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Best of MDR 2015
Alle 28 Tage Ina Borrmann

In Central Europe ten percent of all couples need longer than two years to make their wish of having a child come true. As with so many other things, I put my wish for a child off until the last possible biological moment.

Alle 28 Tage

Documentary Film
Germany
2015
87 minutes
Subtitles: 
No

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Cordula Kablitz-Post
Director
Ina Borrmann
Music
Jeremy Bullock
Cinematographer
Ina Borrmann, Sebastian Hattop
Editor
Dorothee Broeckelmann
Script
Ina Borrmann
Sound
Ina Borrmann
In Central Europe ten percent of all couples need longer than two years to make their wish of having a child come true. As with so many other things, I put my wish for a child off until the last possible biological moment. The idea of having a baby frightened me. I was preoccupied with myself and didn't want a commitment. On the one hand there was the desire for a relationship and a home but on the other there was the longing for total freedom and independence. It also seemed important to me to resist society's pressure to give birth. I considered my not having a child a statement as it were. But then it happened, suddenly and unexpectedly. Wanting to have a child emerged from the darkest depths of my psyche. After all, two's company but not a Family ..
Best of MDR 2012
Geboren in der Sowjetunion. Neun Leben 1983-2011 Sergey Miroshnichenko

New episodes of the world-famous long-term observation that started to record the lives of nine children from the former Soviet Union 28 years ago – growing up in troubled times.

Geboren in der Sowjetunion. Neun Leben 1983-2011

Documentary Film
Germany,
Russia,
UK
2011
104 minutes

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Sergey Miroshnichenko (Studio "Ostrov"), Jemma Jupp (ITV Ltd.), Simone Baumann (Saxonia), Katja Wildermuth (MDR)
Director
Sergey Miroshnichenko
Music
Ilya Demutsky
Cinematographer
Vyacheslav Sachkov, Juriy Ermolin
Script
Sergey Miroshnichenko
The Russian long-term observation “Born in the USSR” is known worldwide for having followed the chequered lives of nine children born in the Soviet era for 28 years. Emmy award winner Sergey Miroshnichenko creates fascinating insights into the worlds of his protagonists who have now grown up in quite a different value system. Take nine ordinary seven-year-olds and change their whole environment. Put their parents’ values upside down and exchange them for the norms and values of the society they will grow up in. Add puberty and hormones at the age of 14, followed by military service, financial difficulties and the onset of adult responsibilities at 21. Then wait seven years. “Born in the USSR” portrays very different people from Russia, Central Asia, the Baltic States and the Caucasus. It’s more than a film about life in the post-Soviet era, more even than a collection of biographies. It is always a very universal film about growing up, about dreams and hopes, realities and disappointments and the big question of what life holds in store for each of us.

Production note
Best of MDR 2012
Ich, Putin – Ein Porträt Hubert Seipel

Former KGB agent, head of the secret service, minister president, president – a surprisingly personal portrait of the most powerful man in Russia before the elections.

Ich, Putin – Ein Porträt

(none)
Germany
2012
74 minutes

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Ulrich Lenze (Cinecentrum) Koproduktion: Christoph Mestmacher (NDR) (fed), Katja Wildermuth (MDR), Rolf Bergmann (RBB), Kuno Haberbuisch (Servus TV)
Director
Hubert Seipel
Cinematographer
Axel Brandt
Script
Hubert Seipel
He is the most important man in Russia, a two-time President and two-time Minister President of the biggest country on earth who became President of the Russian Federation again in May 2012.
Who is the man who has shaped Russia more than anyone else since the fall of the Soviet Union? How does the ex-KGB agent – who was stationed in the former GDR in the 1980s and, back in Moscow, rose to become head of the secret service, Minister President and finally President within a period of four years – respond to the new challenge? Putin, the man “who has a way with people”, as his old friend Sergey Rodulgin describes him; Putin, who waged a decades-long all-out bloody war against separatist Chechnya; and Putin, whose authoritarian style, after the chaotic years under Yeltsin, transformed the natural resources giant Russia into a relatively stable country whose wealth is growing.
Multiple award-winning television filmmaker Hubert Seipel follows Putin through Russia for weeks in a surprisingly personal observation of one of the most powerful politicians in the world on his most difficult election campaign yet. In addition to Vladimir Putin, Hubert Seipel interviews numerous fellow travellers and opposition members.

Production note
Best of MDR 2013
Im Dreieck Uwe Mann

Heiner Hinrichs, former architect and site manager of the city of Halle-Neustadt, vigorous, contradictory, and caught in a triangle between two women.

