Axel Prahl

The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

Four crazy antiheroes on the run. Their leader is the unworldly innocent, naive Marnie, a house cat who is not allowed to leave the house and only knows about real life from television

Richthofen goes off to war like thousands of other men. As fighter pilots, they become cult heroes for the soldiers on the battlefields. Marked by sportsmanlike conduct, technical exactitude and knightly propriety, they have their own code of honour. Before long he begins to understand that his hero status is deceptive. His love for Kate, a nurse, opens his eyes to the brutality of war.

The little witch is only 127 years old – too young for the annual coven of witches. Although she is not yet old enough to be a real witch she wants to become a really good one. This decision causes trouble inside her magic world.

Ten-year-old Trenk, peasant and property of evil Sir Wertolt, wants to become a knight and free his family. His sword may be heavier than himself, but with unflagging practice, he's soon ready to take on terrifying dragons and save damsels in distress - before conquering their hearts! "Trenk, the Little Knight' is the highly anticipated new animated feature from the producers of "Lilly The Witch." Set in the Middle Ages, it features marvelously drawn and colored backdrops along with storylines whose castles, tournaments and courtly society convey a realistic, authentic depiction of medieval life. It tells the deeply moving story of a young boy who must learn what heroism and courage are before he rises from lowly peasant to shining knight. Based on the bestselling books by Kirsten Boie.

Twelve-year-old Sprotte has a 'gang' with her three friends Frieda, Melanie, and Trude. Together, the girls care for Sprotte's grandmother's chickens. The new girl in school, Wilma, wishes to join the group, which Melanie is very unhappy about, and on top of all of that they have an ongoing revalisasion with a group of boys.

The devil tricks a little boy off his laughter in exchange for assured wins in all his bets. It depicts his journey after the deal with the devil, how he loses his soul bit by bit with each win.

Martin Behrens is a Middle East expert for the German intelligence agency BND. He obtains information leading to a U.S. drone strike on a wanted terrorist in Zahiristan. A few days later, there's a terrorist attack on a restaurant – the video claiming responsibility calls it payback for the drone strike. Freelance journalist Aurice, with whom Martin was having an affair, is among the victims – she was investigating corruption at the heart of the BND. Martin soon has to realize that in a world where big corporations profit from arms deals as well as from homeland security contracts, good and evil are sometimes hard to tell apart.

An English teacher brings soccer to a German school in the 19th Century.

Fearless and full of laughter. Captain Sharky and his lively crew are off to exciting and frightening adventures where they learn that there is more than being the most fearsome pirate - being a good friend.

Anyone can hold a mini-DV camera. Anyone can get 99 euros in credit. And everyone has already written a five-minute story in school. So everyone is actually prepared to make a 99euro-film. but "99euro-films" is more. It is the proof that German films can also be wild, new, modern, funny, political and entertaining. And all that in 80 minutes. 12 young German filmmakers come together, inspire exciting young actors and go: have an idea and simply film it. Just do it and be independent.

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Berlin 36 is a 2009 German film telling the fate of Jewish athlete Gretel Bergmann in the 1936 Summer Olympics. She was replaced by the Nazi regime by an athlete later discovered to be a man. The film is based on a true story and was released in Germany on September 10, 2009. Reporters at Der Spiegel challenged the historical basis for many of the events in the film, pointing to arrest records and medical examinations indicating German authorities did not learn Dora Ratjen was male until 1938.

Dito Tsintsadze's drama focuses on a loner whose life changes dramatically, when he gets to know a beautiful, but strange girl. Lukas, a young man doing "meals on wheels" instead of military service, doesn't have many friends and leads a boring life, until he meets Isabella. The fascinating girl soon becomes his best friend, but Lukas learns she has a sexual relationship to her stepfather. Thus, he is obsessed with the idea of delivering Isabella by killing the man..

The real life story of East German singer and writer Gerhard Gundermann and his struggles with music, life as a coal miner and his dealings with the secret police (STASI) of the GDR.

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An intimate study of two women friends who come to each other because of troubles with everyday life and with men and thus try to enjoy a life based on their ideas.

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What child doesn’t dream of finding some secret door to the past! For Stella, a sassy 10-year-old, this dream comes true when she finds a magic wardrobe that transports her back to the early 20th century. There she must find a precious stone, the “Star of the Orient”, and ward off criminals who also want the treasure. Both haunting in its dream-like atmosphere and rousing through its spirited young protagonists, the film sweeps youngsters into a magical story of friendship and discovery.

