Sonja Ziemann talks about her career.

This documentary takes an entertaining and informative look at the German Heimatfilm phenomenon. The first part examines the history of the genre since the 1950s, while the second part presents crowd favorites of the genre.

A parade of well-known actors and directors from Germany

Reinhold Beckmann hosts a weekly talk show.

Guten Morgen, Mallorca was a German television series set on the island of Majorca.

The 18th-century French marquis recalls his sadomasochistic experiments and goes to jail for lewd behavior.

In March of 1945, as the War in Europe is coming to a close, fighting erupts between German and American troops at the last remaining bridgehead across the Rhine.

Der Kommissar is a German television series about a group of detectives of the Munich homicide squad. All 97 episodes, which were shot in black-and-white and first broadcast between 1969 and 1976, were written by Herbert Reinecker and starred Erik Ode as Kommissar Herbert Keller. Keller's assistants were Walter Grabert, Robert Heines, and Harry Klein who, in 1974, was replaced by his younger brother Erwin Klein.

A biographical drama is based on the 1929 autobiography of Swedish doctor Axel Martin Fredrik, The Story of San Michele. It follows the physician, psychiatrist, and adventurer as he travels the distances from Lapland to his Villa San Michele on Capri, with special stops in Paris and Rome. Personal physician to Queen Victoria, also physician to the Swedish royal family (he spent his last years living in the Royal Palace in Sweden), "Axel Munthe" knew everyone from the poorest clients to the most well-endowed. His love of animals, his support of bird sanctuaries, his involvement with architecture as he constructs his impressive villa throughout five summers, and his interests in archaeology and hypnotism are all explored.

Ricky and Maria, desperate for money, undertake an insurance fraud. After getting involved with a thug, it ends in tragedy.

Lieschen Müller is in her mid-20s, works a dull office job and fancies the handsome waiter from the diner down the street, wishing for a more exciting life. In a vivid, lucid dream she happens upon a gigantic fortune, allowing her to live out her wildest fantasies. Quickly, however, she realizes that that's not what makes her happy.

Health officials from the World Health Organization link a smallpox outbreak in Europe to oil drilling in the Middle East.

Vienna, 1956. After Soviet tanks crush the Hungarian uprising, soldier-of-fortune Michael Reynolds is hired to help a threatened Hungarian scientist escape from Budapest.

Serge, alias Count Fornari, is hired by a mysterious employer to try to steal the Nabob, an exceptionally valuable diamond that Jeannette, alias Aménita (Perrette Pradier), the companion of a billionaire, wears as a locket. She covets the diamond and steals it from the safe. About to be caught in the act, she keeps it hidden in a handkerchief in her hand and manages to conceal it in Serge's pocket during the hotel ball. When she rejoins the billionaire, he asks her to open her hand, but the diamond is gone. The result is a chase full of misunderstandings and twists and turns between the three protagonists.

The film depicts the first month of 1945 when the Russian Red Army broke into the eastern part of Germany and forced millions of civilians to flee in the coldest of winter. While the Russians invaded Ostpreussen hundred of thousands of civilians were evacuated by ships. Gotenhafen was the last open port and ships left the town almost by the minute, overloaded by refugees. One of the last ships to leave Gotenhafen was the 'Wilhelm Gustloff', a former 'Kraft durch Freude' pleasure cruiser designed for 1000 passengers. Until today it is unknown how many people were on board but it is said to be around 10.000. The ship sunk without a trace and only a handful of people survived this hellish nightmare.

The film focuses on life in a World War II German penal battalion camp somewhere in Russia. The convicts include a heroic doctor unjustly convicted of avoiding military service, an officer who retreated against orders, and common criminals. It shows their life in the camp, clearing mines, living in trenches on the front line.

Based on a book by Vicki Baum, all of the action takes place in one day in a luxury hotel in Berlin. Grusinkaya is a ballerina staying at the hotel, other guests include Baron von Gaigern a sophisticated thief, Otto Klingelein a dying man, Preysing a businessman, and a stenographer. Events intertwine the lives of these strangers, bringing them together for some dramatic moments.

In the winter of 1943, against the background of battle scenes, a young German Lieutenant who increasingly distrusts the inhuman Nazi ideology struggles with the concept of war.

A group of criminals hijacks a plane, intending to fly it to Cuba.

Music seller and singer on occasion, Jacques Gardel learns from master Jérôme Quilleboeuf that he inherits oil fields located in Big Bend in Texas.

Zbigniew Cybulski and Sonja Ziemann play lovers struggling to find happiness and privacy in overcrowded Warsaw. The movie shows an honest picture of life in a war-damaged city, contrasting the characters' difficulties with their dreams of a better life. It was banned in Poland in 1958 and would not be seen anywhere until its European release one year later.

Jacques Forestier, also a choreographer, an art decorator and a stage producer, is the very competent manager of "Tabarin", a renowned Parisian music-hall. A hard worker, he always wants the best for the public, at the expense of his health. He is assisted in his task by his wife Rosine and his lively secretary Mimi. Chance has it that one of the dancers he auditions for a new show is Florence, his former lover. He doesn't want her in the show but the spiteful belle has a rich influential protector who imposes her anyway. Some time later, Jacques falls victim of a heart attack.

