brecht. He describes his working relationship with Rainer We ...

Fassbinder (2015)

A film portrait of the influential Bavarian actor, director, and screenwriter who publicly confessed his homosexuality, which chronologically covers all the important stages from Action-Theater to the director's early death, supplemented with anecdotes. ...

Henri Langlois vu par... (2014)

Thirteen filmmakers share personal reflections on Henri Langlois—the visionary founder of the Cinémathèque Française—recounting his influence on their lives, his role in preserving film history, and his enduring impact on world cinema. ...

Dubai Winter Diary VI: Light and Reflections (2012)

Gérard Courant's "Filmed Diary" of December 14, 2011, produced in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). Between December 7 and 15, 2011, Gérard Courant was invited by the Dubai International Film Festival, in the United Arab Emirates. It was an opportunity for h ...

Nuits transparentes (2011)

Strolling through France (Roanne, Nice and Carcassonne) with some excursions abroad (Munich, Montreal, New York). ...

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting. ...

Michael Nyman in Progress (2010)

Featuring unprecedented access to Michael Nyman's working life, this film shows one of the great composers of our time in all his diversity and endless energy. From London to Berlin, Mexico, Poland, the Netherlands, and Portugal the film is also a journey ...

Code Name: Melville (2010)

Mixing interviews, rare archival footage and film extracts, the film shows how Melville's works were impacted by what he experienced in his youth during WWII, and how it structured his whole approach to cinema, not only in its thematic but also in its aest ...

Memories of Last Year in Marienbad (2010)

A documentary about the film Last Year at Marienbad ...

Melville Steps Out of the Shadows (2010)

A documentary about the making of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1949 film "Le silence de la mer" ...

Unraveling the Enigma: The Making of Marienbad (2009)

Interviews with Alain Resnais' collaborators about the making of Last Year at Marienbad, including sketches and production photos. ...

Peter Eisenman: Building Germany's Holocaust Memorial (2009)

This documentary explores the creation of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as designed by architect Peter Eisenman. Reaction of the German public to the completed memorial is also shown. ...

Malle's Fire Within (2008)

In these interviews, conducted in 2008, actor Alexandra Stewart and filmmakers Philippe Collin and Volker Schlöndorff discuss the making of The Fire Within. ...

Filmmakers in Action (2006)

What is the state of cinema and what being a filmmaker means? What are the measures taken to protect authors' copyright? What is their legal status in different countries? (Sequel to "Filmmakers vs. Tycoons. ...

Billy Wilder Speaks (2006)

In 1988, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff sat down with legendary director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) at his office in Beverly Hills, California, and turned on his camera for a series of filmed interviews. (A recut of the 1992 TV miniseries Billy, How Di ...

Knef - Die frühen Jahre (2005)

A documentary about the life of the actress Hildegard Knef. ...

Gottschalk meets Petersen (2005)

Who is Helene Schwarz? (2005)

Only the chosen few know this woman who started working as a secretary for the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) on 13 February, 1966. The path of Helen's career is paved with famous names – including that of Wolfgang Petersen, Holger Meins (who ...

Von Sex bis Simmel (2005)

A documentary by Hans Günther Pflaum and Peter H. Schröder. ...

Fritz Lang, le cercle du destin - Les films allemands (2004)

Die Verhoevens (2003)

The history of a family, in the film business now for three generations, behind and in front of the camera. The film is not only a foray through the history of this remarkable family, but also through the history of German film and contemporary history as ...

Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song (2002)

The films, affairs and struggles of the iconic star of The Blue Angel as told by Rosemary Clooney, Roger Corman, Deanna Durbin and many more. ...

Ein Produzent hat Seele oder er hat keine (2002)

Horst Wendlandt tells the story of his cinematic work since the sixties. The dialogue between the "old and the young filmmaker" creates a fascinating spectrum of German film of the recent past. ...

Volker Schlöndorff Remembers The Tin Drum (2001)

A documentary-montage of sketches, photos, storyboards, and film excerpts that is accompanied by Volker Schlöndorff's thoughts about his 1979 film THE TIN DRUM. ...

Schrott - Die Atzenposse (2000)

The Night of the Filmmakers (1995)

A meditation on the first 100 years of German cinema, featuring an assembly of German filmmakers. ...

