German Documentary Movies

With sometimes painful directness, Valie Export conducts a psychological investigation of the body in this film performance, externalizes an internal state. In front of a police photo showing two children who were sexually abused by their parents, she tortuously cuts into her cuticles until blood drips into a bowl of milk on her lap. On top of the symbolic plane of blood and milk, the physical effect on the viewer of her destructive act of self-mutilation is extreme.

From his beginnings in real estate to his rise to power, this is the story of Silvio Berlusconi's two decades of ascension, during which he radically transformed Italy's media landscape—and soon its political landscape as well. A fascinating portrait of an opportunistic entrepreneur with extraordinary charisma.

Michael Schumacher's first World Championship win roars to life through personal interviews and archival footage of the legendary 1994 Formula 1 season.

Le Quang Vinh, a revolutionary student leader, was arrested in Saigon in August 1961. A show trial and death sentence followed. World-wide protests altered it to “life imprisonment” on Con Son, the Devil’s Island. The humiliating “Tiger-Cages” and the methods of torture are shown.

New light is shed on the complex relationship between Romy Schneider and her mother Magda, a German film star of the 1930s admired by Hitler - who welcomed her and her daughter to his chalet in Berchtesgaden.

RIO BREAKS is more than just a film about surfing. It follows the story of two best friends, Fabio and Naama, as they navigate their way between the pitfalls of life in the slums and the joys of surfing on their favorite beach. Their goal: to win the contest and become professional surfers. Thirteen-year-old Fabio and 12-year-old Naama live at Favela do Pavao, an enormous slum near Arpoador Beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pavao is home to Commando Vermelho (CV), or Red Command, one of Rio's most heavily armed drug gangs. It's the Red Command who sets the rules and regulates life in the community. Their presence is ubiquitous, with armed soldiers constantly patrolling the hills and regulating the various points of sale. Fabio lives in an area of the favela called Vietnam, the poorest and most violent part of the slum.

Pepe Mujica, now a member of the Uruguayan parliament, and others of the Tupamaros recount the history of this urban guerrilla group: their use of armed intervention and illegal acts--even kidnapping and murder, their imprisonment and escapes, and their transition to a legal political party.

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In the sixties, Peter Handke was one of the first to show how the business works: the writer as angry young man and pop star of the literary scene. As soon as he was on the bestseller lists, he turned his back on the hype. For many years, he has lived and worked in his house in a Parisian suburb, more quietly and more hospitably. Peter Handke's precise, free gaze becomes perceptible in his texts, his conversations, the cosmos of his notebooks.

Rock'n'roll was a man's world they say. The film documents the often ignored female impact on rock's history, from the groundbreaking guitar stylings of Memphis Minnie and Sister Rosetta to the gnarly singing of Big Mama Thornton. Musicians as different as Suzi Quatro and Kristin Hersh tell about their experiences on and off the grid of stardom and the music industry.

Helge Schneider's extraordinary talent is his ability to improvise which shows his unfailing creativity. "I paint the everyday-life in the brightest colors myself", he says about himself. Reality and fiction are tough to tell apart in his life. How does a man like him, who doesn't want his audience to know too much about himself, react on a documentary portraying him as a person?

Year after year hundreds of thousands of fans line the route of the Tour de France, cheering on their heroes and willing them to victory, while millions of viewers worldwide tune in on their televisions. Academy Award-winning director Pepe Danquart, fascinated by the spectacle of the three week race, chose to focus on the courage, the pain and the fear of the riders of the Tour. Training his lens on German superstar sprinter Eric Zabel and his loyal domestique Rolf Aldag, Danquart captures the thrill of the race and the teamwork behind the stars of the peleton. He also shines light on the Tour's supporting cast - the director sportifs, masseurs, and, of course, the wildly enthusiastic fans. Reveling in the stunning landscape - from the Alps to the Pyrenees to the Massif Central to Paris - and with a nice dollop of Le Tour's history, HELL ON WHEELS transcends the sport it celebrates to reveal an astonishing human endeavor.

Said to pick up where "Triumph of the Will" left off, this film showcases highlights of the Nazi Party rallies in Nüremberg in 1936 and 1937. The main focus of the film begins with extended footage of the Gothic splendor of Nüremberg from the air, Hitler's arrival at the airbase, his motorcade into the city, and the ensuing ceremonies. Other, much more propagandistic elements, are edited in; they include: past Nazi party marches and rallies, parachute drops, Wehrmacht exercises in the Zeppelin fields, random military formation night rallies and random shots of massed crowds, fireworks, torch lit marches, even live explosions.

In BLUE-EYED, we join a group of 40 teachers, police, school administrators and social workers in Kansas City - blacks, Hispanics, whites, women and men. The blue-eyed members are subjected to pseudo-scientific explanations of their inferiority, culturally biased IQ tests and blatant discrimination. In just a few hours under Ms. Elliott's withering regime, we watch grown professionals become despondent and distracted, stumbling over the simplest commands.

