For over ten years, the “german documentaries” catalogue has accompanied all activities of the German documentary film scene at markets and festivals. At first, the German Documentary Association AG DOK – with over 800 members, the largest German professional association of independent directors and producers – published the catalogue at its own expense. Then the film division of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology became a solid supporter.
Since 2004, “German Films,” the national information and advisory centre for the promotion of German films worldwide, has financed the publication of “german documentaries,” whose content remains solely in the hands of filmmakers and producers, and not a publisher, sales department, or institution. In its twelve editions, “german documentaries” has presented some 1000 films – from ten-minute shorts to feature-length theatrical documentaries, from artistically crafted film essays to documentary series – complete with photos, synopses, and contact information – to audiences worldwide.

Now, once again thanks to the support of "German Films," we have been able to launch this german-documentaries website.

As a start we have placed the last three editions of the catalogue online as downloadable PDF files. This is only the beginning. We are planning to make this site an ever-growing and invaluable source of information on the German documentary scene for you!

Hope to see you often!

With kind regards,

Thomas Frickel
Chairman of AGDOK

Download here past and current editions of the German Documentaries catalogue.

German Documentaries 2017 (PDF, 7 MB)

German Documentaries 2016 (PDF, 6 MB)

German Documentaries 2015 (PDF, 6 MB)

German Documentaries 2014 (PDF, 7 MB)

German Documentaries 2013 (PDF, 4 MB)

German Documentaries 2012 (PDF, 7 MB)

German Documentaries 2011 (PDF, 7 MB)

German Documentaries 2010 (PDF, 8 MB)

German Documentaries 2009 (PDF, 5 MB)

German Documentaries 2008 (PDF, 1 MB)

German Documentaries 2007 (PDF, 1 MB)

German Documentaries 2006 (PDF, 1 MB)

German Films

is the national information and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide.

German Films’ range of activities includes: Close cooperation with and presence at all major international film festivals and selected TV markets; hosting selection delegations from international festivals; PR and press work for all major national and international media representatives; information and advice for international buyers, German producers and exporters; publication of informational literature on current German films and the film industry; organization of the annual “Next Generation” short film program; administration of the selection procedure for the German entry for the OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film; staging of “Festivals of German Films” worldwide and “German Premieres” in selected cities; collaboration with Deutsche Welle’s DW-TV KINO program; organization of the “German Films Previews”; selective financial support for the foreign releases of German films; organization with Unifrance of the annual German-French film meeting.

For additional information and a complete list of the current shareholders, board members and staff, please visit the German Films Website.

12 June 2017: Four German documentaries and co.productions will be screening at the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival, taking place from 17 - 26 June in Shanghai, China.

Jakob Preuss' documentary WHEN PAUL CAME OVER THE SEA (Weydemann Bros.) will screen in the Documentary Competition. Paul, a migrant from Cameroon, meets the filmmaker on the Moroccan coast. Paul manages to cross over to Spain on a rubber boat. He survives - but half of his fellow passengers die on this tragic odyssey. Held for two months in a deportation center, Paul meets Jakob again at a shelter for migrants in Spain. When Paul decides to continue on to Germany, Jakob has to make a choice: will he become an active part of Paul's pursuit of a better life or remain the observing filmmaker?

Three more films will be playing in the Documentary section:

BLUE VELVET REVISITED by Peter Braatz (DE/SL, Taris Filmproduktion)
BERLIN REBEL HIGH SCHOOL by Alexander Kleider (DOK-WERK filmkooperative)
FRANCO’S LEGACY – SPAIN’S STOLEN CHILDREN (FRANCOS ERBE – SPANIENS GERAUBTE KINDER) by Inga Bremer (Soilfilms)

Download the entire Focus Germany Shanghai 2017 program here.