I Don’t Just Want You to Love Me (1992)

A documentary about the life and work of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. ...

Billy, How Did You Do It? (1992)

An interview between Volker Schlöndorff and Billy Wilder. ...

Film Hour (1991)

Werner Herzog interviews guests on the art of filmmaking. ...

Private Conversations: On the Set of ‘Death of a Salesman’ (1986)

Playwright Arthur Miller, director Volker Schlöndorff and actor Dustin Hoffman are seen creating the Roxbury Productions and Punch Productions teleplay Death of a Salesman (1985). ...

Humor ist eine ernste Sache - Der Filmregisseur Kurt Hoffmann (1985)

Hands Up! (1985)

The reunion of a group of former medical students results in a flood of bitter memories. ...

Cinématon (1978)

Cinématon is a 156-hour long experimental film by French director Gérard Courant. It was the longest film ever released until 2011. Composed over 36 years from 1978 until 2006, it consists of a series of over 2,821 silent vignettes (cinématons), each 3 ...

Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema (1976)

BBC documentary about the rise of the New German Cinema and several of its most important figures. ...

Mathias Kneißl (1971)

Inspired by the real-life events of Mathias Kneißl, a marginal man, son of poor farmers from Bavaria, in the late XIX century. Mathias stole from the rich to give to the poor, becoming a hero for the rural people and a popular social rebel. He was chased ...

Neuer Deutscher Film Report (1967)

Interview film with the protagonists of the New German Cinema in 1966. ...

Chance at Love (1964)

Four sketches revolving around the themes of luck and love. ...

Le Doulos (1962)

Enigmatic gangster Silien may or may not be responsible for informing on Faugel, who was just released from prison and is already involved in what should be a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisting, and multilayered policier, who will be left t ...

Léon Morin, Priest (1961)

Barny, although a Marxist, is intrigued by the mysteries of religion. In confession, she teases a priest, Léon Morin, but he is a young and intelligent man and ready to discuss anything. ...

The Forest Maker (2022)

Together with African small farmholders Tony Rinaudo, an Australian agronomist, has been fighting against the spread of the desert for 30 years and challenges ideas of conventional reforestation with his simple yet effective method. ...

The Nameless Day (2017)

The retired Chief superintendent Jakob Franck who often had to inform relatives as a "death messenger", now hopes to lead a life beyond the dead. ...

Return to Montauk (2017)

Author Max Zorn, now in his early 60s, is on a promotional book tour in New York when he encounters the woman he could never forget. They spend a weekend together, seventeen years have passed. Can there be a future for their past? ...

Henri Langlois vu par... (2014)

Thirteen filmmakers share personal reflections on Henri Langlois—the visionary founder of the Cinémathèque Française—recounting his influence on their lives, his role in preserving film history, and his enduring impact on world cinema. ...

Diplomacy (2014)

On the night of August 24, 1944, the fate of Paris rests with General von Choltitz, who plans to destroy the city on Hitler's orders. As the general prepares to detonate explosives throughout the capital, Swedish consul Raoul Nordling uses diplomacy in a d ...

Calm at Sea (2012)

October 1941. Eighteen months into France's occupation by German troops, young Communist members of the Resistance shoot dead an officer of the German Army. In retaliation, Hitler demands the deaths of 150 Frenchmen, as 'retribution'. The targets are to be ...

Memories of Last Year in Marienbad (2010)

A documentary about the film Last Year at Marienbad ...

Ulzhan (2007)

Somewhere in the endless steppes of Central Asia lies a treasure. Frenchman Charles holds the key, a fragment of an ancient map. But in his restless quest, Charles seeks neither fame nor glory, but for a way to heal his wounded soul. He's looking for love. ...

Strike (2007)

A nearly illiterate woman becomes one of the founders of Poland's Solidarity union. ...

Billy Wilder Speaks (2006)

In 1988, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff sat down with legendary director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) at his office in Beverly Hills, California, and turned on his camera for a series of filmed interviews. (A recut of the 1992 TV miniseries Billy, How Di ...

