Kobalt Documentary GmbH

Germany 2021, 52 min
by Reinhild Dettmer-Finke

Design has become a driver of hyper-consumerism. How can design help solve the problems of the world, many of which it is has been the cause of? This film showcases designers who experiment with unusual materials, study energy-saving production methods in interdisciplinary teams and ask critical questions about the responsibility of design.

Germany 2021, 52 min
by Daniela Schmidt-Langels

Millions of people around the world suffer from the little-known ME/CFS. The pandemic has turned scientists' attention to the condition – because its symptoms are similar to the long-term symptoms suffered by Covid-19 patients.ME/CFS – myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome – is a severe neuroimmunological condition that often leads to a high level of physical disability. Between 17 and 24 million people throughout the world suffer from ME/CFS. Women are affected more often than men. Despite its prevalence, neither the general public nor doctors know much about ME/CFS, even though the WHO included the condition in its international list of neurological disorders in 1969. Research is still very much in the early stages and there are neither drugs nor therapies to treat the disease. Sufferers find themselves left on their own and are usually stigmatised as depressed or mentally ill. The new Sars-CoV-2 virus makes the condition especially significant. Some Covid-19 patients suffer from long-term effects of the virus weeks or even months after becoming infected – with similar symptoms to those of ME/CFS. We follow patients and their relatives as well as internationally renowned scientists and discuss that latest findings in research. They all bring home the gravity and severity of the condition and dispel the myths that for so many years have stood in the way of scientific progress.

Germany 2019, 82 min
by Valesca Peters

“Whatever happened to Helmut Berger?”, wonders Bettina Vorndamme, film fan in her prime. The Google results are shocking: Scandalising performances, an appearance on Jungle Camp, alcoholism! The actor seems but a shadow of his former self. The finance controller decides to put an end to his slow demise. With the help of her daughter, she contacts Berger in Salzburg. Shortly thereafter, Berger is actually seated on her sofa. A close friendship develops between the odd couple – with plenty of highs and lows. And then Helmut receives an offer to do his theatre debut at the Berliner Volksbühne...

Germany 2019, 91 min
by Ines Johnson-Spain

Imagine that your parents are white but your skin colour is dark and they tell you that 's pure coincidence. This is what happened to a girl in East Berlin in the 1960s. Years before, a group of African men came to study in a village nearby. Here the East German woman Sigrid falls in love with Lucien from Togo and gets pregnant. But she is already married to Armin. The child is filmmaker Ines Johnson-Spain. Meeting her stepfather Armin and others from her childhood years, she tracks the astonishing strategies of denial her parents and the surroundings had developed. In an intimate portrayal but also critical exploration she brings together painful and confusing childhood memories with matter-of-fact accounts that testify a culture of rejection and tight-lipped denial. Yet, the movingly warm encounters with her Togolese family develop Becoming Black also into a reflection on themes such as identity, social norms and family ties, seen from a very personal perspective.

2018, 225 min
by Petra Haffter

Once the destination of explorers and gold diggers, California is a magnet for visionaries like no other US state. On our journey through Sunshine State we meet some of its unusual inhabitants.California is different from the rest of America. Once the destination of conquerors and explorers heading west in search of gold and a better life, California – like no other US state – has become a magnet for people hoping to make their dreams come true. On our journey through the Sunshine State, we search for innovations in the breathtaking countryside of the American West and meet the bright minds behind them. We encounter free spirits, inventors and visionaries and in the process paint a picture of a diverse region and its unusual inhabitants.

2018, 52 min
by Reinhild Dettmer-Finke, Claudia Dejá

Germany 2017, 58 min
by Reinhild Dettmer-Finke

Nowadays, the desire to optimise ourselves affects almost all spheres of life. We meet people who dedicate themselves to self-optimisation and scientists who have spent years studying this social transformation.Self-optimisation technology is booming. A gigantic industry is constantly urging us to measure our bodies with new smartphone apps and developing pills and potions to improve the performance of our brain. The line between the desire to improve ourselves and an obsession with self-optimisation is a fine one. Achieving the “perfect person” appears to be the great project of our times. Where is the dividing line between self-optimisation technologies that improve the quality of our life and those that merely correspond with a social ideology where constantly increasing performance becomes a compulsion? Is the rapidly growing self-improvement trend an opportunity or already an imperative? Will mankind really become healthier, happier and “better” in future, or are we entering a self-optimisation dictatorship? The investigative documentary asks these questions and examines self-optimisation methods already in use and ideas that are being developed for the future. We meet people who have internalised and practice the latest self-optimisation methods in all spheres of life, such as diet, work and parenting, and we meet philosophers, sociologists and other thinkers who analyse and socially classify the trend.

2016, 150 min
by Katrin Sandmann

Two Iranian women set off on a unique journey to their home country. Their mission: to show the world Iran through personal encounters, without the usual clichés and prejudices. Elnaz Sadoghi from Berlin and Sarah Doraghi from Paris spend five weeks travelling through the Islamic Republic with its magnificent palaces, mosques and parks. They meet old friends and relatives, make new acquaintances.And they present us with a unique and very personal view of their country. In light of the historical nuclear deal and other changes that have occurred since Hassan Rohani’s election as president, a fresh new perspective is urgently needed. Under Ayatollah Khomeini, reviled by the USA as the ’great Satan‘, Iran was cut off from the international community for over thirty years. The USA considered it the ’axis of evil‘. As a result, the country’s breathtaking natural beauty, its unparalleled cultural heritage and, above all, the cosmopolitan outlook of its people have been largely forgotten. Sarah and Elnaz return home and travel to places they have missed the most. They immerse themselves in Iranian society. A fascinating portrait of a previously unfamiliar country.