Schutzwall

The 5th anniversary of the inner-German wall to West Germany and West Berlin is on the agenda. The necessity of erecting the border is illustrated by comparing the situation in 1939 and the situation in the summer of 1961 with regard to the "threat of intervention" by the Western powers. Berlin people and GDR border guards are interviewed.

This Ain't California

A retrospective look at the youth cultures born in the German Democratic Republic. A celebration of the lust for life, a contemporary trip into the world of skate, a tale on three heroes and their boards, from their childhood in the seventies, through their teenage rebellion in the eighties and the summer of 1989, when their life changed forever, to 2011.

Der Reichstag

Docudrama telling the story of a building with a breath taking career that began in the empire, flourished in the Weimar Republic, perished in the Nazi dictatorship, and was rebuilt after its partial destruction.

Berlin - Zwischen Stacheldraht und Mauer

Documentary about the Berlin Wall.

November Days

Marcel Ophüls interviews various important Eastern European figures for their thoughts on the reunification of Germany and the fall of Communism.

Generation '89 - Growing up in the year of change

The documentary tells the story of the reunification from the perspective of six teenagers from East Germany.

Wall of Chaos

The Wall

Like the best USIA films, The Wall distills political events into an emotionally clear and compelling ideological "story". In 1962 Walter de Hoog gathered footage from U.S. and German newsreel sources and crafted this taut short film about the first year of the Berlin Wall. Straightforward, keenly balanced narration portrays Berliners as "accepting the wall but never resigned to it". The extraordinary footage of the first escapes was propaganda enough-- His challenge was to make the politics human.

CIA vs KGB: Battleground Berlin

For 50 years, Berlin was the symbol of the Cold War. The city at the heart of the intelligence war between the US and the Soviet bloc. Thousands of KGB or CIA, agents observed each other, cogs in the biggest information war in history.

Berlin 1990

Some months after the fall of the Berlin wall, during the time of federal elections in Germany in 1990, Chris Marker shot this passionate documentary, reflecting the state of the place and its spirit with remarkable acuity.

Efter Muren - mellan taggtråd och kaos

On 3 October 1990 DDR stopped existing as a state and became the Federal Republic of Germany. The past had been overturned. The new had not yet taken shape. The rejoicing over the fall of the Berlin wall. The bitterness and shame when the doors opened to cabinet of horrors at Stasi. Uncertainty and worry about the future. Everyone's battle against everyone for survival. In the form of a travelogue, freelancing journalist Rainer Hartleb depicts all the mixed feelings that flow from the country that no longer exists.

Danube Swabians

A docudrama about The Danube Swabians, descendants of the youngest German tribes who, moved to the territory of Vojvodina in the 18th century looking for a better life. The story follows their destiny from the very beginnings of their settlement in this region, through their situation during the WW2 and to the present time. The film tells the story of Maria, a girl who is a descendant of The Danube Swabians. She comes to Vojvodina to find the old house of her grandfather, who was exiled after the War. There she meets a local guy named Misha who helps her in her journey. Together they travel throughout Vojvodina meeting witnesses of traumatic post-war events who have survived the communist camps. During their adventure, they discover completely new facts about The Danube Swabians that have been hidden from the public for decades.

Spell Your Name

he film is based on the testimonies of survivors of the Holocaust that were collected by The Visual Library Archive of USC Shoah Foundation. Director Sergey Bukovsky takes the viewer on a journey of discovery as he and several Ukrainian students absorb the testimony of Ukrainian people who escaped brutal execution and those who rescued friends and neighbors during the Holocaust. A collection of men and women share the details of their experiences, and we are afforded a glimpse of modern-day Ukraine: the ethnic stereotypes that continue to exist and the manner in which Post-Soviet society is dealing with the question of how to memorialize the sites where tens of thousands of Jewish families and others were executed and thrown into mass graves.

Rabbit à la Berlin

The untold story about wild rabbits which lived between the Berlin Walls. For 28 years Death Zone was their safest home. Full of grass, no predators, guards protecting them from human disturbance. They were closed but happy. When their population grew up to thousands, guards started to remove them. But rabbits survived and stayed there. Unfortunately one day the wall fell down. Rabbits had to abandon comfortable system. They moved to West Berlin and have been living there in a few colonies since then. They are still learning how to live in the free world, same as we - the citizens of Eastern Europe.

Something to Do with the Wall

In 1986, Ross McElwee (Sherman's March) and Marilyn Levine were making a film about the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, when the imposing structure was still very much intact as the world’s most visible symbol of hardline Communism and Cold War lore. They thought they were making a documentary on the community of tourists, soldiers, and West Berliners who lived in the seemingly eternal presence of the graffiti emblazoned eyesore. But in 1989, as the original film neared completion, the Wall came down, and McElwee and Levine returned to Berlin, this time to capture the radically different atmosphere of the reunified city.

Solidarność: How Solidarity Changed Europe

Gdańsk, Poland, September 1980. Lech Wałęsa and other Lenin shipyard workers found Solidarność (Solidarity), the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain. The long and hard battle to bring down communist dictatorship has begun.

Cycling the Frame

In 1988, Tilda Swinton toured round the Berlin Wall on a bicycle - starting and ending at the Brandenburg Gate - accompanied by filmmaker Cynthia Beatt. As Swinton travels through fields and historic neighborhoods, past lakes and massive concrete apartment buildings, the Wall is a constant presence.

Drawing the Line: A Portrait of Keith Haring

Short documentary about artist Keith Haring, detailing his involvement in the New York City graffiti subculture, his opening of the Pop Shop, and the social commentary present in his paintings and drawings.

Porsche: Decades of Disruption

Since World War II, Porsche has manufactured cars that have disrupted the automobile industry, like the 911.

Tunnel to Freedom

13 August 1961: the GDR closes the sector borders in Berlin. The city is divided overnight. Escape to the West becomes more dangerous every day. But on September 14, 1962, exactly one year, one month and one day after the Wall was built, a group of 29 people from the GDR managed to escape spectacularly through a 135-meter tunnel to the West. For more than 4 months, students from West Berlin, including 2 Italians, dug this tunnel. When the tunnel builders ran out of money after only a few meters of digging, they came up with the idea of marketing the escape tunnel. They sell the film rights to the story exclusively to NBC, an American television station.