Gunnar Dedio

Annual awarding of the Grimme Awards.

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Taylor Swift is one of the defining pop icons of our time: a record-breaking musician, global superstar, and cultural touchstone for Millennials and Gen Z alike. Since her debut in 2006, her music has become the soundtrack of a generation. This series traces her extraordinary journey - from her early beginnings through personal and professional setbacks to remarkable comebacks, culminating in her status as the most successful recording artist of the modern era. Along the way, it also explores the social and cultural changes that have shaped the United States.

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The documentary “Back to the Bunker?” tells the story of traumatic bunker experiences in the World Wars, of empty ruins at the turn of the millennium, and of a bunker renaissance in Germany and Europe, based on the personal experiences of contemporary witnesses. An impressive documentary about the culture of remembrance, resilience, and the societal question of how people deal with extreme situations.

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Hannah Arendt was one of the most fearless writers of the 20th century, and her report of the Adolf Eichmann trial coined the phrase, “the banality of evil.” The German American scholar transformed her time as a political prisoner and refugee during World War II into insights about the human condition, the refugee crisis and totalitarianism.

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Over a dozen current and former pilots take us into the cockpits of legendary fighter planes and into the heart of legendary battles. They come from various nations, and their service ranges from the air battles of the First World War to the front lines in Ukraine. Some are well-known names. Others have had to keep their activities—and even their identities—secret. Some have broken down barriers and forged new paths. All have exciting stories to tell.

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The 14th Dalai Lama: an influential figure with a fascinating life story. He has been the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists since the age of four. His tireless commitment to peace and human rights has made him known around the world. This three-part documentary explores key moments in the Dalai Lama’s life. It offers various perspectives on how he became one of the most revered spiritual leaders of our time—and what kind of person he truly is. Among those featured are rapper Curse, the Dalai Lama’s author and ghostwriter – Alexander Norman, his friends Roland Koch and Franz Alt, exile Tibetan Tenzyn Zöchbauer, scholar Kelsang Wangmo, and journalist Mirko Drotschmann.

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Under French colonial rule, Vietnam was not an independent state, but part of "Indochina" – France's distant paradise and a profitable colony. In 1945, amid the chaos of World War II, communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed revolution and demanded Vietnam's independence. France responded with armed force. A conflict erupted that inspired people around the world to fight for their freedom, while simultaneously deeply dividing Vietnamese society. From the period under French colonial rule to the present day, the four-part documentary series uses multiple perspectives and emotionally recounts the journey of a nation that experienced utopias, conflicts, and the horrors of the late 20th century. The recollections of contemporary witnesses and unique access to Vietnamese archives provide a new perspective on the history of a country and a war that changed the world.

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When World War II breaks out in 1939, several people from different countries and social backgrounds must decide which cause they want to defend.

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The People’s Republic of China now plays a central role in global politics, economics and diplomacy – more than it ever has before. Its president, Xi Jinping openly espouses the model forged by former Chairman, Mao Zedong, known as the Great Helmsman. But what do we really know about Mao? And how does his legacy relate to Xi’s ‘China Dream’? This 3-part documentary series explores Mao Zedong, his beliefs and his methods. It shows how these have shaped Xi’s philosophy and the reality of today’s China. Mao had set China on the road to true sovereignty, freeing it from the humiliation of foreign domination. Xi is now completing that journey towards the strong Middle Kingdom and cultural predominance that Mao aimed for – while sweeping under the carpet the unthinkable victims and costs of Mao’s rule. The story arc of Mao’s astonishing biography provides varied and profound insights into the ideals, strategies and ambitions of today’s People’s Republic and its position in the next decade.

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2024 is likely to be a decisive year for Sahra Wagenknecht's political future. In the arena of power, she might assume a role that she is already very familiar with. In the early years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sahra Wagenknecht became the "most famous face" of the PDS, the successor party to the SED. Yet, even as the youngest member of the party's executive board, she was considered a "disruptive factor." She is unyielding and swims against the tide. Sahra Wagenknecht does not distance herself from Stalinism, nor from the Berlin Wall, and wishes for a reformed GDR.

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A critical and objective look back at Ukraine's tumultuous and tragic history, from its mythical founding in the 10th century to the Russian invasion in 2022.