9 June 2017: Four German documentary and co-productions will be screened at the 71st Edinburgh International Film Festival, running from 21 June – 2 July 2017 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

BROTHER JAKOB (BRUDER JAKOB) by Eli Roland Sachs
DONKEYOTE by Chico Pereira (DE/GB/ES, Sutor Kolonko)
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO by Feras Fayyad (DK/DE, Kloos & Co. Medien)
LEANING INTO THE WIND by Thomas Riedelsheimer (Filmpunkt)

9 June 2017: RODNYE (CLOSE RELATIONS) by Vitaly Mansky (LV/DE/EE/UA, Saxonia Entertainment) will be screening in the Documentary Competition, and PAVLENSKY – THE MAN AND THE MIGHTY by Irene Langemann (Lichtfilm) will be screening in the Documentary Films sections of the 43rd Seattle International Film Festival, running from 18 May - 11 June 2017.

5 May 2017: A large program of German documentaries and co-productions will be screening at Sheffield Doc/Fest, running from 9 -14 June 2017 in Sheffield, UK. The films by section:

Sheffield Doc/Fest (9 – 14 June 2017)

Doc/Expose
THE LAST TAPE by Cyprien Clement-Delmas, Igor Kosenko (Fabian&Fred)
RISK by Laura Poitras (US/DE, Praxis Films Berlin)
RUBBER COATED STEEL by Lawrence Abu Hamdan (LB/DE, Portikus)
WILDERS by Stephen Robert Morse Nicholas Hampson (UK/US/DE/NL)

Doc/Rhythm
AMERICAN VALHALLA by Andreas Neumann, Joshua Homme (UK/US/FR/DE)
A MODERN MAN by Eve Mulvad (DK/DE, Kloos & Co. Medien)
QUEERCORE: HOW TO PUNK A REVOLUTION by Yony Leyser (Desire Productions)

Doc/Visions
BEUYS by Andres Veiel (Zero One Film)
DRIES by Reiner Holzemer (BE/DE, Reiner Holzemer Film)

Doc/Think
DEAD DONKEYS FEAR NO HYENAS by Joakim Demmer (SE/FI/DE, Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktion)
FREEDOM FOR THE WOLF by Rupert Russell (Bulldog Agenda)
OINK by Angus Macqueen Rachel Rob-Levyt (UK/CN/DK/DE)
UNSEEN ENEMIES by Janet Tobias (US/DE)

Doc/Love
DREAM BOAT by Tristan Ferland Milewski (Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion)
MR. GAY SYRIA by Ayse Toprak (FR/DE/TR, Coin Film)

2 May 2017: TASTE OF CEMENT by Ziad Kalthoum (DE/LB/SY/AE, BASIS BERLIN Filmproduktion GmbH) is the winner of the SESTERCE D’OR LA MOBILIÈRE for Best Feature Film at the 48th Visions du Réel Festival International de Cinéma Nyon, which ran from 21 – 29 April in Nyon, Switzerland. The prize comes with 20,000 Swiss Francs.

TASTE OF CEMENT follows a group of Syrian construction workers who are building a skyscraper in Beirut while their own homes are being shelled back in Syria.

27 March 2017: Six German documentaries and co-productions will be screening at the 36th edition of Hot Docs, running from 27 April – 7 May in Toronto, Canada.

PRE-CRIME by Matthias Heeder and Monika Hielscher (Kloos & Co. Medien) and PLAYING GOD by Karin Jurschick (DE/NL, Bildersturm Filmproduktion) will both have their world premieres in the Special Presentations section which show high-profile premieres, award-winning films or works by well-known directors. Both films raise questions about our current system of values:

The events in PRE-CRIME sound as if they come from a science fiction novel that becomes alarming reality when forecasting software, algorithms and databases become the new forecasters of future crimes. This leads to the question: how much are we prepared to accept for the sake of security? Ken Feinberg, America's most famous specialist for compensation claims, is at the center of PLAYING GOD. But the documentary shows more than just the story of an occasionally omnipotent, yet always acute and charismatic player: what happens within our Western system of values when economic interests and personal fates interlock through tragedy? A deep insight into the soul of American society and a question about our system of values.

The other sections see the subjects of German documentaries ranging from the world of politics in Germany through music from the Sahel region to the extraction of raw materials and the balance of nature.

MEUTHEN’S PARTY, which was made during Marc Eberhardt's studies of Documentary Direction at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, was programmed in the Democrazy sidebar with its international premiere. The film starts in early 2016 before the regional parliament elections in Baden-Württemberg and accompanies Jörg Meuthen, the AfD's top candidate from the provincial election campaign stand in the small City of Backnang through to the first speech in the regional parliament.

