The story of an apolitical working-class family that nevertheless gets drawn into collusion with Nazi policies. Rotation was awarded the Golden Leopard at the 1954 Locarno Film Festival and is ranked by film critics as one of Germany's 100 Most Important Films. Rotation portrays a German family and its support for Hitler during the Nazi period. The apolitical mechanic Hans Behnke considers joining the Nazi party to improve his financial standing....

At age 14, every child attending school in Germany is brought face to face with their nation's past during World War II. For many, this means confronting the reality of the Holocaust for the very first time. THE LESSON explores how new generations in Germany grapple with this tragic history, following a group of children coming of age in the rural town of Fröndenberg. Filmed from 2014 to 2019, the film examines how, despite Germany's reputation for...

The Treaty of Versailles, and the League of Nations policy of 'Collective Security', failed to deter German and Italian aggression in the 1920s and 30s. Italy invaded Abyssinia. Germany marched into the Rhineland, and later, annexed Austria. British Prime Minister Chamberlain's policy of appeasement failed, and Czechoslovakia eventually was seized by Germany. After Hitler invaded Poland, war was declared. Quickly the Germans overran Denmark, Norway,...

As a young pastor, Bonhoeffer helped to organise the Confessing Church, Germany's only true organised challenge to the Nazi state. A prolific writer and acclaimed preacher, Bonhoeffer came to New York on a teaching fellowship and taught Sunday school in the famed Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. When Bonhoeffer returned to Germany in 1932 he brought with him a new awareness of racial prejudice and became one of the first clear voices to challenge...

In this astonishing, searing and vitally important documentary, Oscar-nominated director Michael Verhoeven unearths the long-buried truth - while simultaneously showing modern Germany in the throes of an identity crisis. THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER documents Germany's controversial Wehrmacht Exhibition, which for the first time ever revealed the personal letters, photographs and film footage implicating the common foot soldier in horrific acts. While nationalist...

Set in Germany and France in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, FRANTZ recalls the mourning period that follows great national tragedies as seen through the eyes of the war's "lost generation": Anna, a bereft young German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was killed during trench warfare, and Adrien, a French veteran of the war who shows up mysteriously in her town, placing flowers on Frantz's grave. Adrien's presence is met with resistance...

In detective-story style based on a 1926 German court case, this film portrays conservative nationalism prior to Hitler's rule. Dr. Blum, a Jewish manufacturer, is falsely accused of a murder. Even when the real killer's identity becomes evident, the state prosecutor refuses to accept Blum's innocence. One of few German movies to deal with the anti-Semitic roots of Nazism. Written by former Ufa scriptwriter and director Robert A. Stemmle and directed...

The tragic 1939 voyage of SS St. Louis carrying hundreds of German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany that seemingly no nation is willing to save from certain doom.

What does it take to make the perfect cup of coffee? Four passionate National Barista Champions from the United States (Kyle Ramage), Ireland (Niall Wynn), Germany (Chloe J. Nattrass) and Japan (Miki Suzuki) represent their countries and their craft in an attempt to win the World Barista Championship in Seoul, South Korea. The film places particular emphasis on the Japanese Champion, Miki Suzuki, as she attempts to become the first female World Barista...

A documentary on the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the best-known German composers of all time. Original documents, letters and drawings are combined with highlights of Beethoven's musical oeuvre played by world-renowned orchestras. With its featured concert excerpts, this film is an important document of music history. One of East Germany's first full-length documentaries, it is an interesting example of how the GDR sought to present its national...