Medea Film Factory GmbH

Germany 2026, 110 min
by Sabine Lidl

Young, curious and full of drive, Siri Hustvedt leaves the wide, quiet landscapes of Minnesota and plunges into the pulsating life of New York City. In search of the protagonist for her first novel, she embarks on a journey that not only shapes her as a writer but leads her to become one of the most compelling voices in contemporary American literature. The film opens a perspective that reaches far beyond Siri Hustvedt herself, discovering women who courageously and independently realise their artistic visions. As Siri Hustvedt and her husband Paul Auster reflect on language, identity and the power of words, life intervenes: Paul Auster becomes seriously ill. In Siri Hustvedt – Dance Around the Self, director Sabine Lidl portrays Siri Hustvedt’s distinctive way of living and thinking, weaving her writing together with the major themes of life: love and farewell. Source of Synopsis

Germany, Austria 2024, 184 min
by Alexander Horwath

A personal essay about the United States, viewed through the life and work of a movie actor. Henry Fonda and the roles he played merge into a dazzling and conflicted figure. A very private man who thought he had "no good answers to anything" becomes the unlikely anchor of a parallel history. His voice, recorded in 1981, and his onscreen avatars guide us through America's past and present – on a road trip from the village of Fonda, NY, across the Midwest to the Pacific; from 1651 to the 1980s and the presidency of another movie actor. It takes many places and times and characters to imagine an invisible republic – the United States of Fonda.

Germany 2023, 52 min
by Minh An Szabo de Bucs

Bit by bit, critical art is being eliminated in Hong Kong. How do creatives deal with censorship and arrest? Are they giving in or fighting back? This film shows how, despite everything, artists continue to protest.Hong Kong has gone quiet since the violent protests in 2019. The National Security Law is restricting democratic rights. And the Chinese government's increasing encroachment has driven hundreds of thousands into exile, including artist Kacey Wong, who fled to Taiwan to continue his protest actions from there. But many people have made the conscious decision to stay put. They're finding different ways to escape censorship or arrest. Internationally renowned multimedia artist Samson Young, for example, plays with codes and hidden references. Not everyone understands the critical statements he makes in his complex installations. Film-maker Kiwi Chow risks arrest with his documentary Revolution of Our Times. Using a special trick, he manages to remain a free man and continues to make films in Hong Kong. The new multimedia museum M+ is emblematic of the balancing act between artistic freedom and censorship. The 60,000² museum for contemporary art is Hong Kong city government's new prestige building. But the shiny façade is marred by accusations of censorship, and it's not just about Ai Weiwei's middle finger.

Germany 2023, 52 min
by Margarete Kreuzer

For centuries, artists have painted their city under the Roman sky. Rome became a place of longing – also for the Dutch painter Maarten van Heemskerck. His drawings have shaped the pictorial memory of Roman antiquity to this day. In Rome The Urban Sketchers follow in his footsteps to learn from their artistic role model.

Germany 2023, 52 min
by Irene Höfer, Anke Sterneborg

A career spanning more than five decades between arthouse, television and political activism, told as dialogue between past and present. Iris Berben revisits important places and inspiring accomplices, such as Rudolph Thome, who directed her in her first feature films. Jim Rakete, who has photographed her continually over 40 years. Barbara Sukowa who has started her international career like Iris Berben in Munich. Anke Engelke who shares with her the privilege to switch between comedic and dramatic roles. Ruben Östlund who guided her to a late triumph in TRIANGLE OF SADNESS.

Germany 2023, 52 min
by Grit Lederer

Over 1000 years ago, the Pergamon Altar was destroyed forever. The famous relief images, the fighting gods and giants, have been preserved. Today the ancient building is surprisingly present in two places – in Berlin's Pergamonmuseum as an exhibition architecture for the reliefs, and in Bergama, the old Pergamon, as the missing centerpiece of the city's history. Accompanied by Bénédicte Savoy, the documentary tells the story of how the monumental work of art became an attraction of the Museumsinsel at the end of the 19th century and how its absence is judged in Türkiye today.

