Films by Axel Schneppat

2023, 118 min
by Regina Schilling

At 34, Igor Levit is an exceptional artist in the world of classical music. A young rebel, who - at the piano - transforms into a mature musician. At age nine he arrived in Germany, a Jewish immigrant of Russian descent. Having an opinion and publicly expressing it, is not a choice, it is a survival strategy. The film follows the artist over two years as Levit explores his “life after Beethoven“, as he searches for his next challenge, his identity as an artist. We observe him recording new piece

2023, 114 min
by Anna Schmidt

LIVING BACH is a unique quest for Johann Sebastian Bach’s universal secret, travelling across six continents to meet amateur musicians and singers whose lives are inseparably interwoven with the composer’s music which transcends borders, cultures, religions and centuries. The film protagonists will all travel to Leipzig in June 2022 for the International Bach Festival. Their meeting becomes an emotional event when they sing together under the renowned conductor Ton Koopman in the 'We are Family

Germany 2023, 100 min
by Uli Gaulke

They are five impressive women who together have spent more than 500 years on this earth. They come from Cuba, Israel, Austria, India and Turkey and have inspired the people around them through their strength and actions. With a strong will and a firm belief in themselves, they have transcended stereotypical roles and realized their dreams. They are an incentive for all women to consistently follow their path and stand up for equal rights. CENTURY OF WOMEN – WOMEN TELL THEIR STORY is 100 years o

Germany 2022, 87 min
by Volker Schlöndorff

THE FOREST MAKER is the portrait of a remarkable man whose life's work was honored with the so- called alternative Nobel, the Right Livelihood Award in 2018. Tony Rinaudo has found a way to grow trees in the most barren areas by activating the tree stumps and roots still alive as an “underground forest” for decades and thereby secures the livelihood of thousands of farmers in Africa. His method “Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration” (FMNR) restores not only soil but dignity and hope. The Chief of

Germany 2020, 95 min
by Natalija Yefimkina

In Russia there is a phenomenon beyond ice fishing, matryoshkas and vodka: the garage settlement. Seemingly inhospitable sheds which offer refuge to a large number of Russians – mainly men. Within these few square metres, they create alternative living spaces, with ingenuity and tenacity, according to their own taste and beyond any rules. The garages are an expression of a retreat into privacy, an escape from everyday life. Behind the Arctic Circle, in an area dominated by the local mining compa

Germany 2018, 96 min
by Uli Gaulke

At the end of Mulholland Drive lies the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Its residents were once the backbone of the Dream Factory: actresses, producers, writers. The spry seniors still burn for movies and entertainment. And so, they share their best personal and professional anecdotes with us.A touching and lighthearted documentary about the glamourous residents of a very special retirement home, including actress Connie Sawyer (“Dumb and Dumber”, “When Harry Met Sally…”) three-time Emmy® Awar

Germany, Brasil 2018, 88 min
by Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck

When you post something on the web, can you be sure it stays there? Enter a hidden shadow industry of digital cleaning where the Internet rids itself of what it doesn’t like.. violence, pornography and.. political content. Who is controlling what we see and what we think?

2016, 89 min
by Corinna Belz

A film about words and about a luminary of modern literature: about Peter Handke, with Peter HandkeIn her new documentary, filmmaker Corinna Belz explores the enigma that is Peter Handke. His book titles read like the tunes on a jukebox, like the watchwords of several successive generations of readers: ‘Offending the Audience’, ‘The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty’, ‘A Sorrow Beyond Dreams’, ‘Short Letter, Long Farewell’, and ‘The Weight of the World’. In the ‘60s, Peter Handke showed how to wa

Germany 2016, 90 min
by Lutz Gregor

MALI BLUES tells the story of four female and male musicians from the West African country of Mali, who espouse with their music a tolerant Islam and a country at peace.The West African country of Mali is considered the birthplace of the blues and jazz, brought later by abducted slaves to America’s cotton fields. For centuries music has strengthened Mali’s cultural identity, musicians are holding strong positions in society. Following Fatoumata Diawara, shooting star of the global pop scene, MAL