The World Showcase sidebar has programmed the experimental short documentary COLD VALLEY by Florian Fischer and Johannes Krell (ROSENPICTURES Filmproduktion), which had won the German Short Film Award in Gold in 2016 and was already invited to the Festivals of Rotterdam and Clermont-Ferrand. It describes the working processes in an opencast limestone mine and gives a dialectical treatment of our relationship to nature as a warehouse for materials and a mystical space of possibilities.

STORY OF SAHEL SOUNDS by Neopan Kollektiv (Home Run Pictures) is screening in Artscapes. Filmed on three continents and financed in part by crowd funding, the film gives insights into Christopher Kirkley's "Sahel Sounds" project that he operates as a blog, record label and platform in order to publish art and music from the Sahel region. Neither a classic portrait, nor a straightforward music documentary, the film overcomes cultural and geographical distances, celebrates musical performances by current artists from Niger and questions political structures.

All the German films and co-productions at Hot Docs 2017:

World Showcase
COLD VALLEY (KALTES TAL) by Florian Fischer, Johannes Krell (ROSENPICTURES Filmproduktion)
MACHINES by Rahul Jain (IN/DE/FI, Jann Pictures)

Democrazy
MEUTHEN’S PARTY (DER EINZUG) by Marc Eberhardt (Film Academy Baden-Württemberg)

Artscapes
STORY OF SAHEL SOUNDS by Neopan Kollektiv (Home Run Pictures)

Special Presentations
PRE-CRIME by Matthias Heeder, Monika Hielscher (Kloos & Co. Medien)
PLAYING GOD by Karin Jurschick (DE/NL, Bildersturm Filmproduktion)

For more information, please contact:
Fides Schaeffer (Project Coordinator)
Birgit Koch (Press & PR)

"Power to Change" at Festival of German Films in New York, 31 March - 6 April 2017

20 March 2017: POWER TO CHANGE – THE ENERGY REVOLUTION (POWER TO CHANGE – DIE ENERGIEREBELLION) by Carl-A. Fechner (fechnerMEDIA) will be screening as the only documentary at the Kino! 2017 - the festival of German films in New York City. All screenings will take place at the new venue, the Sunshine Cinema at 143 East Houston Street.

In his latest cinema documentary POWER TO CHANGE – THE ENERGY REVOLUTION (POWER TO CHANGE – DIE ENERGIEREBELLION), director Carl A. Fechner tells the story of the people who are fighting an energy revolution for a democratic, sustainable and affordable energy supply.

For the complete festival program, please click here.

30 May 2017: Seven German documentaries and co-productions will be screening in the International Documentaries section of the 64th Sydney Film Festival, running from 7 – 18 June in Sydney, Australia:

AUSTERLITZ by Sergei Loznitsa (Imperativ Film)
A MODERN MAN by Eve Mulvad (DK/DE, Kloos & Co. Medien)
BEUYS by Andreas Veiel (zero one film, Terz Filmproduktion)
DRIES by Reiner Holzemer (BE/DE, Reiner Holzemer Film)
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO by Fera Fayyad &Stehen Johannessen (DK/DE, Kloos & Co. Medien)
RISK by Laura Poitras (DE/US, Praxis Films Berlin)
UNTITLED by Michael Glawogger & Monika Willi (AT/DE, Razor Film)

8 February 2017: Once again, the AG DOK / German Documentaries will have a booth at the European Film Market EFM in the Martin-Gropius-Bau during the Berlinale. This is a good place to meet German documentary filmmakers, producers, festival programmers, etc. AG DOK member Kordula Hildebrandt will be in charge of the booth, which is located at the German Film pavilion on the ground floor. She can be reached at 030-206033416. AG DOK members who do not have a festival accreditation may call this number to be admitted into the building.

20 March 2017: POWER TO CHANGE – THE ENERGY REVOLUTION (POWER TO CHANGE – DIE ENERGIEREBELLION) by Carl-A. Fechner (fechnerMEDIA) will be screening as the only documentary at the Kino! 2017 - the festival of German films in New York City. All screenings will take place at the new venue, the Sunshine Cinema at 143 East Houston Street.

