In 1987, after over ten years of work, Werner Tübke (1929-2004), one of East Germany’s most important painters, completed the monumental, oil-on-canvas painting The Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany.
This documentary film looks at the Bauhaus Dessau, one of the most innovative and elite schools for architecture. The film chronicles the school's establishment in Weimar, its relocation to Dessau, and its eventual closure by the Third Reich in 1932.
Two roommates in a private sanatorium in early-1950s East Germany are extremely different from one another. Josef is a communist policeman, while Hubertus is a Lutheran vicar. While Josef reads The Communist Manifesto, Hubertus prepares his sermon.
Christoffel returns from war to find that his house reduced to rubble and his parents dead. He makes a pact with the devil out of desperation.
The beautiful and charming laundress Lurette is a well sought-after young woman in Ludwig XV’s Paris. Her heart is already taken, however, and she makes elaborate plans during Carnival to obtain the man she truly loves, the carpenter Campistrel.
The story of three artists with a shared history in the rebellious and creative East German youth scene of the 1980s. Their careers have been marked by their radicalism and openness, as well as their unorthodox and multifaceted view of the world.
A man is left alone with his young daughter, Belle, after his wife dies in childbirth. One day, after many years, the man finds himself caught in the middle of a storm. He is thrown from his horse and wakes to find himself in a castle.
Mother Wolffen, a washerwoman, is a woman of principle: A poor man must do what he must to get through life, only he mustn't get caught doing it. All sorts of crooked deals contribute to the improvement of the daily menu and the increase of household funds.
Actors Arno Wyzniewski and Ekkehard Schall and director Manfred Wekwerth, all members of the Berliner Ensemble, talk about Bertolt Brecht’s theater theories and methods, which made him one of the most important twentieth-century playwrights and directors, both in Germany and internationally.
This DVD presents two films on Ludwig van Beethoven, one of Germany's best-known composers, which were produced by the DEFA Studios over 20 years apart.