Susanne is a young, single mother who lives a somewhat alternative, unstructured lifestyle. After quitting her job, she finds herself in trouble financially and attempts a minor insurance fraud to make ends meet. Despite its rare view of everyday socialism from a woman's perspective, East German officials were critical of this frank portrayal of a less-than-ideal socialist citizen and turned down all invitations for the film to be screened abroad....

By the time the DEFA Studio for Animation Film closed in 1992, it had produced more than 800 shorts in a wide variety of styles and techniques. The 16 animation films included in this collection were directed by 8 different animators between 1974 and 1990, and give a taste of animation production in East Germany. Established in 1955, the studio initially produced shorts exclusively for children. During the 1970s and '80s, however, films targeting...

In the summer of 1945, Dresden factory workers send their colleague, Kalle, hundreds of miles north to pick up carbide, which is needed for welding jobs in their factory. His attempts to bring the supplies back through the Soviet occupation zone become a hilarious odyssey full of high jinks and misadventures. A rare classic of German film comedy! Right after WWII, factory worker Karl Bluecher, nicknamed Kalle, sets out from Dresden for Wittenberge...

Throughout his creative life, artist and filmmaker Jürgen Böttcher explored the theme of art and artists. This DVD includes six filmic milestones on this topic: Three of many (1961), Shunters (1984), Hermann Glöckner : a short visit (1984) and the Transformation trilogy (1984). One of (East) Germany's most important documentarists, Böttcher created over 40 films with a painter's eye. His debut film about his art students, Three of many, was banned...

Part two of a special series about how two rivals have plunged the Middle East into sectarian war. While Iran extends its power from Iraq into Syria and Lebanon, Saudi Arabia is making a stand in Yemen, with deadly consequences for the region.

In September 1963, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the ruling party of the German Democratic Republic, published its "Youth Communiqué." This document mandated that young people should no longer be passive recipients of education, but should be cultivated as independently thinking and acting individuals. Thus the concept "Leaders of Tomorrow" emerged. At the same time, DEFA introduced a series of feature films that portrayed the everyday...

"From the author of The Almost Nearly Perfect People, a lively tour through Japan, Korea, and China, exploring the intertwined cultures and often fraught history of these neighboring countries. There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states, "Two tigers cannot share the same mountain." However, in East Asia, there are three tigers on that mountain: China, Japan, and Korea, and they have a long history of turmoil and tension with each other. In his...

Lebanon is a country hijacked by sects, money, and power. While citizens long for a collective identity to thrive as a community, politicians use the sectarianism for their corrupt ambitions. Unless there is a change, Lebanon will be lost forever.

“Hunting ISIS” follows a group of veteran and civilian volunteers travel to Syria and Iraq to fight against ISIS alongside local militias in the original documentary series.

When she discovers her students are hiding their true thoughts and feelings, Carla (Jutta Hoffmann), a young and idealistic teacher at the start of her career, goes against the routine opportunism, hypocritisy and small-mindedness all around her. Her superiors view her actions with unease, however, and eventually step in to discipline her. This film, written by renowned author Ulrich Plenzdorf, was considered nihilistic, skeptical and hostile by officials....