The whole country wants an end of the drought. Maren has even more reason to wish for rain, her austere father,the rich hay farmer Iven, will approve her marriage with her beloved Andrees only if the rain falls before the next sunset.

The child-duo Rico and Oskar, one of them is quite more sluggish, but precisely because of fantasy and own world view; the other one is a smart whiz, but scared for life.

Simon a mysterious man with a past returns to Iceland with the intention to end his no good life. Before he can complete his task he meets a young women DÚA who he believes might be his daughter. When she gets into trouble with the police Simon represses his death wish and decides to help her out. Together they flee to the city of Hamburg and smuggle with them what used to be the greatest export of the Vikings, an Icelandic Falcon. Their plan is to sell it to wealthy Arabs.

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Based on one of the most spectacular series of bank robberies in Germany, Zwölf Winter tells the story of Klaus and Mike, two criminals who became friends in prison. When they happen to meet each other again after they have been released they begin to plan the perfect bank robbery, and it seems to work. For twelve years the two keep on robbing banks, always in winter. The police are in the dark for years. But they won't stick to their guns...

A female teenager witnesses a murder in a desolate high density housing area on the outskirts of Berlin and is henceforth in danger.

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Sommersonntag (Summer Sunday) is the dramatic story of Bruno Hansen, a bridge guard of a huge lift bridge in Hamburg. As his 7-year old deaf-mute son climbs down into the restricted area of the lifting equipment while a train is approaching, he has to decide whether to sacrifice his son or to let the fully occupied train drown in the river.

Despite the threat of war in the fall of 1939, the Germans decide to launch a sea expedition in search of evidence for Pangaea. Although the multi national geologists embark enthusiastically on their research mission, the growing political tension between their countries soon affects their work. With Britain and France declaring war on Germany, the civilian scientists now find themselves mere pawns in a global power struggle.

In early 1943, at the Auschwitz main camp, hundreds of Jewish women are confined in cramped quarters in BLOCK 10, which is separated from the rest of the camp grounds. Nazi doctors subject them to the most painful methods of forced sterilization. Prisoner doctors are forced to collaborate. The Jewish gynecologist Dr. Maximilian Samuel is blackmailed with the gassing of his 20-year-old daughter if he refuses to participate in the brutal experiments. Caught in this moral dilemma, he seeks his own path.

GDR, January 1990. After his ouster and the fall of the wall, dictator Erich Honecker and his wife Margot find themselves virtually homeless. Only Protestant pastor Uwe Holmer and his family, who, like many others, have suffered under his tyrannical regime, offer them refuge.

After her release from prison Alex, who has lost her faith in love, tries to reclaim her psychic balance through a retreat into loneliness. A man and a child interrupt her plan and force her to reengage. Alex dares to emerge from her shell and learns again how thin the ice is and how fragile happiness is, small though it may be.

Master painter Hans Moll and his wife, the television announcer Ms. Wellinek and her husband, and the German-Russian Jew Yevgenia have many things to live on: food, drink, an apartment. What they do not have is work. They all discover the yearning for a chance to start all over again and bring themselves back to life.

In order to leave a lasting impression in space, Dr. Georg Friedle and his team of researchers include a condensed version of world history with the 1977 Voyager mission. However, their attempt to present themselves as an intelligent and empathic race backfires unchecked: their version presents a completely insane species whose development is apparently based on pure luck rather than solid reason. A planet where Greek philosophers are celebrated as rap stars, religion is touted as a clever marketing concept, stag parties serve as a secret weapon in the First World War and the construction of the Great Wall of China is a misunderstanding of honest Berlin craftsmanship. Even the revelation of the alleged true background to the assassination attempt on Hitler is likely to make experienced historians see the end of humanity as a mere matter of time.

The documentary tells the life story of Margot Friedländer, a 101-year-old Berlin native who survived the Holocaust and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, in January of this year.

Based on the childhood memories of actor Michael Degen, the movie deals with the everyday struggle to survive as a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany. As his father had died in 1940 after being released from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Michael and his mother fear to be deported themselves. They manage to live in Berlin with false names and faked papers, hidden by several, often broken, people...