Shot under extreme conditions and inspired by Mayan creation theory, the film contemplates the illusion of reality and the possibility of capturing for the camera something which is not there. It is about the mirages of nature—and the nature of mirage.

This lesson in political revelation focuses on the shooting down of the Malaysian passenger jet MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. A meticulous, investigative exposé that lays bare the mechanisms of Russian warfare.

This call to arms documentary details the questionable ethics of the food supply industry, pointing out the power of huge supermarket chains to dictate low wages and inhumane labor conditions for farmworkers in the United States.

During the Nazi regime, there was widespread persecution of homosexual men, which started in 1871 with the Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code. Thousands were murdered in concentration camps. This powerful and disturbing documentary, narrated by Rupert Everett, presents for the first time the largely untold testimonies of some of those who survived.

With commentary from Hollywood stars, outtakes from his movies and footage from his youth, this documentary looks at Stanley Kubrick's life and films. Director Jan Harlan, Kubrick's brother-in-law and sometime collaborator, interviews heavyweights like Jack Nicholson, Woody Allen and Sydney Pollack, who explain the influence of Kubrick classics like "Dr. Strangelove" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," and how he absorbed visual clues from disposable culture such as television commercials.

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20 years after Gendernauts, Monika Treut seeks out the pioneers of the transgender movement back then to find out how their lives and their activism have evolved, how they have grown into their identities and how their energy continues to have an impact today.

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

This remarkable journey across our planet and universe explores how meteorites, shooting stars, and deep impacts have awoken our wonder about other realms—and make us rethink our destinies.

A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.

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It's 2014 and tech billionaire Elon Musk unveils his plans for a self-driving car in front of an enthusiastic audience. What consumers don't know is that Tesla's "autopilot" function is far from road-ready, and new owners are being used to improve the software by providing their data. A fatal accident in Florida triggers a protracted lawsuit to hold Tesla accountable. And it's not the only incident. Shocking footage from dashcams and security cameras shows the ruthlessness of Tesla cars suddenly braking or accelerating—and the crashes that follow. Then, an employee leaks thousands of documents containing complaints from users.

Footballer, entrepreneur, fan favorite and true community hero — Lukas Podolski reflects on his journey and what comes next in this intimate documentary.

A film about five street children; children who have had to grow up too soon. The footage was shot at Christmas 1992, in Berlin. Claudia, 13, wants to show her mother "that kids can do what they want". 13-year-old Danny thinks Germany’s lousy, having lived on the streets for two years. His mother doesn’t try to contact him any more. Jonas, 13, is convinced that a bright future lies ahead of him. He shifts between his parents’ house and the streets, but feels most at home in a street riot. 13-year-old Daniela doesn’t want to leave home, despite suffering at the violent hands of her father. We meet her in a women’s refuge centre. David, 13, shows the director, his father, first-hand what street children go through and the pain they inflict upon their parents.

German comedy-documention that reviews 40 years of Star Trek history

A review of German football player Toni Kroos's recent career, including his time at FC Bayern Munich and Real Madrid as well as his participation in the FIFA World Cups 2014 and 2018.

Deep Blue is a major documentary feature film shot by the BBC Natural History Unit. An epic cinematic rollercoaster ride for all ages, Deep Blue uses amazing footage to tell us the story of our oceans and the life they support.

A documentary by Werner Herzog exploring the different treatment accorded to the disabled in Germany and the USA.

In Our Nazi, we are plunged into a situation we barely, and only slowly, understand: the filming of Thomas Harlan’s experimental feature Wundkanal (1984), in which true-life ex-SS officer Alfred Filbert, now very old, is ‘put on trial’ for the camera, without him suspecting what is to come or why he is really there. Kramer’s confronting film is an essay about the sticky complicity of everyone present at this event, each bringing their own history, their own political ideology, their own desires to take revenge, to seek redemption or compassion, or just to put their heads down and ‘get the job done’ professionally, or (in the case of Filbert) to be a star, a part of the magnificent, magical, seductive world of cinema, even if it kills him.

A showcase of German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.

Through exclusive interviews and archival footage, this documentary traces an intimate portrait of seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.

An early ethnographic film. Made three years after Plessen's "Insel der Dämonen", "Kopfjäger von Borneo" is a half-fictional documentary. The plot involves a love story between a girl and a boy of incompatible social classes.

Documentary that follows seven friends in New York city in their everyday activities.

During the Cold War, many of those who tried to flee westward across the dangerous and blurred line separating communist Czechoslovakia from freedom were gunned down: the story of Europe's deadliest border.

Immigrant workers build a shopping mall for the upcoming 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In 2016, nine people with migrant backgrounds are killed in a racist attack at the same mall.