Advanced search

In only 15 minutes with some 30 people Jane Elliott manages to build up a realistic microcosmos of society today with all its phenomena and feelings. As already known from the ill reputed Milgram experiment, even participants who knew the "rules" are unable to remain uninvolved. What starts as a game turns into cruel reality which causes some participants' emotions to erupt with unforeseen intensity...

A strange green cloud has turned almost the entire human race into stone. The only survivors are eight children, their intrepid teacher Birnenstiel and his friend, a jolly millionaire, who by chance all happen to be in an airship above the green cloud at the time. Against this background Birnenstiel tells a bizarre adventure story in which he and the children are heroes. With loving and pointed irony he confronts his protagonists with deep-frozen beauty queens, gene-manipulated tomatoes, extraterrestrial maniacs, aggressive goldfish and last but not least the rampant mechanics of an abandoned civilisation which claims its victims one by one. When the narrator goes too far, the children take the story into their own hands...

There were many who smiled about PRINCE CHARLES becoming a 'green' Prince. Quite a few of them thought that his ideas were just crazy. Together with DAVID WILSON, the farm manager, the Prince developed several strategies to increase the vitality of the soil and to promote biodiversity. The film features the inspiring Prince Charles and the dedicated farmer Wilson, who both share a common vision and mission: organic farming.

This is a documentary thriller about how Agro-Chemical multinational corporations victimize international scientists to prevent them from publishing their scary findings.

Everyday life at the Dante secondary modern school is turned upside down when the pupils take over and decide what, how and indeed whether they want to learn. The experiment was originally planned for a single week, but it has rapidly grown from strength to strength. Headmaster Zander's ulterior motive had been to let the pupils find out for themselves that they would be at a loss to cope with so much freedom. The pupils however use their new scope to channel their energies into their own interests and develop a whole range of new ideas. The existing order at the school is completely reversed: the pupils demand that the teachers pay more attention to their own wishes, and even go so far as to mark the quality of the teaching. School becomes exciting again; whether it is hatching hens' eggs in biology or questioning grannies and granddads about the rise of National Socialism, the pupils enjoy it. But the potential success of the experiments is jeopardised by several factors: vindictive pupils depose Zander the Head and terrorise even the most well-meaning teachers. And among the teachers' ranks are a few who distrusted the whole exercise right from the start and now demand that Zander take a firm stand and put a stop to the disruption. But the headmaster has a hard task abolishing his own scheme.

A documentary to inspire a different way of thinking and living. Can organic agriculture really feed the world? Or must we continue to poison ourselves and destroy the soil with genetic engineering and artificial chemicals?

In a hermetically sealed-off safari park in Austria our civilization's moral challenges collide under a magnifying glass: guilt, responsibility, redemption. Fourty chimpanzees survived HIV experiments "serving mankind". Traumatized, highly aggressive and mentally isolated. Today four caretakers manage a unique rehabilitation project, where the victims learn how to become monkeys.

The protagonists talk about their deepest feelings and symptoms such as dizziness and panic, their compulsion for washing or psychotic feelings of persecution in a refreshingly honest and trusting manner, or about everyday fears like the attempt to form their own opinions and the courage to think "egotistically" about themselves.

GMOs are Genetically Modified Organisms which have made their debut in plants like corn and soybean, but are now in animals for consumption. The controversy of corporations owning "life-forms" and pushing GMOs in 3rd world countries comes to a head in India and Canada in this film. The battle between the corporations and the farmers/naturalists is in full swing with the corporations saying they are improving upon Nature with size and resistance to disease of the new organism. Farmers and naturalist activists say this is not as simple as an Oil spill where eventually the harm from the spill will be overcome by time's healing powers. GMOs on the other hand may destroy the very ecosystem forever, because these new lifeforms replicate as does all life.

In Canada's wheat belt, farmer Percy Schmeiser was sued by the agrochem and seed producing multinational Monsanto for damages worth a quarter million dollars on the grounds of a patent violation, because wind and birds had carried Monsanto's genetically modified canola onto his fields. Schmeiser responded with a countersuit, citing libel and contamination of his property. After making his case public, Schmeiser was recruited by farming, environmental and civil rights organisations to travel around the world as a leader of opposition to Monsanto. His worldwide message: Stand up in defense of your own seed supply! In Europe, farmer Klaus Buschmeier rounds up fellow farmers to revolt going against the German Farmers' Association. They are angry because the Association had made an agreement with plant breeders to charge seed-saving fees--an act perceived as betrayal. In order to enforce gene technology, agrochem multinationals have swallowed up most of the leading plant breeders. Gene technology does not stop hunger in the world, but it does promote the sales of chemicals. Gene technology makes crops resistant to pesticides, and seeds are manipulated to germinate only once. The farmer may bring up the seed, treat crops with chemicals and sell them, but no more. Every farmer's attempt to save his own seed or do his own breeding is either forbidden or comes with fees. This film exposes the efforts of the multinationals to force farmers into dependence on their "terminator technology." The farmers' efforts to save the seeds they have sown is pointless, since none of the seeds will reproduce. In the eyes of Schmeiser, Buschmeier and others, this monopoly has reduced the farmers to serfdom.