In a German prison camp, some Italian prisoners bet with the commander that they will be able to build a church in two hours.

Juliane Thomas is an ambitious but unemployed young writer. After breaking up with her lover she works at a dentist friend to make ends meet. One day she instantly falls in love with one of the patients (Jean Berner) and promptly writes a movie script about the encounter in which she projects her own fantasies about how things will turn out eventually. By coincidence this movie script is picked up by a film director who happens to be Berner's closest friend and from then on things become very complicated...

The wife of a conductor with a stormy past agrees to meet a blackmailer in a small hotel.

A comedy directed by Paul Martin.

Helga, a stewardess, meet a passenger, Eric, during a flight to Athens. They fall in love, but he is married. Later Helga is involved in a flight crash. One of the severely injured passengers is Eric's wife Maria.

Sonja, a little ballerina at the Grand Theater, is secretly in love with the handsome tenor Luis Mariano. One night, she hurts her feet while dancing and under the influence of a sedative falls asleep and starts dreaming. She is Sonja Ilyanova now, a young gypsy dancer who dreams of performing before Alexei, the son of the Czar.

While working as an accountant in his uncle's factory, talented young pianist Peter dreams of becoming a famous composer. When he shows his work to a producer, he manages to convince him to give him a chance. From time to time he gets bigger contracts that keep him more and more away from home and his young wife Elisa. When he "discovers" and supports a pretty ballerina in Munich, a rumor starts that he's having an affair. He fails to realize that his marriage is threatened.

Fatma has quite the talent for getting herself into trouble and escaping with her head intact. But when she's caught rifling through Caliph Omar's possessions, she finds herself in serious trouble. News of a theft makes the rounds and now the caliph's men are after her. Fortunately, she's able to find refuge with a sheikh, who isn't quite so thorough in checking his possessions. And it's thanks to him, that Fatma is able to get away with her newly acquired goods.

After the end of World War II Lüder Lüdersen, the former owner of a feudal estate in the East, and his daughter Helga arrive as refugees in the Lüneburg Heath. While living a seemingly happy life on the estate of his cousin, Lüdersen hides a dark secret: he is a poacher.

For the corpulent nobleman Sir John Falstaff, the inn in the small English town of Windsor is the best of all places. Here he can indulge in excessive dining and intemperate drinking, as well as swagger and boast about his adventures, particularly those of an amorous nature. At present, he has designs on the two young women, Mistress Reich and Fluth, who, in turn, lead the paunchy protagonist mightily by the nose.

The painter Hans Hauser falls head over heels in love with the "Black Forest girl" Bärbele Riederle. He travels to her home village and soon the two realize that they are made for each other.

Three homeless youths commit petty crimes to get by in the difficult time just after the end of WW2 in Germany. When they become suspects in a murder case, a witness of the events comes forward with evidence that they are innocent of the crime. He offers them a chance to break with their ways and make a new beginning in his village, not knowing what this will ultimately cost him.

Boys are usually busy playing "Indians", but when their uncle decides to rent part of their home to a Doctor Höflin, they took an oath to cast him out with a series of pranks.

The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports, and other fields "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year", both domestic and foreign. First held in 1948, it is the oldest media award in Germany. The trophy is named after Felix Salten's book Bambi, A Life in the Woods and its statuettes are in the shape of the novel's titular fawn character. They were originally made of porcelain until 1958, when the organizers switched to using gold, with the casting done by the art casting workshop of Ernst Strassacker in Süßen.

The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports, and other fields "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year", both domestic and foreign. First held in 1948, it is the oldest media award in Germany. The trophy is named after Felix Salten's book Bambi, A Life in the Woods and its statuettes are in the shape of the novel's titular fawn character. They were originally made of porcelain until 1958, when the organizers switched to using gold, with the casting done by the art casting workshop of Ernst Strassacker in Süßen.

After drinking too much alcohol, King Michael XXXVII promptly forgets his own wedding date! To avoid a scandal, his police minister asks the writer Peter Petroni, who looks deceptively like the king, to stand in for the alcoholic Michael at the ceremony. The only trouble is that the game quickly turns serious - because when Peter catches sight of "his" bride at the altar, it's love at first sight...

In the antique shop J.M. Mauritius, there’s astonishment when a young, beautiful woman, Gabriele Euler, inquires about an old fortress crest, which can be seen in the background on an old tapestry --- it’s, in fact, the same crest engraved on an old, silver jar belonging to Gabriele: a family heirloom. She discovers, that the crest is the landmark for Burg Uhlenfels. Determined to find out more about her allegedly noble roots, Gabriele takes off to explore Castle Uhlenfels … unaware it’s haunted.

Peter and Paul are old friends who happen to meet again. Both are dentists and both want to get married the next day.

1943 German film.