Enigma – Eine uneingestandene Liebe (2005)

The Ninth Day (2004)

During WWII, head priest Henri Kremer is mysteriously freed from Dachau. He learns that he can return home to Luxembourg, for only nine days, during which he'll have to face a persuasive Gestapo chief who will put his faith to the test. ...

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002)

Collection of short films the summaries of which include; a foreign man moving to Italy, getting married and having a child; a four split scene short involving plot-less images of old people with television sets for heads, a beautiful woman having sex, and ...

The Enlightenment (2002)

Augustinus's philosophy time is captured from the point of view of an amazing little flying philosopher ...

Ein Produzent hat Seele oder er hat keine (2002)

Horst Wendlandt tells the story of his cinematic work since the sixties. The dialogue between the "old and the young filmmaker" creates a fascinating spectrum of German film of the recent past. ...

Everyman's Feast (2002)

Austrian television director Fritz Lehner makes his feature debut with the big-budget drama Jedermann's Fest, based on the 1911 play by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which in turn was based on a medieval tale. Originated in parts of England, the myth of Jan Jeder ...

The Legend of Rita (2000)

Radical West German terrorist Rita Vogt abandons the revolution and settles in East Germany with a new identity provided by the secret service. She lives in constant fear of having her cover blown. ...

Palmetto (1998)

After being released from prison on a bum charge, Harry Barber is out for payback to regain his lost two years. He's hired by Mrs. Malroux to fake the kidnapping of her stepdaughter (the daughter of a dying millionaire). He discovers that he is being set u ...

The Ice Princess (1996)

This is another variation of the Cinderella story: the bright and beautiful Ella lives in the household of a lord since her mother died. She's unhappy because the lord's daughters treat her like their servant. The country is in problems, because the prince ...

The Ogre (1996)

Frenchman Abel Tiffauges is a naive man who lives a simple life working as a mechanic. Falsely accused of being a child abuser, he is recruited as a soldier when World War II begins, but is captured soon and taken to the heart of Nazi Germany. ...

The Michael Nyman Songbook (1992)

Ute Lemper sings a collection of art songs by Michael Nyman based on texts by Paul Celan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, William Shakespeare and Arthur Rimbaud. It was filmed at the Musikhalle, Hamburg, 4 February 1992. ...

Billy, How Did You Do It? (1992)

An interview between Volker Schlöndorff and Billy Wilder. ...

Voyager (1991)

April 1957: Rational engineer Faber's plane crashes in Mexico, where he learns that he became a father in 1938. He takes a ship from NYC to France and meets cute, young Sabeth. Is it fate? ...

The Handmaid's Tale (1990)

In a dystopian, polluted right-wing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility. ...

A Gathering of Old Men (1987)

A group of elderly Black men on a Louisiana plantation gather to claim responsibility for the murder of a violent white farmer to protect the young Black man who actually killed him. ...

Death of a Salesman (1985)

Willy Loman, an aging, failing salesman, struggles to accept reality and his failure to achieve the American Dream. ...

Swann in Love (1984)

In Belle Époque Paris, a 19th-century Parisian aristocrat falls in love with a lower-class prostitute who seduces him but never loves him. ...

War and Peace (1982)

The third episodic film, after Deutschland im Herbst and Der Kandidat, in which notable German filmmakers reflect on the state of their country. A collage of documentary and dramatised sequences dealing with such topics as overkill, peace demonstrations, N ...

Circle of Deceit (1981)

To escape his crumbling marriage, German journalist Laschen travels to Beirut during the fights between Christians and Palestinians to produce an essay. Together with his photographer, he meets some influential people and discovers the everyday face of the ...

The Candidate (1980)

Made with an eye to the autumn of 1980 when the German parliamentary elections took place, The Candidate examines Germany's history past and present and Franz Josef Strauß, the man who, as the CDU/CSU candidate, aspires to be elected to the most important ...

The Tin Drum (1979)

In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out. ...

Germany in Autumn (1978)

Nine fictitious documentaries and films reflect the mood of late 1970s Germany, particularly the two-month period in 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped by the RAF (Red Army Faction). The kidnap had been made to orchestrate the release of the original le ...

Beto Nervio contra el poder de las tinieblas (1978)

A comic strip detective and a superhero are hired to investigate separatedly the successive murders of CEOs within a real life corporation symbolizing a nation, while subversive groups and members of the establishment lead a war for power. ...

