Werner Godemann

Ein seltsamer Heiliger (1995)

The once clairvoyant party secretary Mattes is now mayor and has recently even been surrounded by a halo. The seductive and principled Angelika has recently turned around and is now in the state government. Pastor Himmelsknecht is still keeping his flock t ...

Fatherland (1992)

It is shortly after the fall of the Wall and Kadir is released from an East Berlin psychiatric clinic. Resolved to begin life over again in Germany, he soon has to accept that there is no longer a place for him. ...

Trillertrine (1991)

To gain lands from the prince of Saxony, a group of orphans seeks Mozart, in order to obtain the very rare score of one of his compositions. ...

Farssmann oder Zu Fuß in die Sackgasse (1991)

He could have had women, he could have climbed the ladder of his accountancy career, and he could have stood on the podium next to the highest in the land. If only he had wanted to! But Farssmann, shaken by divorce and unwilling to better himself, wants to ...

Pause für Wanzka (1990)

Shortly before his retirement, Gustav Wanzka wants to return to his beloved profession as a teacher after years of working as a district school inspector. As soon as he arrives at the station, he meets the boy Norbert Kniep, his future pupil, who clearly s ...

Rückwärts laufen kann ich auch (1990)

Seven-year-old Kati is glad that despite her spastic disability she is allowed to attend a normal school. Her parents made that possible. In her first year there, she is supposed to prove that she can get along at the school and she does her utmost to keep ...

Iron Hans (1988)

In a king's kingdom there is a forest so dangerous that every man who goes into it is never heard from again. ...

Fallada: The Last Chapter (1988)

This biographical film is set in 1937, with Fallada suffering the effects of living under a microscope. The film details his decline, as he is intermittently imprisoned and threatened in order to motivate him to write for the Fatherland. Even the attention ...

Wengler & Sons (1987)

A story spanning three generations, from 1871 to 1945. When Gustav Wengler, a farmer's son, returns from the Franco-German war in 1871, he goes to work for a precision mechanics and optical company, where he soon becomes a master craftsman. Wengler loyally ...

Interrogating the Witnesses (1987)

A teenager is found murdered, and the examining doctor recognizes her son's knife. The film works its way back to reveal how this situation came about; a rare treatment of the taboo subject of youth criminality in Socialist society. ...

Stielke, Heinz, Fifteen... (1987)

Fifteen-year-old Heinz Stielke is a Hitler Youth fanatic who is devastated to learn a hidden truth about his respected father who was a German officer in WWII: He was Jewish. Pushed out of his community after the discovery, young Heinz falls into a tailspi ...

Ernst Thälmann (1986)

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, ...

The House on the River (1986)

1942. The members of the Voß family, mother, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, and a son-in-law, are living in a house at the river. A fellow soldier of son Paul, who fights at the eastern front, delivers his greetings and an embroidered Russian blouse fo ...

Meine Frau Inge und meine Frau Schmidt (1985)

One day, the happily married Karl Lehmann is asked by his single colleague, Mrs. Schmidt, for an unusual service: She wants a child. Lehmann is willing to help. His wife Inge and Mrs. Schmidt have a child at the same time, and since the women like each oth ...

Where Others Keep Silent (1984)

Ten days in the life of socialist politician Clara Zetkin. In August 1932, she is summoned from Archangelskoje near Moskow to open the new legislative session because at seventy-five, she is the oldest representative in the German Reichstag. Although she i ...

Heisse Ware in Berlin (1984)

1950, the extensive network of sewers beneath the city of Berlin. This cesspool underworld, whose sewers led from the eastern to the western part of the city and vice versa, had become the main transshipment point for a gang of criminals for their hot good ...

Fariaho (1983)

The puppet player Sebastian Fußberg moves through the country at the end of the fifties. Despite his age, an unwavering dreamer and idealist. But also a torn person who cannot detach himself from the shadows of his past. ...

Plauener Spitzen (1983)

Familie Rechlin (1982)

Berlin in the 60s. The construction of the Berlin Wall not only divides the city, but also separates the Rechlin family. While mother Ingelore lives with husband Hannes and the youngest son in the eastern part of the city, the young, married daughter Beate ...

Asta, mein Engelchen (1981)

Old Otto Gratzick is a porter at DEFA and a great admirer of Asta Nielsen. When the famous actor Hermann Gschwindner dies shortly before the end of his film, the director is looking for a double for the final scenes and discovers Otto in the movie theater, ...

Chirurgus Johann Paul Schroth (1981)

Johann Paul Schroth is a 20-year-old barber's apprentice who breaks out of the barber-surgeon's trade. Schroth wants to realize his dream, which is to put aside the beard knife and use the scalpel in such a way that people are healed and not tortured... ...

Lachtauben weinen nicht (1979)

The film tells the story of the smelter brigade of a steel mill whose members are connected by a strong comradeship. Among the workers are, for instance, young Rolf, whom everybody just calls "Lachtaube" and who always comes through for his co-workers, or ...

Schatzsucher (1979)

The 18-year-old construction worker Schultzendorf, known as Schulle, sets off for Berlin from his home town of Ankershagen. He is taken with the Marzahn construction site. He dreams of making archaeological finds there. He searches every excavator load for ...

Einfach Blumen aufs Dach (1979)

Mechanic Hannes Blaschke and his wife Maxi, who works as a bus driver, have just become happy parents of twins. Now they have a serious transportation problem: Their Trabant is far too small for the grown family that furthermore includes two sons and a dog ...

Until Death Do Us Part (1979)

Scenes from an East German marriage. A young couple, Sonya and Jens, are very much in love; they get married and have a child. When Sonya wants to go back to work after her maternity leave, they clash for the first time; Jens insists that she remain a full ...

P.S. (1979)

When he reaches age 18, Peter is released from the children's home where he grew up, but this does not mean he is truly ready for adult life. ...

Anton the Magician (1978)

A flamboyant comedy about love, work and money—revealing that the "planned" economy produced some unconventional entrepreneurial methods. ...

Jugendweihe (1978)

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 Incorrigible Barbara (1977)

The former athlete Barbara follows her husband to the province and attempts to masters her new life, even after her separation from him. ...

Carnations in Aspic (1976)

A commercial artist with a lisp chooses silence, unexpectedly propelling his career. His perceived innovation leads to rapid advancement in an ad agency. Mueller-Stahl shines in this biting critique of East German workplace culture. ...

Despite It All! (1972)

October 1918: Karl Liebknecht is released from prison and Berlin workers celebrate his release. Although WWI is almost over, the German Kaiserreich in vain sends its last reserves to the slaughter. The working class is in a rebellious mood; the uprising of ...

Du und ich und Klein-Paris (1971)

When Angelika moves to Leipzig, she is forced to rent a room at Mrs. Häublein's for a start, since her parents will not follow until a few months later. Fellow tenant Thomas, a philosophy student, is not at all enthused about his new, pretty housemate. Be ...

Verspielte Heimat (1971)

The deputy editor-in-chief of an SPD newspaper in West Germany, Karl Waldner, recognizes the former Henlein leader Meißner, who is guilty of the murder of his father, at a meeting of Sudeten Germans. He wants to open the case and hand Meißner over to the ...

Barents heißt unser Steuermann (1969)

In 1596, the Dutchman Willem Barents sets sail on a long voyage with two ships to find a north-eastern sea route to China for the Amsterdam merchants. Ice masses and storms force the prudent navigator Barents to separate from Rijp, the captain of the secon ...

Black Velvet (1964)

Stasi agent Alexander Berg has to uncover a plot of sabotage. ...