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Is it morally acceptable to use the civilian population as yet another tool for waging war? Is it possible to justify death and destruction for the sake of supposedly lofty ideals? The question remains as pertinent today as it was at the beginning of World War II, and it is becoming increasingly urgent to answer, as countless tragedies have been caused by unethical political decisions.

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Driven by extensive archive material and interviews with those who know her, this is the astonishing story of how a triple outsider – a woman, a scientist, and an East German – became the de facto leader of the “Free World”, told for the first time for an international audience.

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The war is raging in Ukraine that is changing the world order. One man is standing up to Russia and wants to restore peace and security in his own country: President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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After Birgit Meier vanishes in 1989, police missteps plague the case for years. But her brother never wavers in his tireless quest to find the truth.

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Documentary accompanies the great DEFA film director and painter Jürgen Böttcher, alias Strawalde, detail through his biographical and artistic life: from his childhood as a Nazi boy, his career and his struggles in the GDR under the SED regime, to the opening of the Wall and his international successes. He tells us very personally why he never wanted to leave the GDR and why he never wanted to break with it despite all the reprisals.

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"The Pipeline of the Century -- How Soviet Natural Gas Came to the West" by director Matthias Schmidt shows touching personal memories. The production is a treasure trove of material in which previously unpublished visual material about the construction of the century and its builders can be seen. Writer & Director Matthias Schmidt ; A Co-Production by LOOKSfilm and MDR in Cooperation with ARTE

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The Vatican opened once-secret records on Pope Pius XII on March 2020. This gave researchers a brand new insight into the Catholic Church during the Nazi era. What did the Pope know about the Holocaust?

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Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the first politicians to congratulate Donald Trump on his election as president of the United States in 2016, but over time the relationship between the two heads of state has had its ups and downs. Are they friends or enemies? Has their mutual admiration turned into mutual distrust?

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The self-proclaimed preacher Paul Schäfer gathered people around him in post-war Germany. The sect founded a youth home near Cologne. But in 1961 Schäfer had to flee. Many followers followed him to Chile. 350 kilometers south of Santiago, far away from civilization, they begin building the Colonia Dignidad. A supposed model village with workshops, agriculture, livestock breeding was being created. But paradise became hell because slave labor, violence and sexual abuse soon became a part of everyday life. After the military coup in 1973, Schäfer served the new rulers: secret police chief Manuel Contreras and dictator Augusto Pinochet now came and went in the colony, while the opponents of the terrorist regime are tortured and killed in the cellars. Using unpublished archive material and contemporary witness statements, this 4-part documentary miniseries traces the complex, 50-year history of perpetrators, victims, supporters and opponents of this place that became the epitome of evil.

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A look back at a cruel conflict, the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), which changed the political geography of Europe and sowed the seeds of a deep antagonism between France and Germany that culminated in two world wars. Excerpts from the diaries of the witnesses, photographs and painted panoramas tell the truth about a forgotten war.

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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.

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From the armistice of 1918, which marked the end of the First World War, to the declaration of war in September 1939, the beginning of the Second World War: an era during which there was an aspiration to create a new world, prosperous and at peace, but which provoked a new tragedy, seen through the destinies of thirteen people who were both actors and witnesses of the upheavals of the so-called inter-war period.

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Historic footage and leading voices of the era examine the "Bobby Phenomenon" of the 1960s and the legacy of the man who helped redefine the country.

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The history of military tanks unfolds in a documentary series that traces their role in history and geopolitics from World War I to the 21st century.

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Recounts the largest migration movement in history in which 55 million Europeans left their home countries and set off to America.

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Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1933, when the Nazis came into power, until 1945, when the Third Reich collapsed. (A sequel to From Caligari to Hitler, 2015.)

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Recounts the tumultuous history of Cuba, a nation of foreign conquest, freedom fighters and Cold War political machinations.

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Docudrama about life, career and breakdown of Erich Mielke, the former Security chief of East Germany.

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Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter lived a life of deception and crime before settling on his ultimate scam - impersonating a Rockefeller. How was Gerhartsreiter able to dupe so many people from so many walks of life? A story that begins in a Bavarian village, continues in the most exclusive clubs on the American East Coast, - and ends in a Los Angeles court.

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Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1919, when the Republic of Weimar is born, to 1933, when the Nazis come into power. (Followed by Hitler's Hollywood, 2017.)

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