Films by Hans Helmut Grotjahn

2023, 86 min
by Antje Starost, Hans Helmut Grotjahn

13 years after the premiere of 7 OR WHY I EXIST we meet them again: the 7 children from all over the world. How did they find their way into becoming adults?The film shows their philosophical context to the life and future of a generation between 20 and 30. As children, they impressed and inspired us with their curiosity about "difficult" questions. As young adults, they allow us to share in their feelings and thoughts. They give us the opportunity to watch them reflecting and “in the process o

2016, 87 min
by Antje Starost, Hans Helmut Grotjahn

“I saw him and my heart stood still.” 18-year-old Freya Deichmann meets Helmuth James von Moltke. He is the love of her life. It is a love which has to prove itself under the Third Reich. The story builds to a dramatic climax, wavering between hope and a final separation, when Helmuth is imprisoned. Every day could be their last. Their greatest happiness are their daily letters which are smuggled by the prison chaplain. It is a love in a time of resistance which does not even end with the execut

Germany 2010, 84 min
by Antje Starost, Hans Helmut Grotjahn

7 or Why I exist. What a question! And who could possibly provide the answer? This film chooses an unusual path and invites 7 children from all over the world to take us by the hand and lead us into their world. They show us what is important to them, what they love and what they hold dear, what makes them laugh and what makes them cry. What does it mean to be a child today? How does it feel to focus your gaze on the world and on the future. What do children see before they forget how to ask