Rudi Strahl

He could have had women, he could have climbed the ladder of his accountancy career, and he could have stood on the podium next to the highest in the land. If only he had wanted to! But Farssmann, shaken by divorce and unwilling to better himself, wants to remain what he is: an ordinary bookkeeper like you and me. And so the dollar deal with Mr. Osbar from Utah (USA) is not the first time he comes into conflict with the very palpable unreality of a country called the German Democratic Republic.

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"Je t'aime, Chérie." These three words and a Bulgarian volleyball jersey is all Martina, a young working woman from Berlin, is left with after a night at the beach spent with a mysterious lover. But then she learns that she is pregnant, and once the baby is born, she starts for Bulgaria to search for her son’s father. The orderly yet diffident Thomas, an employee of the embassy of the GDR, joins her in order to provide diplomatic support. The quest, however, turns out to be rather difficult.

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A fictional court has to decide whether Adam and Eve can become spouses.

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Mechanic Hannes Blaschke and his wife Maxi, who works as a bus driver, have just become happy parents of twins. Now they have a serious transportation problem: Their Trabant is far too small for the grown family that furthermore includes two sons and a dog. Thanks to the support of a state secretary and of his brigade, Hannes acquires a Tschaika – a limousine that is normally restricted to representational purposes – for a small price. Whereas Maxi views the state carriage only as a useful means of transportation, Hannes enjoys the unusual pre-emption he is receiving for the spectacular car. Hannes, who normally is just a humble guy, starts to grate his colleagues with his new affectations. Thus, they teach him an effective lesson: They decorate the state carriage with flowers and thus bring Hannes back down to earth in a humorous way.

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Signs and wonders are said to be happening in Trutzlaff, a small village in Mecklenburg. The party secretary of the local LPG, Mattes Mathias, has the "second face", which has been passed down from generation to generation in his family and is first mentioned in the witches' church chronicle in 1681. This special bond with the church lives on to this day. Mattes engages in a constant but creative competition with Pastor Himmelknecht. But it is not only his weather forecasts that come true every day. With his miraculous powers, Mattes tracks down lost things and heals the sick. Mattes' reputation reaches far beyond the village of Trutzlaff to the district town. A letter from the village cobbler has even reached the Vatican. Both here and there, people have pricked up their ears and want to get to the bottom of the matter. ... The only one who keeps a clear head is Mattes. But then there is "The crazy smell of fresh hay"!

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Adam Schmitt and Eva Müller met, fell in love and wanted to get married. On the day of the wedding, however, they don't end up in the registry office's wedding room, but in a courtroom. The subject of the trial: their love! Adam and Eve have to prove that they really love each other. If their proof is authentic and convincing, their application for marriage is to be approved by the court...

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When Angelika moves to Leipzig, she is forced to rent a room at Mrs. Häublein’s for a start, since her parents will not follow until a few months later. Fellow tenant Thomas, a philosophy student, is not at all enthused about his new, pretty housemate. Because of Angelika he has to move into a smaller room. Furthermore, he is annoyed at her many male acquaintances, without sensing that his aggression might be prompted by jealousy. When Angelika’s father comes for a visit, he asks Thomas to keep an eye on his daughter. Thomas takes this assignment very seriously and finally realizes that he has fallen in love with Angelika.

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Kasper Mai, an export merchant and comrade with a “clean” record, discovers he is the prince of Hohenlohe-Liebenstein. His royal grandmother designates him as the heir to her estate. A private trip to her reveals that she does not want a NATO airbase built on her land. The GDR and his grandmother thus find a common interest, and a clever lawyer from the East works against other family members looking to settle their debts with the estate money.

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Monika and Johannes are married. With increasing frequency, their son Manni becomes the focus of their arguments. Since the two cannot agree to a compromise, they decide to break up. The ten-year-old Manni is supposed to spend four weeks with Monika followed by four weeks with Johannes on an alternating basis. They want to prove to each other who has the better parenting skills. The plan fails, however, because Manni is very good at playing his parents off against each other. When Monika and Johannes finally see through their son’s game, they realize that their way of life does not lead to better parenting and they conclude that good parenting can only be achieved if they work together.

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The adventures of three friends from East Germany on the Black Sea.

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Small town policeman Holms suffers from a rather unusual problem: Because of the low crime rate, there is simply not enough to do for him. Deadly bored, he sinks into the depths of depression and requests the help of a psychiatrist. But his imagination is far more effective: In his dreams, he chases gangsters in London. Finally, some small-time crooks find a way to help "their" policeman out of his emotional misery: They steal a memorial from the market square and thus help Holms to a spectacular case.

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The famous actor Ralf Horricht is a pain in his current director's butt while shooting a comedy about the army. So Horricht believes it a joke, when he receives an induction-order as reserve-officer... but the captain tries his best to make him realize this is no laughing matter.

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