Christian Stachel

Sie sagt. Er sagt. Die Dokumentation.

The Code of Criminal Procedure is actually intended to help judges get to the truth. To do this, they interview witnesses, listen to experts, and have evidence presented. But what if the evidence does not provide a clear picture when statement is against statement? The judge is free to assess the evidence. All that counts is the judicial conviction, which ideally also corresponds to the “objective truth”. But how often is this really the case? How easily do we believe our own prejudices when in doubt? How quickly can we be manipulated? And how do we know when someone is lying? Knowledge of these soft factors also makes it difficult for people at the head of a court to decide whether guilt or innocence. In the end, the judges also have to live with a verdict that has serious consequences for those involved. The accompanying documentary to the TV movie attempts to explore this dilemma with the help of various interview partners and cases.

Monsters and Myths

Monsters have always been part of our nightmares and fairy tales. But where do they actually come from? How much of it is truth, how much is myth? Going to great lengths in this documentary, the filmmakers join scientists to explore a number of the best-known sagas and legends in the world. The search for the origins of what is likely to be the oldest legendary creature, the dragon, leads to snake pits, archaeological dig sites, gold mines and the inside of an Icelandic volcano. They also travel to Texas, hunting for traces of the “chupacabra,” literally the “goat-sucker,” a modern mythical creature with vampire-like teeth that was first spotted in Central America, and accompany palaeontologists to Kazakhstan in search of the remains of what might be the origin of the alluring unicorn, whose horn the Vikings used for trading.