Jobst Knigge

A documentary that offers an intimate portrait of Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s former Vice-Chancellor, balancing his political career with his groundbreaking role as a gay pioneer. Released for the 10th anniversary of his death, the film explores the sharp contrast between his polarizing public persona and his private vulnerability. The narrative anchor consists of never-before-heard audio recordings from 2014, captured in Mallorca by journalist Dominik Wichmann as Westerwelle battled acute leukemia. The movie weaves these raw archives with emotional interviews from his husband, Michael Mronz, and key political rivals. It charts his rise within the FDP, his historic 2004 public coming out, and his legacy as Germany’s first openly gay cabinet minister. The plot highlights the unique diplomatic challenges he faced visiting nations hostile to LGBTQ+ rights, his sudden fall from political grace, and his final fight against cancer alongside Mronz.

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The documentary interviews Nobel Peace Prize winners, diplomats, negotiators and former guerrilla fighters who have dedicated their lives to the task. How did their mediation successes come about and why did they fail? Peacemaking is both art and hard work.

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In 2016, an album containing 250 previously unseen photos of Nazi officials was discovered in the USA by Stephan Hördler, a prominent Holocaust historian, who immediately understood the album's inestimable value. The album brings together photographs of a "group of friends," all from the same region of Germany, all of whom became SS men. From 1928 to 1943, the photo album allows us to follow their journey. Hördler conducted the investigation, comparing the photos in the album with other, better-known ones, the faces of these men with those of concentration camp officials, and ultimately revealed that it was at Lichtencburg that these young men were trained, a "school" for future camp executioners, and the bonds of camaraderie and informal network that would allow them to help each other, even after the war.

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Udo Kier was a demon, Frankenstein, murderer, lover and six times Adolf Hitler. He has starred in art films, indie classics and blockbusters. Cult directors, superstars and audiences worldwide have fallen for the Cologne native's aura and have given him an incredible career - in Europe and in Hollywood. Now the atypical international star turns 80.

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Film about the gender binary. What is it, how does it manifest itself in our minds and our lives - and how can we go beyond? Just how different are “men” and “women?” Are they even two distinct groups? This film follows individuals and communities, experts and artists around the globe who right now are radically and joyfully redefining gender as we know it.

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Nuclear has always been a controversial energy source. While Germany is phasing out its nuclear power plants, France is building a new generation of nuclear reactors to keep the lights on. A look at the nuclear debate over the last few decades and what the future holds for atomic energy.

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This is the story of death and survival, exclusion and hope told by those who lived through it. 40 years ago an HIV infection seemed like a death sentence.

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At the beginning of the year 2020, a relentless plague sweeps the planet and, as a consequence, a global lockdown is gradually decreed: how did people from very different latitudes, living necessarily very different situations, experience this shared solitude? How did people adapt to the restriction by decree of their personal freedoms and the transformation of many bustling metropolises into ghost cities?

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The film tells the fascinating story of the rise and fall of Indian guru Bhagwan for the first time from the perspective of his German followers. What was it about the man they called and worshiped Osho that fascinated them? And why did they give up everything in order to be able to follow their idol to India and the USA? The documentary filmmaker Jobst Knigge managed to win the trust of some sannyasin. They tell their very personal story and give a deep insight into their life with the charismatic guru in the 70s and 80s.

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With two Olympic victories, four world championship titles and six European championship titles, Katarina Witt is the most successful female athlete in the history of figure skating. She combines East German identity with international flair and is still the "most beautiful face of socialism" - and the most internationally renowned citizen of the former GDR. The film follows the path of the girl from Saxony all the way to Hollywood.

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In northern Germany, the Teutoburg Forest is home to many Germanic legends. Since the end of the 19th century, the statue of Hermann – known in Latin as Arminius –, hero of the Germanic people of the Cheruscans, has watched over the vast Teutoburg Forest. Did this warlord really allow the Germans to repel the Romans two thousand years ago? A few kilometers from the statue stands an impressive rock formation called Externsteine. Have these steep cliffs kept traces of ancient Germanic civilizations?