In his latest cinema documentary POWER TO CHANGE – THE ENERGY REVOLUTION (POWER TO CHANGE – DIE ENERGIEREBELLION), director Carl A. Fechner tells the story of the people who are fighting an energy revolution for a democratic, sustainable and affordable energy supply.

For the complete festival program, please click here.

20 February 2017: This year's Berlin International Film Festival, featured a new prize – the Glashütte Original Documentary Award – endowed with €50,000 (split between the film's director and producer) sponsored by the Saxony-based watch manufacturer Glashütte Original. A total of sixteen documentaries from this year's Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation, Berlinale Special and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections as well as the Culinary Cinema special series were nominated. Director Raed Andoni and producer Palmyre Badinier were the lucky winners for their film Istiyad Ashbah - Ghost Hunting. In the film, Andoni places an advertisement in a newspaper in Ramallah that he is searching for former inmates of the Moskobiya interrogation center in Jerusalem. He has the inmates built a replica of the interrogation rooms and cells, in which they re-enact their interrogations and discuss their experiences during their detention.

Acclaimed German filmmaker Monika Treut is the winner of the Special Teddy Award. For over thirty years, Treut has been making transgressive, gender-bending narrative and documentary films which have won numerous awards at film festivals around the world. Some of her best-known films include Virgin Machine, My Father is Coming, Gendernauts, and Warrior of Light.

Treut has enjoyed retrospectives of her work in Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Taipei, Toronto, Cambridge, Helsinki, Hamburg, Thessaloniki, Prague, Warsaw, Athens, Los Angeles and Lisbon.

Since 1990, Treut has also been teaching and lecturing at Colleges (Vassar, Hollins, and Dartmouth), Art Institutes (SFAI) and Universities (IU Bloomington, UI Chicago, UC San Diego and Cornell U) in the U.S.

Treut runs the Hamburg-based independent film production company, Hyena Films.

Annekatrin Hendel is the second big winner among German documentarians. Her latest film FIVE STARS (FÜNF STERNE) (IT WORKS! Medien, K 13 Studios) took home the Heiner Carow Prize, named after the acclaimed East German director of films such as "The Legend of Paula & Paula" and "Coming Out." The prize comes with €5000.

The jury statement: "Normally making a film requires extensive research and adequate financing. Without these prerequisites, it becomes a journey into the unknown. But therein also lies opportunity. Made in a small space during a period limited by illness, the film addresses friendship and takes stock of relationships. A cinematic experiment. It's good to have the opportunity to show one's courage and experiment."

For a list of all winners of the 2017 Berlinale, please click here.

16 March 2017: The nominees for the 2017 German Film Prize "Lola" have been announced. Three documentaries are in the running for Germany's most important film prize:

Berlin Rebel High School (Dir. Alexander Kleider, Prod. Alexander Kleider, Daniela Michel)

Cahier Africain (Dir. Heidi Specogna, Prod. Peter Spöoerri, Stefan Tolz)

No Land's Song (Dir. Ayat Najafi, Prod. Gunter Hanfgarn, Rouven Rech, Teresa Renn)

All three nominees are awarded €100,000. The winner will receive the golden Lola and €200,000. The winner will be announced in a gala ceremony on 28 April.

8 March 2017: The winners of the 2017 Grimme Preis, the German equivalent of the Emmys, have been announced. The winners by category:

INFORMATION & CULTURE

- Carl Gierstorfer (writer, director+DOP) and Antje Boehmert (producer) for “Ebola - Surviving the Virus (Ebola - Das Virus überleben)
- Hauke Wendler (writer, director+producer) and Carsten Rau (producer) for “45 Min: Protocol of a Deportation (45 Min: Protokoll einer Abschiebung)
- Lena Leonhardt (writer+director) for “Young Documentary: Dog Soldiers (Junger Dokumentarfilm: Hundesoldaten)
- Andreas Christoph Schmidt (writer+director) for “Shadows of War: The Soviet Legacy / The Forgotten Crimes” (Schatten des Krieges: Das sowjetische Erbe / Das vergessene Verbrechen)