Im Dreieck

Documentary Film
Germany
2013
92 minutes
Subtitles: 
English

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Mario Schneider, 42film
Director
Uwe Mann
Music
Cornelius Renz
Cinematographer
Eva-Luise Volkmann, Uwe Mann
Editor
Gudrun Steinbrück
Script
Uwe Mann
Sound
Karina Schenk
Commissioning Editor
Beate Schönfeld (MDR)
This documentary by Uwe Mann tells a classic romantic drama: two women love the same man and share him. They are all in the late autumn of their lives, and yet this is not a film about pensioners.
The film revolves around Heiner Hinrichs (74). Who is this man who is worth suffering for? His life is like a mountain massif, piled up by him and the upheavals of his time. He wanted to shape the GDR as an architect and site manager, but in the end it was the other way round. He believed that the modern, the socialist personality could exist. He was not a profiteer, rejected privilege. A life of ups and downs – exciting and tragic at the same time.
Best of MDR 2013
Mein Sommer ’88 – Wie die Stars die DDR rockten Carsten Fiebeler, Daniel Remsperger

In 1988 top acts like Depeche Mode, Bryan Adams, James Brown, Joe Cocker, and Bruce Springsteen lined up to play in East Berlin. Contemporary witnesses remember.

Mein Sommer ’88 – Wie die Stars die DDR rockten

Documentary Film
Germany
2013
88 minutes
Subtitles: 
No

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Jost-Arend Bösenberg, DOKfilm Fernsehproduktion
Director
Carsten Fiebeler, Daniel Remsperger
Music
Bruce Springsteen, Joe Cocker, Depeche Mode, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, James Brown, Bryan Adams, Mike Patton, Pink Floyd, Rainbirds, City, Dirk Zöllner
Cinematographer
Erik Krambeck, Florian Foest
Editor
Jasmin Hoffhaus, Markus C.M. Schmidt
Script
Carsten Fiebeler, Daniel Remsperger
Commissioning Editor
Anja Hagemeier (MDR), Jens Stubenrauch (RBB)
In 1988, top acts like Depeche Mode, Bryan Adams, James Brown, Joe Cocker, and Bruce Springsteen were lining up to play in East Berlin. Anyone who went to these historic concerts gets goose bumps even today remembering how the long-awaited stars stepped out of their posters and, for one evening, seemed close enough to touch.
Three very special music fans serve as guides through this passionate, funny and rocking film by Daniel Remsperger and Carsten Fiebeler: “Locke” (Moritz Jahn) and his friends Stefan (Philip Wiegratz) and Maren (Helene Doppler). They actually managed to visit all superstar concerts in the GDR in 1988. 20 other contemporary witnesses are also heard.
Best of MDR 2015
Meine Reise in die DDR – 25 Jahre später Wolfgang Ettlich

November 89. The Berlin Wall, west-german filmmaker Wolfgang Ettlich grew up with, is history. And it is absolutely clear to him: he has to capture this historical moment with his camera.

Meine Reise in die DDR – 25 Jahre später

Documentary Film
Germany
2015
83 minutes
Subtitles: 
No

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Wolfgang Ettlich
Director
Wolfgang Ettlich
Cinematographer
Hans-Albrecht Luznat
Editor
Monika Abspacher
Script
Harald Eggebrecht
Sound
Zoltan Ravasz
November 89. The Berlin Wall, west-german filmmaker Wolfgang Ettlich grew up with, is history. And it is absolutely clear to him: he has to capture this historical moment with his camera. Only two month later Ettlich and his cinematographer started their journey to an unknown land –the GDR. On the road for five weeks, driven by curiosity and only guided by luck, they met people who were talking about their lifes and hopes. People happy about the new won freedom, but not without anxiety about the future. 25 years later both men do their journey again. As spontaneously as they did in 1990 they visit the same places for the second time. What will have changed? Are the people they got to know then still living there? Did their hopes came true? The film material of everyday life in 1990 shows in combination with the actual pictures and interviews how radical the chances for the country and the People ha been.„My Journey to GDR – 25 years later“ is a very individual view – almost like a holiday trip. But it shows quite plainly the condition of the former east Germany in year 25th of German Unity.
Best of MDR 2014
Pfarrer Chris Wright, Stefan Kolbe

A preachers’ seminar in the city of Luther, Wittenberg: observations and interviews with budding pastors and a matter-of-fact look at religious feelings and life plans.

Pfarrer

Documentary Film
Germany
2014
90 minutes
Subtitles: 
English

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Heino Deckert
Director
Chris Wright, Stefan Kolbe
Music
Tobias Hume, Andrea Falconiero, Johann Sebastian Bach, This Will Destroy You, Pinoreks
Cinematographer
Stefan Kolbe
Editor
Chris Wright
Script
Chris Wright, Stefan Kolbe
Sound
Chris Wright
Commissioning Editor
Susanne Sturm, Martin Hübner
A large group of young people in liturgical robes look at the audience, wave their arms and chant “Aaah, hoooo!” Their entranced faces as they sing and pray could be irritating, just like their fairly unusual career aspirations: these people want to become pastors. In remarkable contrast to such irritations and certainly suitable to qualify some prejudices, the aspiring ministers seem anything but entranced. The seminar they attend seems almost like a therapy group. They want to take up this profession because they believe in God, but surely also because their biographies are the way they are. They talk more openly about their lives than many would have expected – especially considering that the filmmakers call themselves atheists and don’t hesitate to ask critical questions. This creates a striking look at religiousness, concepts of humanity and life plans – and somehow even a consensus between the different perspectives in front of and behind the lens.