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1990. As part of the reunification process, the West takes charge of the harmonization project between the two territories. From the outset, all of East Germany's industrial assets were transferred to a public company, the "Treuhand," which operated for four years. This marked the beginning of a rapid privatization of the entire economy of the former GDR, comprising some 8,000 public companies employing around 4 million people who needed to be offered a new future. At the head of this gigantic public holding company, Birgit Breuel, a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), was the subject of both praise and criticism.

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With the final shift at the Prosper Haniel coal mine in Bottrop in December, an era comes to an end: the age of Western European coal mining. *DIE STEINKOHLE* brings to life the challenges people have had to overcome over the past 250 years in extracting “black gold.” And it shows, in a moving and surprising way, how German and European history are reflected in coal mining.

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With the final shift at the Prosper Haniel coal mine in Bottrop in December, an era comes to an end: the age of Western European coal mining. *DIE STEINKOHLE* brings to life the challenges people have had to overcome over the past 250 years in extracting “black gold.” And it shows, in an emotional and surprising way, how German and European history are reflected in coal mining.

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Nikita Khrushchev was a devoted supporter of Stalin, but eventually put an end to his predecessor's regime of terror. In this documentary his family members, along with historians, bring to life his story and a piece of Soviet history.

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The series explores the social and political landscape of Germany in the 1970s, covering topics such as rebellion, social change, and political turmoil. Each episode is approximately 43 minutes long and covers a specific aspect of the decade.

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The famous exotic dancer and courtesan Mata Hari stands for beauty and seduction. She gave herself to the most influential men of her time. In the middle of the First World War, she was executed as a spy for Germany. But one question has not been resolved for a hundred years: was she guilty? The unusual woman remains in people's fantasies to this day.

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A shock wave started as Stalin's daughter Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva fled to the West. During her childhood, she remained at the center of power and was her father's favorite child. However, her life was overshadowed by death and violence. Her mother and brother died, family members were murdered, and her partner was exiled by Stalin. The Iron Curtain was an obstacle in her family dream. This documentary shows for the first time interviews with friends and relatives, exclusive photos and documentation, as well as the last and never broadcast interview with Alliloejeva.

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Those who knew them best describe the sensational lives and premature deaths of iconic actors and musicians whose passing left a void in pop culture.

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It’s a tradition. On the last day of the Frankfurt Book Fair—the world’s largest book fair—the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is awarded. This anniversary year’s Peace Prize laureate is Salman Rushdie, an author who, like few others, embodies both the power of literature and the fury of its critics. Books stand for freedom of speech—a freedom that is repeatedly threatened around the world. This documentary embarks on a wild journey through time. It explores the new beginning after World War II, literature as a catalyst for democracy, and the interplay of intellect and commerce, as well as successes and scandals. It explores the remarkable role of émigrés after 1945, the protests of the 1960s, bestseller marketing and colonial misdeeds, calls for murder and boycotts, East and West, host countries that inspire and others that terrify.

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A documentary that offers an intimate portrait of Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s former Vice-Chancellor, balancing his political career with his groundbreaking role as a gay pioneer. Released for the 10th anniversary of his death, the film explores the sharp contrast between his polarizing public persona and his private vulnerability. The narrative anchor consists of never-before-heard audio recordings from 2014, captured in Mallorca by journalist Dominik Wichmann as Westerwelle battled acute leukemia. The movie weaves these raw archives with emotional interviews from his husband, Michael Mronz, and key political rivals. It charts his rise within the FDP, his historic 2004 public coming out, and his legacy as Germany’s first openly gay cabinet minister. The plot highlights the unique diplomatic challenges he faced visiting nations hostile to LGBTQ+ rights, his sudden fall from political grace, and his final fight against cancer alongside Mronz.

Open details →

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This is the story of death and survival, exclusion and hope told by those who lived through it. 40 years ago an HIV infection seemed like a death sentence.

Open details →

At the beginning of the year 2020, a relentless plague sweeps the planet and, as a consequence, a global lockdown is gradually decreed: how did people from very different latitudes, living necessarily very different situations, experience this shared solitude? How did people adapt to the restriction by decree of their personal freedoms and the transformation of many bustling metropolises into ghost cities?

Open details →