August 1961: To earn a bit of West German money, East Berlin "plaselayer" Hans Kuhlke smuggles scrap metal to his friend Erwin Sawatzke in West Berlin. One evening, he and his wife are invited to the Sawatzkes' house. Meanwhile, their son Paul stays with a friend in East Berlin. On this summer night, the political situation in Berlin comes to a dramatic head: the borders are closed and the construction of the Wall is initiated. The disappearance of his parents leaves 14-year-old pioneer Paul torn between family ties and loyalty to the party. At the last second, he sees through his role in the system and is taken in by his piano teacher. Together they plan their escape to the West - but it turns into a race against time.

One day before Waldemars big birthday party, the excitement rising in Mullewapp. Waldemar may withhold the chocolate-creamy strawberry pie that is to give it to celebrate, to eat up already, but then appeared unexpected walk on the quiet farm on barely. The rude boar bristle Horst and his gang have his eye on the birthday treats and take Mollywoop residents hogging. The three friends Waldemar, Franz von Hahn and Johnny Mauser guessed immediately: Here's wrong! But they are tricked by windy boar chief Horst and with a trick he sends them thereby unintentionally on a particularly adventurous bike tour. How can they now liberate their beloved home only by the invaders?

The actor and musician turns 65 on March 26, 2025. Time for a portrait. Axel Prahl is known to a wide audience for his role as Chief Inspector Frank Thiel in the popular “Tatort” series from Münster, a character he has embodied with gruff charm since 2002.

The Pope is in town and the night of his stay is anything but heavenly for some of Berlin′s inhabitants. Rich and poor, down-and-outs and policemen, street kids and taxi drivers - in their search for a little bit of happiness, they all end up on an amusing and at times harrowing odyssey through the labyrinth of the big city.

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After fleeing to the West in 1961, peaceful times were supposed to begin for the Striesows. But Irene longs for the familiar GDR, fears her husband Dieter's supposed "second wives" and expects the Third World War every day. When the war finally breaks out in the living room, her children Ute, Wasa and Flori decide to help their mother's happiness along, with unexpected consequences.

A nine-year-old girl who has just moved with her parents to Hamburg, Germany, is desperate for finding a best friend. The daughter of a Brazilian father and German mother, Lola is a little girl who dreams she's a rock star, but mostly dreams of having a best friend.

Second-hand car sales man Willenbrock has everything that he could ever wish for. He is married, has two lovers, a cottage in the German city Grünen, and a BMW. Yet one day while at his cottage he gets mugged and his life is drastically changed. Little by little the world he once felt safe in falls apart around him.

Single mother Maria falls from the clouds when the police come: She does not believe for a second that her son, Matis could have killed the pretty Lea from next door. He is in his early 20s, but still thinks and feels like a child - right? After his arrest, Simon finds a sex booklet belongs to him that the bus driver Bacher sold him. Matis actually makes a confession, to which, however, the psychologist Benjamin doubts. In the meantime, mother Maria is investigating on her own. The thriller gradually increases its level and excitement.

The North Sea, the largest sea on our doorstep, has many faces: wide tidal environments, high dunes, flat holms and rugged coastlines. Its beaches attract every season not only tourists but also countless seals. And beneath the cool sea surface hides a varied and fascinating underwater world: whether majestic basking before the chalk cliffs of Dover or combative gray seals on the beach of Helgoland, whether mighty squid on the Dutch Oosterschelde, or creepy Greenland shark in the Fjords of Norway.

A financially devastated German town receives an encouraging boost with the arrival of a popular soccer star, though a heated love triangle threatens to overshadow the good vibes in this sexually liberated comedy from filmmaker Norbert Baumgarten.

Strange, rhymed advertisements in the newspaper unsettle three London gangsters - and rightly so, because soon the first of them are killed. The mysterious killer also catches a shady lawyer. Higgins and Lane find out that the key to the crimes is an unsolved diamond heist.

Robert, a recently widowed engineer from Cologne, decides to change his life. He invests all he has in a new business in Southeast Germany - a network of coin operated telescopes, hoping to profit from the breathtaking vistas of the Saxon "Switzerland" area of the East. Once in that region, Robert meets Christiane, who uncanningly resembles his deceased wife. Christiane is also at a crossroads. She has a secret plan to recover something of great value lost after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Christian is a presenter at a small radio station. His wife Katrin directs traffic in a car park. Both are friends with Uwe, who runs a fast food kiosk, and Ellen, who works in a perfume shop. Their four lives are stuck in a rut. Until the day Chris and Ellen sleep together and upset the balance of the two couples...