Portrait of Valeska Gert (1977)

"Grotesque dancer" Valeska Gert speaks with inimitable repartee and typical Berlin brashness about her scandals and the people she met. She recreates her grotesque dances and pantomimes for the camera with the young Nastassja Kinski. ...

Coup de Grâce (1976)

A countess loves her brother's Prussian-officer friend in the 1919 Baltic area. ...

Georginas Gründe (1975)

Adaptation of a story by Henry James. ...

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975)

After a chance encounter with a wanted man, a woman is harassed by the police and press until she takes violent action. ...

Stayover in Tirol (1974)

An adaptation of the Henry James short story Les raisons de Georgina. ...

A Free Woman (1972)

A divorced thirtysomething woman fights a losing battle in Munich to attain belated self-fulfillment. The die is cast in a briskly impersonal society geared to male dominance and early training for career women. ...

The Morals of Ruth Halbfass (1972)

Ruth is the wife of well-heeled corsetry manufacturer Erich Halbfass. As business booms, Erich lives frivolously and their daughter Aglaia attends school. The bored middle-class wife begins a secret affair with Aglaia's drawing teacher, setting murder and ...

The Sudden Wealth of the Poor People of Kombach (1971)

In an attempt to escape 19th-century poverty, eight farmers and day laborers attack a prince's money transport in the Hessian Hinterland. ...

Rio das Mortes (1971)

Michel and Guenther, working in dead-end jobs, are obsessed with going to Peru to find buried treasure, using a map of the Rio das Mortes. Michel's girlfriend, Hanna, humors their plan, but really just wants to get married. ...

Baal (1970)

An exploration of the cult of the genius, an anti-heroic figure who chooses to be a social outcast and live on the fringe of bourgeois morality. ...

Michael Kohlhaas - The Rebel (1969)

In medieval times, a horse merchant is forced by a noble to leave part of his stock as payment for crossing his land. Upon returning, he finds his horses near death, and when the noble refuses to compensate him, the merchant fights unsuccessfully against t ...

Der Paukenspieler (1967)

Five film directors were given the task of making short films based on titles of drawings by Paul Klee. ...

Degree of Murder (1967)

After accidentally killing her ex-lover during a fight, Marie enlists the help of a stranger and his friend to dispose of the body while becoming intimate with both men. ...

Young Törless (1966)

At an Austrian boys' boarding school in the early 1900s, shy, intelligent Törless observes the sadistic behavior of his fellow students, doing nothing to help a victimized classmate—until the torture goes too far. Adapted from Robert Musil's acclaimed n ...

Viva Maria! (1965)

1907 Central America: Maria II is the daughter of an Irish terrorist. After her father's death, she meets Maria I, a performer, and decides to stay with the circus, and on her debut as a singer, unintentionally invents the striptease and makes the circus f ...

The Fire Within (1963)

Depressed Alain Leroy leaves the clinic where he was detoxified. He meets friends, acquaintances and women, trying to find a reason to continue living. ...

Méditerranée (1963)

[Here] Pollet made a work that is the very definition of what French critics like to call an ovni or ufo (as in 'unidentified filmic object'). [It] has been described as being 'like a comet in the sky of French cinema,' an 'unknown masterpiece,' and an 'un ...

Le Doulos (1962)

Enigmatic gangster Silien may or may not be responsible for informing on Faugel, who was just released from prison and is already involved in what should be a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisting, and multilayered policier, who will be left t ...

A Very Private Affair (1962)

After achieving fame as a movie star, a woman finds her private life invaded by relentless fans, leading her mother's ex-lover to intervene and offer protection. ...

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

At a weekend gathering, a man tells a woman that they had spent time there together a year prior. But, the woman has no recollection whatsoever and is convinced that he is simply fabricating the encounter. The more he speaks about their activities the prev ...

Léon Morin, Priest (1961)

Barny, although a Marxist, is intrigued by the mysteries of religion. In confession, she teases a priest, Léon Morin, but he is a young and intelligent man and ready to discuss anything. ...

Who Cares... (1960)

In the Frankfurt area, La Main Rouge hunts for Algerian soldiers who had deserted from the French army and fled across the German border. ...