some defa favourites

An idealistic young architect moves from the big city to a small town intended to become an industrial center. Her ambitions meet the realities of socialist economics, bureaucracy, and indifference.

The architect Daniel Brenner is in his late thirties when he receives his first challenging and lucrative commission: to design a cultural center for a satellite town in East-Berlin. He accepts the offer under the condition that he gets to choose who he works with. This way, he reunites with former colleagues and friends - most of them architects or students of architecture who have since chosen a different profession due to personal restraint or economic confinement. Together, they develop a concept which they hope will be more appealing to the public than the conventional and dull constructions common to the German Democratic Republic. However, their ambitious plans are once and again foiled by their conservative supervisors. As frustration grows, Daniel has trouble keeping his career in balance with his family-life: his wife Wanda wants to leave for West-Germany.

Paul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. They meet and discover a strong passion for each other. Life seems like a dream when they're together - but their short flights from the burdens of reality are once and again interrupted by Paul's ties to family and career.

A film about living and working conditions in the GDR of the 1960s, including a little love story, of course.

An idealistic teacher is shocked to discover her pupils are already cynical and opportunistic. Her colleague soon grows resentful when she uses new and challenging techniques to help her students overcome obstacles.

Eight space cargo-ships disappear without a trace within three days. And the orbit station "Margot" has suddenly fallen silent. The space council is faced with a mystery and the scientist in charge, Maria Scholl, sees no other solution than ordering a total flight stop to this mysterious sector of space. Her colleague, Prof. Tal seems to be suspicious since he knows things before they are even released. A forbidden look into his personal file brings to light that Tal was part of the Eolomea project that never found approval of the commission in charge.

A well-made, enjoyable, East German coming-of-age film. Cunningly weaving Shakespeare's play 'Romeo and Juliet' into its plot. All set in a summer vacation camp.

Karl Erp is a fairly well-off librarian in his mid-forties with two children and a boring marriage. His love for his intern, Miss Broder, brings him out of his lethargy. He tells his wife, Elisabeth, that love never existed between them and that he only married her as a favor to her. He then moves in with Miss Broder. Harassed by her mother, he promises a divorce from his wife and later, a marriage to with her daughter. However, the spark that helped Karl in starting a new relationship doesn't show up in his day-to-day life. He can't find the willpower to start a new life, and he misses his old comforts. Thus, he returns to Elisabeth and their broken marriage.

After their successful May party, now the Lehmann family want to throw a New Year's Eve part with punch. Wilhelm's sons Franz and Paul are brigade leaders at a chemical factory. One of their brigades consists largely of fanatics of high culture, while the other consists of sports fanatics. But the rival brigades must work together in order to throw a successful New Year's Eve party for the factory, since the occasion requires both elements: sports and culture. There is an ice show in the program, the star of which is Wilhelm's granddaughter Suse. Knispel from the sports-inclined brigade follows Paul's rigorous training plan for her and stubbornly refuses to let matters of the heart get in the way. Knispel, along with the pretty Ruth, still succeed at convincing the iron athlete Paul of the utility of culture and the collaboration between the two areas. The athletically and artistically brilliant ice show is a big hit.

A commercial artist with a lisp chooses silence, unexpectedly propelling his career. His perceived innovation leads to rapid advancement in an ad agency. Mueller-Stahl shines in this biting critique of East German workplace culture.

The wrenching story of a woman sentenced in 1934 to 10 years in prison for antifascist activities. The love between her and her fiancé enables her to survive the tribulations of her time in prison, where she is one of few political prisoners.

Anna and Anette's choices of male lovers is as limited as their choices in everyday life: a technocrat, a self-absorbed artist, or a married man. As in melodrama, self-destruction proves a catalyst for self-discovery. Featuring Katrin Sass (Good Bye, Lenin!).

Sunny is a singer in a band which is constantly on the road. She therefore leads a relatively restless life, which she cannot afford to give up, having to rely on the fee she gets paid..

Gregor Hecker, who fled Germany with his parents, returns to Germany as a lieutenant in the Red Army.

The Rabbit Is Me was made in 1965 to encourage discussion of the democratization of East German society. In it, a young student has an affair with a judge who once sentenced her brother for political reasons; she eventually confronts him with his opportunism and hypocrisy. It is a sardonic portrayal of the German Democratic Republic's judicial system and its social implications. The film was banned by officials as an anti-socialist, pessimistic and revisionist attack on the state. It henceforth lent its name to all the banned films of 1965, which became known as the "Rabbit Films." After its release in 1990, The Rabbit Is Me earned critical praise as one of the most important and courageous works ever made in East Germany. It was screened at The Museum of Modern Art in 2005 as part of the film series Rebels with a Cause: The Cinema of East Germany.

DDR film from the mid-60s: Li and Al, not long married, want to divorce. They feel trapped in their marriage and in their one-room apartment. They long for an unconventional, meaningful life, but the search for meaning confounds them.

A disillusioned single mother decides to give love one last chance.

High-school senior Peter considers the adults around him to be hypocritical, self-congratulatory, and immersed in the past. He gets suspended for writing an essay that his teachers consider to be a challenge to the state. Just Don't Think I'll Cry became one of twelve films and film projects-almost an entire year's production-that were banned in 1965-1966 due to their alleged anti-socialist aspects. Although scenes and dialogs were altered and the end was reshot twice, officials condemned this title as "particularly harmful." In 1989, cinematographer Ost restored the original version, and this and most of the other banned films were finally screened in January 1990. Belatedly, they were acclaimed as masterpieces of critical realism.

The story of a group of rebellious teens in East Berlin.