Germany 2016, 90 min
by Jeremy JP Fekete, Marco Wilms, Tuan Lam

In the ARTE-series “Gasoline Deluxe”, consisting of 10 episodes, the entertainer and gas station lover Friedrich Lichtenstein searches for the most beautiful and most extraordinary gas stations in Europe. His aim: he wants to convince the world that gas stations are the most romantic places in our present age.10x26mins or 90mins, French, German or English version available8x5mins web-series

Germany 2013, 85 min
by Markus CM Schmidt

European bluefin tuna can grow to the size of a passenger them migrate from the Atlantic to spawning grounds in the Mediterranean. Fact is that tuna stocks face collapse. Yet they are still being fished during spawning season. The fishermen, too, are facing extinction: They can only service the loan debt on their boats by continuing to fish. While some have used questionable means to secure fishing licenses for still plentiful Libyan waters, the rest are left to trawl the already overfished area

Germany 2013, 58 min
by Arpad Bondy

Billions of euros were poured into European financial institutions to prevent them from failing. But where is this money really going? Who do the ailing banks owe? 50 billion euro to Greece, 70 billion to Ireland, 40 billion to Spain – one Euro state after another has found itself forced to prop up its banks by pumping in huge sums of money to cover the losses that the financial institutions themselves incurred from bad loans. But where are these billions of euro actually going? Who is benefitin

Germany 2010, 52 min
by Torsten Striegnitz, Simone Dobmeier, Hedwig Schmutte

The death at Wannsee Lake – a spectacular case that has, to date, continued to disturb and fascinate the ensuing ages. The German poet Kleist was found shot – what is that supposed to mean? What exactly happened at Wannsee Lake that afternoon on November 21st, 1811? Who shot Kleist? What is known about the woman that died with him? Could it be that the bullets were meant for her? Or that he shot her? Or she, him? If yes, why? And why were the couple so cheerful and playful mere momen

Germany 2009
by Birgit Schulz

In the early 1970s, three left-wing lawyers fought against what they saw as the restrictive state apparatus of the Federal Republic of Germany. They defended individuals before the law who had been labeled enemies of the state. Today, one is Germany's former Minister of the Interior, another represents the leftist conscience of the Green Party, and the third is a right-wing extremist in jail for denying the Holocaust. The three lawyers are Otto Schily, Hans-Christian Ströbele und Horst Mahler. T

USA 2008
by Rick Minnich

One week after a seemingly harmless car accident, a 45-year-old man wakes up with total amnesia.The doctors and family are baffled, as there is no evidence of brain damage or other physical causes.Sixteen years later, filmmaker Rick Minnich returns to his native California with a camera in search of answers to why his father's memory still hasn't returned. He talks with his family members, and reconstructs in detective-story fashion the period of time before and the years following the accident.

Germany 2008
by Uli Gaulke

In their PINK TAXIS, Marina, Alla and Viktoria get their female passengers through the Moscow nights safely, always with a cheerfully indiscreet chat about career, cosmetics and men. These taxis are a microcosm of Russian society where varieties of life styles collide and are debated upon, laughed about or sometimes even cried for. Between commerce, financial straits and disappointment the three friends nurture their hopes for a piece of happiness. World Sales TV and VOD only: Illumina Films Ro

Germany 2008
by Rick Minnich

One week after a seemingly harmless car accident, a 45-year-old man suffers total amnesia. Christening himself the “New Richard,” he embarks upon a new life with a new wife far away from his family. Sixteen years later, his oldest son returns with a camera to investigate why his father’s memory never returned.

Germany 2005
by Rick Minnich

Hillbillies haven’t died off; they’ve simply become neo-hillbillies. Three families of musicians in the Ozark Mountains of Southwestern Missouri give new meaning to the word “hillbilly.” Float down the backwaters, soak up some old time religion, savor a washboard duel, and bask in the neon lights of the pseudo-hillbilly showtown Branson. Lean back and merge into hillbilliness.

Germany 1997
by Rick Minnich