Jörg Gillner

Budapest in the 1930s. Restaurant owner Laszlo hires pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona who inspires András to his only composition. His song of Gloomy Sunday is, at first, loved and then feared, for its melancholic melody sets off a chain of suicides. The fragile balance of the erotic ménage à trois is sent off kilter when the German Hans falls in love with Ilona as well.

Witty, literary and intellectual Kammerspiel film which presents the day after the end of the world as an allegory.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was the author of Werther, the romantic novel that was transformed into a play during Goethe's lifetime and which initiated the whole German romantic movement. The book's story tells of young love and suicide. In this East German film, based on a book by Thomas Mann, Lotte (Lilli Palmer) was the woman who served as the model for the heroine in the novel Werther. She comes to Goethe's hometown for a visit, and her experiences there eerily re-create episodes from the book. Goethe comes across as a pompous old bore, and his friends as pandering sycophants, in this very proper communist party-sponsored, anti-heroic movie.

October 1918: Karl Liebknecht is released from prison and Berlin workers celebrate his release. Although WWI is almost over, the German Kaiserreich in vain sends its last reserves to the slaughter. The working class is in a rebellious mood; the uprising of Kiel’s sailors against war and militarism sets off a call for revolution led by Liebknecht. On November 9, Liebknecht declares the Free Socialist Republic of Germany. But pro-Kaiser military and right wing Social Democrats oppose him.

World War II is over and Heinrich, a young German boy, influenced by the Russians, starts to act according to Communist principles in a small German village.

Vienna in the eighties. An accidental meeting in a restaurant. She, Hannah, is Jewish and has a live-in lover, a young and successful architect. He, Friedrich, is a German and lives permanently in Vienna. Two worlds collide with another, begin to become entangled in each other. Friedrich too, has his problems. He is a "German", which fascinates and repels Hannah at the same time. She tries to get over her confusion by being ironic and flirtatious. Simultaneously, what she has tried to suppress breaks through in flashbacks...

Russian soldier Grisha escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp in the spring of 1917. He is caught and is to be shot as a spy. This decision is controversial. The dispute continues. Grisha is executed on the orders of the army high command.

London in 1856. Karl Marx is living in exile in the British capital. One day, "Mohr", as Marx is called by his friends, meets the 13-year old worker′s son Joe. The boy works every day for twelve hours in a spinning mill and even has to work night shifts although that violates current rules. Marx tries to end the illegal activities of the spinning mill owner and one night shows up at the mill together with an inspector. But his foray is undermined by a robbery by the rebellious raven gang that is led by Joe′s brother Billy. The spinning mill owner of course takes this chance to blame his young workers for the theft. But Marx is not let astray and does not stop to fight against child labour. Furthermore, he tries to get the members of the raven gang back on the straight and narrow – with success.

The film takes place in Europe in the 19th century. The film shows the popular uprisings that took place there, as well as the search for truth and the confrontation of Karl Marx and opponents of the revolution.

After meeting the woman on the train Erwin Retzmann kills her in the forest.

Berlin, 1948: Paralyzed and robbed of her memory, Fleur regains consciousness after a serious fall. The doctor treating her recognizes that her problem is of a psychological nature and encourages her to face up to her past. The daughter of a brothel owner is reluctant to look back: on a hapless childhood, her relationships with bon vivant Dr. Goldner and the politically committed locksmith Philipp (Hilmar Thate) as well as the difficult period of fascism... This exciting journey into the German past is based on Dinah Nelken's novel "Das angstvolle Heldenleben einer gewissen Fleur Lafontaine".

A train travels through the vastness of Russia, a train with German prisoners of war returning home, and Viktor Kleist, a young German communist from an intellectual home in Munich, travels back home with them. During the journey, the stations on his way to Lenin wake up again.

During Pinochet's military dictatorship in Chile, a father strives to free his daughter from the German religious sect, Colonia Dignidad.

The little African girl Asina is eagerly waiting for her new friend Karli. Karli is a young sailor from Rostock who has promised her a gift on his next arrival in Coccatuttibana. Karli keeps his promise and smuggles a stowaway onboard the “MS Wismar”. Kasimir, a snowman, finds shelter in a cooling chamber. Although the journey turns out to be turbulent, Karli and Kasimir manage to arrive in Africa in good health.

The plot takes viewers to various places in Europe, including Prague, Erfurt, Frankfurt/Main and even Tenerife. And the title "The Blonde Geisha" turned out to be a nickname for the film's heroine, who had once been called that by her school friend Andreas. At the time, there was more than a hint of romance between the two, but then they lost sight of each other. Now, all of a sudden, a reunion in Prague! This would be a chance for Erika and Andraes to start afresh, but the two are not alone in the Czechoslovakian capital, as if on an island. Instead, the businesswoman from West Germany and the research engineer from East Germany find themselves in the sights of shady people who do not shy away from crime in order to achieve their goals, and so the two main protagonists find themselves in increasingly dangerous situations.