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

- Jörg Haaßengier (writer, director+DOP) for “Here and Today: The Children of Nordstadt - Lutwi" (Hier und heute: Nordstadtkinder – Lutwi)

COMPETITION FOR THE AUDIENCE AWARD OF THE MARL GROUP

- Maike Conway (writer) for “Strong! - Ibrahim and Jeremia. Temporary Brothers “ (Stark! – Ibrahim und Jeremia. Brüder auf Zeit)

The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony in the Theater of the City of Marl on 31 March.

Germany the guest of honor in Guadalajara, 10-17 March 2017

6 March 2017: Germany is the guest of honor at this year's Guadalajara International Film Festival, running from 10 - 17 March in Guadalajara, Mexico. More than 60 German films and co-productions and more than 30 filmmakers, actors and industry guests from Germany will be in attendance.

Ibero American Feature Films Documentary
LOS OJOS DEL MAR by José Álvarez (MX/DE, Sutor Kolonko)

Premio Maguey – Special Presentations
FASSBINDER by Annekatrin Hendel (IT WORKS Medien)

Europe New Trends
EAT THAT QUESTION: FRANK ZAPPA IN HIS OWN WORDS by Thorsten Schütte (FR/DE, UFA Fiction-Produktion)
MEMORY EXERCISES by Paz Encima (AR/PY/FR/DE, Autentika Films)

Cinema and Litterature
JOHN BERGER OR THE ART OF LOOKING by Cordelia Dvorak (UK/DE, ma.ja.de Filmproduktion)

Film 4 Climate
FURUSATO by Thorsten Trimpop (DE/JP/US, Büchner Filmproduktion)

Son de Cine
EAT THAT QUESTION: FRANK ZAPPA IN HIS OWN WORDS by Thorsten Schütte (FR/DE, UFA Fiction-Produktion)
PEOPLE ON SUNDAY (MENSCHEN AM SONNTAG) by Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Rochus Gliese (Filmstudio Berlin)

Feature Films
AUSTERLITZ by Sergei Loznitsa (Imperativ Film)
FURUSATO by Thorsten Trimpop (DE/JP/US, Büchner Filmproduktion)
KARL MARX CITY by Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker (pepper&bones)

The complete list of films can be seen here.

A brochure in Spanish is available here.

German Documentaries and Co-Productions at the Berlinale, 9 - 19 February 2017

8 February 2017: A wealth of German documentaries and co-productions will screen in the various sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, running from 9 - 19 February in Berlin, Germany. The films by section:

Competition

BEUYS by Andreas Veiel (zero one film, Terz Filmproduktion)

Panorama Documents

DREAM BOAT by Tristan Ferland Milewski (Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion)
IF I THINK OF GERMANY AT NIGHT (DENK ICH AN DEUTSCHLAND IN DER NACHT) by Romuald Karmakar (Arden Film, Rapid Eye Movies)
MY WONDERFUL WEST BERLIN (MEIN WUNDERBARES WEST-BERLIN) by Jochen Hick (Galeria Alaska Productions)
REVOLUTION OF SOUND. TANGERINE DREAM by Margarete Kreuzer (TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion, E@stgate Music & Arts)
TANIA LIBRE by Lynn Hershman Leeson (US/DE, Die Gesellschaft DGS - Michael Henrichs Filmproduktion)
FIVE STARS (FÜNF STERNE) by Annekatrin Hendel (IT WORKS! Medien, K 13 Studios)
UNTITLED by Michael Glawogger & Monika Willi (AT/DE, Razor Film)

Forum

FROM A YEAR OF NON-EVENTS (AUS EINEM JAHR DER NICHTEREIGNISSE) by Ann Carolin Renninger & René Frölke (joon film)
SPELL REEL by Filipa César (DE/PT/FR/GW)
THE STREETSCAPES SERIES: Chapter I: 2+2=22 [THE ALPHABET] by Heinz Emigholz (Heinz Emigholz Filmproduktion, Kreidler)
THE STREETSCAPES SERIES: Chapter II: BICKELS [SOCIALISM] by Heinz Emigholz (DE/IL, Heinz Emigholz Filmproduktion)
THE STREETSCAPES SERIES: Chapter III: STREETSCAPES [DIALOGUE] by Heinz Emigholz (Filmgalerie 451)
THE STREETSCAPES SERIES: Chapter IV: DIESTE [URUGUAY] by Heinz Emigholz (Filmgalerie 451)

