Ah, Amerika! (1984)

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

Ao Oni The Animation

Based on the horror game Ao Oni by noprops. Five members of the cultural anthropology club at an old western-style school are trying to come up with ideas for their presentation at the school's culture festival, when they find a collection of folk tales gathered by a student in their club 40 years ago. They realize that the mysterious Bellflower Oni that appears in the folk tales may be the basis for the popular free game Ao Oni, and decide to make that their theme. They manage to make contact with the author of the Ao Oni game, but he dies mysteriously soon afterward. The club members become suspicious at the author's death and began to investigate on their own, but encounter a secret they never should have touched: a secret underground prison in the school. For some reason all the fire doors at the school are locked, and they are trapped in the school. The sound of the strange footsteps they hear soon turn to their screams...A new tragedy of the Ao Oni is about to begin.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Night and Fog

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

Aladdin

In the boorish city of Agrabah, kind-hearted street urchin Aladdin and Princess Jasmine fall in love, although she can only marry a prince. He and power-hungry Grand Vizier Jafar vie for a magic lamp that can fulfill their wishes.

Antigravitation

An isolated village in the Lithuanian countryside. Seated in her house, an elderly woman recites an old folk story. Then she climbs up the tall ladder that takes her to the rooftop of the church.

Larisa

Elem Klimov's documentary ode to his wife, director Larisa Shepitko, who was killed in an auto wreck.

GAMBO

A battle between a creature who’s been killing members of a royal Japanese family, and a mysterious white bear who protects them.

A Farewell to Weapons

In a post-apocalyptic future, a group of soldiers is sent to a ghost city to destroy an automated sentry.

Silent

A duo of street performers learns how sound and picture work together to create amazing cinema experiences.

Dead Hand: Last Day of War

Dead Hand episode 2. Last day of war. Last war broke out. All people are dead, but the machines continue dutifully follow orders. On the automatic base machines fueling and charge the weapons of last surviving bomber preparing to drop bombs at the dead enemy city. This happens until the echo of mankind subsides completely. Then comes a new era in which there is no place for us.

Crow: The Legend

The carefree forest animals imagine spring will last forever. However, winter comes and the animals soon realize that their lives are in danger. What they need is a hero; what they need is Crow: The Legend.

Land Without Bread

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

Exode

Plot unavailable

The Wolfman

In the middle of woods inhabited by wolves, an astrologist imagines what it would be like to be a werewolf, running and howling through the woods in a schizophrenic blur instead of sitting in his home watching videos. Then the moon calls to calls to him.

Un

Plot unavailable

Entombed

Mickey leads Minnie on a treasure hunt in the Valley of the Tombs, but when the two are separated the adventure might prove too stressful for Mickey.

KIX

Handheld skate video meets hardcore social realism in a sensational film with the energy of a three-chord punk song and an unruly group of street kids in front of the camera, shot over 10 wild years of their young lives.

Tower Bawher

This animated short by Theodore Ushev is like a whirlwind tour of Russian constructivist art and is filled with visual references to artists of the era, including Vertov, Stenberg, Rodchenko, Lissitsky and Popova.

Nas: Time Is Illmatic

Time Is Illmatic is a feature length documentary film that delves deep into the making of Nas' 1994 debut album, Illmatic, and the social conditions that influenced its creation.

Ribbit

A frog who hates water and jumping in wishes that he could be like the other animals in the Amazon rainforest.

Unrest

When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s "all in her head." Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families' stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot.

DC Showcase: Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth!

Kamandi and his friends Prince Tuftan of the Tiger Kingdom and humanoid mutant Ben Boxer are kidnapped by a gorilla cult dedicated to finding the reincarnation of their god, The Mighty One. Golgan, the cult’s leader, puts Kamandi’s team through a series of deadly tests to find if any of them know the secret of … The Mighty One.

DC Showcase: The Losers

The legendary rag-tag team of World War II outcasts – Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, “Mile-a Minute” Jones, rookie Gunner and Sarge – find themselves marooned on an uncharted island in the South Pacific that is completely overrun with dinosaurs! Their would-be ally on this deadly mission, the mysterious and beautiful Fan Long of the Chinese Security Agency, tells them their job is to rescue the scientists that have been sent to study the time/space anomaly. Perhaps… but what is her mission?

DC Showcase: Blue Beetle

SUFFERIN' SCARABS! Silver Age Blue Beetle is back! Thrill to the adventures of Ted Kord, alias the Blue Beetle, as he teams up with fellow Charlton Comics heroes Captain Atom, The Questions and Nightshade to battle the nefarious finagler of feelings, Doctor Spectro!

Constantine: The House of Mystery

John Constantine wakes up in the eerie House of Mystery with no recollection of how he got there. Fortunately, Zatanna and his friends are all there. Unfortunately, they have a bad habit of turning into demons and ripping him to shreds, over and over again!

Almost Home

A group of aliens searching for a new planet on which to make home, with little success. Promotional short for Dreamworks Animation's forthcoming feature, Home.

If I Had Four Dromedaries

Composed entirely of still photographs shot by Marker himself over the course of his restless travel through twenty-six countries, If I Had Four Dromedaries stages a probing, at times agitated, search for the meanings of the photographic image, in the form of an extended voiceover conversation and debate between the "amateur photographer" credited with the images and two of his colleagues. Anticipating later writings by Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag (who professed her admiration for the film) If I Had Four Dromedaries reveals Marker's instinctual understanding of the secret rapport between still and moving image.

Superman 75

An animated short about the 75 years of Superman.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

One of the most exciting and memorable stories in the history of the World Trade Towers is that of Philippe Petit, a French man who walked a tightrope between the massive monuments in 1974. Narrated by Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, this is an animated adaptation of the lyrical Caldecott Award-winning book by Mordecai Gerstein. Directed and animated by Michael Sporn, with music by Michael Bacon (of the Bacon Brothers).

Toy Story That Time Forgot

During a post-Christmas play date, the gang find themselves in uncharted territory when the coolest set of action figures ever turn out to be dangerously delusional. It's all up to Trixie, the triceratops, if the gang hopes to return to Bonnie's room in this Toy Story That Time Forgot.

Heads Together

Three friends with different cultural origins find an abandoned washing machine while playing. To their shock, they find out that the washing machine has strange powers: their heads are swapped by sticking them in the washing machine. When it turns out their heads can't be swapped back, they must go back home with each other's heads. Because their households have very different habits and traditions, they end up in awkard situations. Through these situations, they learn a lot of new things about each other.

The Fight for Saturday Night

Michael Grade tells a tale of television skullduggery and dirty dealings in the battle to win the Saturday night ratings crown.

Daybreak Express

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

Großes Kino made in DDR

In 2016, DEFA celebrates its 70th anniversary: the film embarks on a journey into the exciting film history of the GDR. In a comprehensive kaleidoscope, the importance of DEFA productions is illuminated, the relevance of the films as propaganda productions for the GDR, which socio-political themes were in the foreground, but also which heroes DEFA brought to the screen and celebrated as people from the people.