Germany 2022, 52 min
by Grit Lederer

For eight years Berlin's Quadriga of the Brandenburg Gate was stored as Napoleon's war trophy in Paris. She almost stayed there forever. When the work of sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow finally returned to Berlin in 1814, the work of art became a symbol of victory over France. The Brandenburg Gate turned into a hotspot of German history.In 1945, the original Quadriga was destroyed. There is a replica on the gate today. A plaster copy was recently rediscovered and restored in the rooms of the German Bundestag.

2022, 52 min
by Grit Lederer

The bust of Queen Nefertiti is a magnet for every visitor to Berlin. On the Nile, however, the icon of Egyptian culture is sorely missed. Formally, the ownership structure seems to be clear. The distribution of the finds was carried out strictly according to the law. But there are doubts aboutthat. As early as 1924, the effigy of the Queen was reclaimed. The bust of Nefertiti exemplifies the question of where the future of such icons of world culture lies, in the field of tension between national property and truly shared heritage.

Germany 2022, 104 min
by Christoph Goldmann, Leif Karpe

Wide views. Vast forests. The whole area is like a moving sea of ​​stones. Picturesque villages that look like nativity scenes that have not been dismantled. Idyllic river valleys and extensive mountain meadows. One prospect chases the other. A colorful mosaic of wild originality and newly created cultural landscapes. Human changed the face of the once difficult to penetrate border forest between Saxony and Bohemia. Deep and decisive. But people have learned from their mistakes. And opened up. Today unique habitats are emerging again for endangered flora and fauna. No matter whether above or below ground. Where? In the Ore Mountains.

Germany 2022, 88 min
by Pamela Meyer-Arndt

REBEL BEINGS unveils the fight for survival of three female artists behind the iron curtain of the GDR. As young women in Cold War era East Germany, Cornelia Schleime, Gabriele Stötzer and Tina Bara were repressed and persecuted by the socialist system and the Stasi for their art and political protest. At the lowest point, they only had cameras and their bodies left in order to express themselves. This film intimately explores their fearless struggle for existence, creative freedom and exceptional artistic works. Almost four decades later the GDR ceases to exist, but its traumatic impact on the artists lives remains.

2022, 52 min
by Christoph Goldmann, Leif Karpe

The Venetian painter Canaletto is the undisputed master of veduta painting. His views of European cities became famous as early as the 18th century. On the occasion of his 300th birthday, the film embarks on a journey in the footsteps of the artist. It leads to Venice, Dresden and Warsaw as well as to the artist's illusionist trick box.

2022, 52 min
by Sabine Jainski

2022, 52 min
by Marita Neher 

In the 1960s Tippi Hedren suddenly became famous with Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS and MARNIE. The actress bears the brutal attacks of the living seagulls and crows, but she fights back at the director's sexual assaults. In 'TIPPI HEDREN und die wilden Tiere' she looks back with gratitude and disgust on her time with Alfred Hitchcock.

Germany 2021, 260 min
by Marita Neher 

The most dangerous railway lines in the world are breathtakingly beautiful, fascinating and lead through extreme landscapes.They touch the sky and for some they go straight to hell afterwards, leading over extreme heights, across oceans or savannahs and braving hurricanes. A challenge for intrepid engineers and railway builders who have been conquering nature with state-of-the-art technology for almost 300 years. Railway lines are not only legendary carriers of myths, people and machines. They are also the proof of high engineering skills and witnesses to the indomitable will of humankind to open up new routes into the unknown in order to conquer nature and its treasures. Railway lines on all continents tell the story of industrial culture, of progress and the art of travel.

Germany 2021, 45 min
by Grit Lederer

On January 18, 1871, 150 years ago, Wilhelm I. was proclaimed as German emperor in the magnificent Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, once the seat of government of the 'Sun King' Louis XIV, was a national symbol – and the proclamation thus a show of power against France, a triumphant act in the hall of the 357 mirrors. The documentation also tells Versailles as a place of German history.

Germany 2021, 52 min
by Grit Lederer

Death and the devil, faith and fear, seduction and eroticism in bright colors -gothic art casts a spell over 600 years ago. In the time of the Middle Ages, which was poor in images, this art played deliberately and skillfully with the emotions of the viewer: it triggered fear, devotion, but also rapture. To this day we can hardly avoid the power of the gothic art. Exploring them is an adventure, a discovery full of surprises. The documentation focusses on spectacular panels and paintings from the mid-15th century: purgatory, hell and paradise.