Forum Special

OPEN WOUNDS - A JOURNEY THROUGH GERMAN GENRE FILMS (OFFENE WUNDE DEUTSCHER FILM) by Dominik Graf & Johannes F. Sievert (Augustin Film)

Berlinale Special Tribute

WERNER NEKES - DAS LEBEN ZWISCHEN DEN BILDERN by Ulrike Pfeiffer (TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion, KINESCOPE Film)

LOLA at Berlinale – Documentaries

AUSTERLITZ by Sergei Loznitsa (Imperativ Film)
BERLIN REBEL HIGH SCHOOL by Alexander Kleider (DOK-WERK filmkooperative)
CAHIER AFRICAIN by Heidi Specogna (CH/DE, Filmpunkt)
NO LAND'S SONG by Ayat Najafi (DE/FR, Torero Film, Hanfgarn & Ufer Filmproduktion)
RUDOLF THOME – FLOWERS EVERYWHERE (RUDOLF THOME – ÜBERALL BLUMEN) by Serpil Turhan (Luzid Film)
WHO IS ODA JAUNE? (WER IST ODA JAUNE?) by Kamilla Pfeffer (Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion)

Perspektive Deutsches Kino

IRONHEAD (EISENKOPF) by Tian Dong (Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln)
WE WERE KINGS (KÖNIGE DER WELT) by Christian von Brockhausen & Timo Großpietsch (Hoferichter & Jacobs)

Culinary Cinema

ANDRÉ – THE VOICE OF WINE by Mark Tchelistcheff (US/DE, NFP neue film produktion)
MONSIEUR MAYONNAISE (HERR MAYONNAISE) by Trevor Graham (AU/DE, Lichtblick Filmproduktion)
SCHUMANN’S BAR TALKS (SCHUMANNS BARGESPRÄCHE) by Marieke Schroeder (Thali Media)

30 January 2017: Two German documentary co-productions are among the winners of the 33rd Sundance Film Festival, which ran from 19 – 29 January in Park City, Utah, USA.

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO by Feras Fayyad & Steen Johannessen (DK/DE Kloos & Co. Medien)

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography
MACHINES by Rahul Jain (IN/DE/FI, Pallas Film)

"Ohne diese Welt" wins the Max Ophüls Prize in Saarbrücken

30 January 2017: Nora Fingscheidt's Ohne diese Welt (Without this World) is the winner of the best documentary award, worth €7500, at the 2017 Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival, which concluded yesterday in Saarbrücken, Germany. Fingscheidt's film follows the lives of 700 Mennonites of German origin living a secluded life in northern Argentina.

Composers Trixa Arnold and Ilja Komarov won the €3000 prize for the best film music for a documentary for the film Zaunkönig - Tagebuch einer Freundschaft (Wren - Diary of a Friendship) from Swiss director Ivo Zen. In the film, Zen tells the story of his friend Martin, who died from his excessive drug consumption, through the diaries Martin left behind.

Now in its 38th edition, the Max Ophüls Prize Film is the most important film festival for emerging filmmakers in the German-speaking world.

A list of all winners from this year's festival can be found here.

"Alles andere zeigt die Zeit" of Andreas Voigt wins Bavarian Film Prize

21 January 2017: Andreas Voigt's long-term documentary Alles andere zeigt die Zeit (Time Will Tell) is the winner of the 2017 Bavarian Film Prize, which comes with €10,000. The award was presented during the gala at the Prinzregententheater in Munich last night.

In "Time Will Tell", Andreas Voigt returns to Leipzig to visit some of the protagonists he had filmed with numerous times from 1986-1997 for his "Leipzig Series."

The excerpt of the award ceremony where Voigt receives his award can be viewed here.