A film on the surveillance and the control in East Germany also speaks about it - representing extreme and almost unbelievable image of a society which has acquired one super-narrative and developed a system which makes it impossible to even speak about the possibility of anything outside it.

The young Romanian Wanda works as a call girl. She has no idea that the reserved neighbor Waller has her constantly in his sights. She also has no idea that Waller is blackmailing her clients with his videotapes and dropping some of the money in her letterbox. One day, Waller and Wanda meet by chance in the hallway. When Waller learns that Wanda has to go procuring for her husband because he is holding her son hostage, he feels called to be her guardian angel and promises her a new, better life. Against her will, he frees her from the milieu and takes her on one last "tour". Together they visit her clients a second time and blackmail them again. Only this time the price is higher, because Waller and Wanda need a lot of money for a better life...

One of them is a cab entrepreneur with a Berlin snout, the other an ambitious politician in a fine suit - and the dissimilar twin brothers Jochen and Christian Lichtenberg haven't spoken to each other for a long time. Now they are both in trouble: gambler Jochen has betting debts with the gruff Mr. Fleischer, Christian is left by his wife after a fling with a leggy lobbyist. In the chaos that now befalls them both, the Lichtenbergs finally get closer again...

Corinna Safranski wants to become a police officer in Hamburg. She gets off to a great start and even saves the life of a colleague. But then comes routine at work and stress at home. And when Corinna defends herself against the pushy precinct manager, he begins to harass her. Her colleagues watch - or applaud...

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Andreas Dresen is one of the most successful German directors. The documentary accompanies him through the year 2023 until the opening evening at the Filmmuseum Potsdam, which is honoring him and his team with an exhibition and film series. The portrait looks at his career, his artistic work and social commitment. Numerous companions have their say.

Together with his students, Ralph is faced with an unpleasant task: The evening school is moving to an innovative educational center. Ralph thinks this is a bad joke.

After a series of catastrophically failed marriages, Apple is single again. Blame on Apple's attachment is in her opinion, her mother Ingrid. Because this Apple has punished not only with her hippie name, but was in every way a raven mother. When Ingrid spends an All Inclusive vacation in Spain, her mother and daughter are confronted with a dramatic event from their past.

It is the summer of 1984 in Schmalenstedt, in the middle of Holstein Switzerland, directly on the Baltic Sea. The 17-year-old Malte Ahrens, who calls himself Roddy Dangerblood, lives with his elderly parents in a farmhouse, is trained as a potter and has discovered for himself the punk that has made its way into Schmalenstedt with some delay.

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The film is based on the events surrounding the Lengede mining accident in 1963.

Singer July relies on a donor kidney from her father. But first she has to reconcile with him, since she has been hopelessly at odds with him for a long time.

After 16 years in jail is Harms attracted by the big bucks: a raid on the central bank, 70 to 100 millions in cash. A former staff member can arrange access to the bank. However, the team needs to be careful - too many bills, too many problems. One third of the money should suffice but Harms underestimated the deadly power of greed. The project gets out of control...

After eight years Udo Lindenberg started his comeback in early 2016 with the new album "Stärker als die Zeit". After the release of his new album the panic rocker No. 1 went on a big tour, where he - among other locations - also stopped in Leipzig. The live recording “Stärker als die Zeit - Live” documents this gigantic show. The recording from Leipzig is a colorful mix of Udo classics and hits from his new album, including "Cello", "Wozu sind Kriege da", "Der Greis ist heiß", "Ich mach mein Ding" and "Durch die schweren Zeiten". At least as impressive as the tracklist is the list of guest singers who were at Udo's side during the various appearances. Participants include Clueso, Helge Schneider, Till Brönner and Stefanie Heinzmann, Gentleman, Daniel Wirtz and Ole Feddersen, Axel Prahl, Otto Waalkes, Johannes Oerding, Jan Delay, Stefan Raab, Klaus Doldinger, Adel Tawil, Max Herre, Bülent Ceylan and many more.

A teacher's colleague is critically wounded by a student. Traumatized, she attempts to cope.

A young police woman is faced with the difficulties between her responsibilities at work and her personal responsibilities.

Apart from a loose affair with the traveling feed salesman Gerd, the life of Brandenburg farmer Jutta consists only of work - and her cow Gloria. Gloria is a magnificent cow, the most beautiful in the whole of Brandenburg. Now Jutta plans to make her Miss Germany. For Jutta, Gloria is the center of her little world, but for her brother Thomas, who comes to visit unexpectedly after the death of their father, this devotion is highly irritating. Admittedly, Gloria is a gem, but she is still just a cow!