Wer ist Thomas Müller?

Documentary Film
Germany
2013
90 minutes
Subtitles: 
No

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Jonas Katzenstein
Director
Christian Heynen
Music
Georg Rohbeck
Cinematographer
Andreas Köhler
Editor
Anika Simon
Animation
Sebastian Kaltmeyer
Script
Christian Heynen
Sound
Martin Wendt
WHO IS THOMAS MÜLLER? is a humorous quest: A search for the average German. “Thomas Müller“ is the personification of the “super-average“ - a construction created by German statisticians in order to deliver a role model for advertising, politics and economy. But who is the real face behind the most common name in Germany? Who is the most average “Thomas Müller“ of Germany? Is our whole country designed for a statistical average which ultimately corresponds to no one? The documentary follows a road-movie structure. Using different narrative forms - such as cartoon animation, graphics, etc. - the documentary starts where all statistics end: With real individuals who are named Thomas Müller but are not at all consistent with your average German. These encounters make the film fast, funny, serious, thoughtful and give it an edge. It’s a trans media project combining the worlds of cinema, television and the internet. While the movie is a search for this phantom, we bring it to life in the world wide web: By virtually creating a “Thomas Müller”, the German average person comes alive and is able to interact with his “fans” and “followers“.
Best of MDR 2012
Yellow Cake – Die Lüge von der sauberen Energie Joachim Tschirner

From the Wismut company across half the world: uranium mining, its toxic legacy and a remediation project whose end is nowhere in sight.

Yellow Cake – Die Lüge von der sauberen Energie

Documentary Film
Germany
2010
108 minutes

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Joachim Tschirner (Um Welt Film Produktionsgesellschaft) Klaus Salge, November Film, ARTE, RBB, MDR
Director
Joachim Tschirner
Music
Fred Krüger, WENZEL, Nora Guthrie
Cinematographer
Robert Laatz, Jana Marsik, Lars Barthel, Friedo Feindt, Christian Maletzke, Andrè Götzmann
Editor
Joachim Tschirner, Burghard Drachsel
Sound
Mario Köhler, Marc Witte, Marc von Stürler
Speaker
Hans-Eckardt Wenzel
In “Yellow Cake” Joachim Tschirner accompanies the most gigantic clean-up operation in the history of uranium mining and takes the audience on a journey from Central Germany around half the world.
Uranium mining, the first chain link of the nuclear energy production, has always been out of the public eye. A web of propaganda, disinformation and outright lies covers its 65-year history. In the East German provinces of Saxony and Thuringia the former third largest uranium producer worldwide was located. Operating until German Unification, it had the code name WISMUT and supplied the Soviet Union with a total of 220,000 tons of uranium until 1990. For each ton, ten thousand times its weight in rocks had to be extracted, processed and deposited somewhere. As a result, unimaginable quantities of highly toxic and radioactive waste were produced. During the last twenty years, thousands of former miners have been making gigantic efforts to deal with this past. Recovering the radioactive waste will cost the tax payers almost seven billion Euros in the end, but the end is nowhere in sight.
While the question whether the radioactive waste produced by uranium mining can be made secure for thousands of years is still open, uranium prices on the global market are constantly rising – twenty-fold during the making of this film alone.

Production note
Best of MDR 2013
Zonenmädchen Sabine Michel

The end of their school years coincided with the end of the GDR – five girls from Dresden on a journey to Paris and into the past.

Zonenmädchen

Documentary Film
Germany
2013
75 minutes
Subtitles: 
No

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Maria Wischnewski, Holly Tischmann, IT WORKS!
Director
Sabine Michel
Music
Sebastian Herzfeld
Cinematographer
Susanne Schüle, Martin Langner
Editor
Gudrun Steinbrück-Plenert, Catrin Vogt
Script
Sabine Michel
Sound
Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer, Oliver Prasnikar, Alexander Heinze, Patrick Veigel
Commissioning Editor
Dagmar Mielke (RBB / Arte), Rolf Bergmann (RBB), Martin Hübner (MDR)
Filmmaker Sabine Michel spent her childhood in Dresden’s “valley of the clueless” – a satirical name referring to the fact that the signals of West German TV never reached the city. She and her four friends finished school the year the GDR vanished from the maps. Educated to be socialists, free as birds and on the threshold of adulthood, they found themselves facing a new beginning in the former enemy country and were forced to reorient themselves …
This funny and very personal documentary follows the former friends on a trip to Paris. What has become of them? What did this external break mean to their biographies? How much “East Germany” is still in them?