A film essay like the first words of a child: "Mama, Papa, Auto". The automobile is documented through the utilization of clip-montage as being a case of arrested development both ecologically and technically.

Film documents from the past five decades prove that the use of nuclear energy - whether for peaceful or for military purposes - was made socially acceptable only by repeatedly duping the population. "The Eighth Commandment" (thou shalt not bear false witness on thy neighbour) shows disturbing pictures of nuclear reprocessing plants, giving a sobering insight into the history of atomic power: from Otto Hahn to VEBA chief Benningsen-Voerder. From the first tests in the Nevada desert to the catastrophes of Three Mile Island in the United States to Chernobyl in the former USSR. From political speeches to the civil-war-like scenes at the nuclear power plants of Whyl, Wilster, Brokdorf and Wackersdorf.

You can find it in buffets, with pasta, on bread, steamed in dill sauce or cooked on the grill. Salmon has become big business. It's 2004, and Canadian company AQUA BOUNTY is about to obtain market approval for its sterile, genetically manipulated giant salmon. The fish grows to six times the size of its wild relatives - and in only half the time. What's more, it's almost inevitable that individual fish will escape from Aqua Bounty's farm - with devastating consequences for the world's wild salmon populations. Neither AquaBounty Technologies nor the American Health Authority, the FDA, has commissioned independent scientists to research the impact of this development on the environment, on animal populations - or on people's health. Regardless of any fears harbored by consumers, these genetically modified fish will soon land in our frying pans and on our plates. Without their knowledge, 200 million Americans are already being used as guinea pigs. Is there a connection between the increase in chronic diseases and weakened immune systems, and consumption of this "gene food"? Some scientists think so. And could eating sterile fish lead to sterility in the consumer? These questions have remained unanswered - until now.

The NUCLEAR SPLIT of the title has become a feature of life in the Upper Palatinate, a region in West Germany bordering on Czechoslovakia. Since the location of the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant was finally determined on 4 February 1985, many people have changed their accustomed patterns of life. In its continuing line of development and its thematic diversity this film provides a profound insight into the process of landscape and ecologic destruction; and it describes the intentions behind the construction of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in terms of atomic policies. Once loyal citizens have been turned into hesitant radicals. Women civil servants, housewifes and mothers all reveal their awareness of a political and social responsibility that extends far beyond any initial expression of indignation.

"Bleiben Sie Dran!" is the second film in a little series of documentaries of "things" who changed the world. Its around wathching TV and its impact on peoples live. The other two films are around car driving ( "Mama Papa Auto - Ein Nachruf auf das Automobil" ) and computing ( "Beziehungskiste - Der Computer und sein Mensch" ).

The Bavarian Ministry for the Environment announces a hearing to discuss the final seal of approval for the Building of a nuclear power plant. 881000 people who have protested in writing against the building of this plant are "to be heard". The film documents the way in which, during this show of democracy, the last thread of genuine democracy is systematically debilitated and with it, the last remaining risk which could thwart the plans of the pro-atomic lobby.

"The Love Affair - The Computer and ist User!" is the third film in a little series of documentaries of "things" which changed the world. It is not a film about computers. It is an event. A multimedia event, which for the first time on television affords the computer the opportunity to reflect upon and study its "user". Indeed, in our film the computer studies its operator. Who is dependent on whom? The approach to this question is direct and innovative. A new graphic user interface was developed especially for the film, enabling us to cascade down the pull-down menus, leap through electronic files and prevent (almost) any crash. The innermost insights of an intimate relationship. Voyeuristic images of the computer and its user.

Documentary about how resistance to the Wackersdorf nuclear reprocessing plant in the Upper Palatinate has changed people.

RUNAWAY tells the story of the fall of Lisa. Her parents only really want the best for her but the best is exactly what Lisa wants to keep for herself. She wants out, to get away. To thunder through the desert with a motor-cycle and her friend Maxie is her dream. Her parents are increa- singly suspicious of the unpredictable, often aggressive behaviour displayed by Lisa. Is their daughter on drugs? A deadly spiral of mistrust begins. Lisa really is suffering from withdrawal symptoms: Withdrawal from her dream. Maxie has let her down. Lisa's whole world has collapsed. She has changed. For her parents she appears to be quieter and more sensible. False harmony spreads throughout the family: A fatal misunderstanding, because Lisa's fall has only just begun...