Mina, a poor girl with a big heart sees stars falling from the sky and turning into Gold Talers before they land. With that money the girl can ask the king to let her parents go home.

In today’s Friesland, Fuchs, a food inspector in the district, is always in a good mood and committed to investigating North German snack bars. He dreams of a career in Hamburg, for which he works hard. But his superior at the public order office, Sigmar Koch, asks Fuchs to do him a special favor: he has to accommodate his brother Tillmann, a bad-tempered drunk.

The worn-out ex-journalist Ralph has to work as a substitute teacher at an evening school and in the end learns more than his protegees.

After each new crime, the department store blackmailer Scrooge comes up with a more sophisticated method of handing over money. The Soko is often hot on his heels, checking thousands of traces and countless clues, but he always manages to escape. While the officers led by Chief Inspector Paule Pietsch reap scorn and ridicule, Scrooge becomes a cult gangster in the public eye. But Soko boss Pietsch is certain: even the phantom Scrooge will make a mistake.

On the North Sea coast, jack of all trades Knud tries his hand at crab fishing, betting on sports and small-time cons. He’s just trying to score an award for his Shanty Choir, which has seen better days, when his son Lenny shows up for the first time in a decade.

KAFKA'S THE BURROW tells the story of a man's "metamorphosis" (as Kafka would put it) in a rapidly changing and increasingly isolated world. A man, who has seemingly achieved everything, ensconces himself in his burrow, a fortress-like apartment complex. But no matter how hard he tries to keep the outside world at a distance, he gets more and more entangled in his own web of fear and paranoia: those outside know he is there, they want him, they want his wealth, and they are inevitably going to get him ...

A small paper umbrella attracts the attention of Fredo Schulz when chief detectives Milan Filipovic and Lola Karras visit him at the North Sea. A seven-year-old girl has disappeared. Ashley Bols is already the third missing girl. Schulz was unable to rescue the other two. They have still not been found, but Schulz simply knows that they are dead. He also knows who the perpetrator is: Roland Bischoff.

For Marko, life mainly consists of frozen pizzas and back pain. For almost 30 years, the widower has been hauling frozen goods for the company "Eisland" to the front doors of his mostly older customers. When Marko has to take early retirement due to illness, his life gets into imbalance. Thereby Marko has only one goal: his studying son should have it better one day. Lawyer or judge, that would be something. The main thing is no work where you have to wear a name tag. The decease of an old female customer unexpectedly opens up a whole new business model for Marko. Unfortunately, he reckoned without the nosy neighbors. To make matters worse, his own son also finds out about it. Marko's house of cards threatens to collapse. Then he meets his idol Roland Kaiser at the bar.

For Mathias Wengeler, the racing pigeon loft on the roof of his house is more than just that. His pigeons are his passion. When he's not at his unloved job in the call center, where he has to listen to his boss's scolding, he lovingly looks after the feathered beauties, which are named either Richard Burton or Liz Taylor, depending on their gender. Unfortunately, daughter Dani and wife Rita miss out. There are more and more arguments between her and Mathias, mainly due to the considerable piles of unpaid bills and final reminders. To make matters worse, the children's home where Rita works is to be closed. And what does Mathias do? He buys bags of pigeon food. Rita has had enough. From now on, it's the pigeons or me! But does Mathias really have the heart to part with his pets?

The first time they meet, she finds him horrible. The second time, she falls in love with the strange, misanthropic, hypochondriacal lateral thinker who is plagued by all kinds of fears. Together they become Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt. Their stories on stage are funny enough to make you cry and sad enough to make you laugh, just like their lives. Liesl becomes famous with her Valentin and pays a high price for it. The story of the comedian couple tells of jealousy, tears, successes and nervous breakdowns and of a love that lasts beyond death.

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No description available.

"Why doesn't anyone tell me it's about a woman?" Now Novak is starting to feel uneasy! The young detective and three colleagues are on the payroll of a Hamburg demimonde. Now Novak and Brenner are supposed to look the other way when bringing in a key witness so that the killer Kosmo can strike. But instead of looking away, Novak falls for it. The "witness" is the pretty Kim-Lan. Novak's hesitation leads to a shootout. Brenner and Kosmo die, the witness flees. Only now does Brenner's widow Emma find out how deep her husband's team is in the swamp...