Frank Röth

The Investigation

Peter Weiss’ monumental 1965 stage play, among the greatest artworks on the Holocaust, condenses the testimonies of witnesses and the accused during the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963-1965. This ultra-faithful film adaptation builds, across four hours, in its intensity and graphically described detail.

Leningrad. Stimmen einer belagerten Stadt

It was one of the great crimes of the Second World War: from 1941 to 1944, a total of 872 days, the siege and starvation of Leningrad by the German Wehrmacht on Hitler's orders lasted. Over a million people fell victim to the blockade, most of them dying of hunger. Countless of these starving people wrote diaries with the last of their strength, and cameramen filmed in the paralyzed city. Evidence from the hell of the siege, many of the film recordings, but above all the written memories on which this documentary on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation is based, remained under lock and key after the war. The voices of those who had suffered through this terrible time should not be heard by anyone, because they did not fit the pathos of the Leningrad heroic song that was officially sung. Most of the recordings come from women. The writers feared neither the enemy nor the Communist Party or Stalin, who often proved incompetent in providing for the population.

The Fundraiser

An accompanying short film to TÁR (2022).

TÁR

As celebrated conductor Lydia Tár starts rehearsals for a career-defining symphony, the consequences of her past choices begin to echo in the present.

Ökozid

The consequences of the climate catastrophe are dramatic in 2034. Drought and floods destroy the livelihoods of millions of people. After the third storm tide in a row, the headquarters of the International Court of Justice in The Hague was evacuated. In a provisional interim building in Berlin, the climate catastrophe becomes the subject of legal proceedings. Two lawyers represent 31 countries of the global South, which are doomed to destruction without the support of the international community.

The General Case

In the young Federal Republic of Germany, which in the late 1950s in politics and justice is still interspersed with only superficially purified Nazi cliques, leads the Hessian Attorney General Fritz Bauer a lonely fight against the coverup of Nazi crimes and the restorative policy of the government Adenauer - he is firmly convinced that only in this way can the young democracy be consolidated. Not only his attitude, but also his temperament make Bauer vulnerable, again and again resistance forms from politics, intelligence services and the judiciary against the lone fighter.

Die Jahrhundertlawine

In the Austrian Alps have found the body of a young woman who died in a skiing accident eight years earlier. Dr. Marc Pelletier decides to return to the scene, as it is the brother of his ex-girlfriend. When he reach the ski resort, a dreadful avalanche buries all the people.

Mathilde liebt

This melodrama about love in the third age focuses on the 65-year-old Mathilde living alone after the death of her husband. When she gets to know the attractive Carlo in the opera, she sleeps with him at the same evening. Mathilde tries to call him up some days later, but learns he gave her a wrong number. Despite this disappointing experience, she gets to know the sympathetic Hannes. They become a couple, but after a while, Mathilde meets Carlo, who apologizes and admits being married to a dead sick woman, again...

Das Kommando

General Heinz Büchner is in charge of a special unit of the German army. His son Christopher is a member of the unit. They get the mission to take out a band of terrorists that plan an attack on the American headquarters in Heidelberg.

Gefährliche Gefühle

A midwife is called to her lover's wife of all places.

Die Kristallprinzessin

The up-and-coming designer Marie Haller falls in love with Max, the noble heirs of Wartenborg's well-known Kristallschleiferei - without knowing that he is her half-brother. When Marie learns the truth about her ancestry and shortly thereafter Max is killed in a tragic accident, she turns away in dismay from the noble family.

Revenge of the Rats

A municipal worker's strike combined with Frankfurt's hottest summer in 150 years brings infected rats out onto the streets.

After the Truth

The famous Nazi-Doctor Dr. Josef Mengele - the "death angel of Auschwitz", who killed more than 300.000 people - comes back from his hide out in Argentina to Germany as a 87 year old man. He must stand up in front of a court for his crimes. The young solicitor Peter Rohm has to defend him. But Peter Rohm - himself an expert on Josef Mengele and his crimes - feels unable to do this. When he decides to take on the case he endangers not only the relationship to his wife but also their lifes. A fictional story around the non-fictional person of Josef Mengele who died in 1979.

Straight Shooter

After his daughter died of cancer, former French foreign legionnaire "Straight Shooter" alias Volker Bretz threatens those who financed, built, favoured and now work the nuclear power plant Atar II to kill one of them each day until the plant is shut down. His former drill sergeant, Frank Hector, who now owns several night clubs and brothels, is the only one who might be able to stop the maniac killing specialist. Frank is flown in instantly, but soon has to find out that his former comrade's actions might be a result from an event long ago.

Operation Bluebird

Short action directed by Stefan Holtz.

Ultimate Trespass

Christine Wagner is raped by a burglar in her house while her husband Stefan is on a business trip. When she later wants to report the break-in and the sexual assault to the police, her descriptions are believed to be implausible. The officer in charge considers her representations to be exaggerated and made up and decides not to deal with this case any further. Christine is frustrated by this and suppresses what has happened.

Der kleine Unterschied

A 60-year-old journalist falls in love with a young woman, abandons his wife and children and ends up falling into loneliness.

Mörderische Zwillinge

Twin sisters go their separate ways when a man dies while making love and one of them falls in love with an architect. The orphaned twin reacts with jealousy and makes a pass at the sister's husband: a love affair with fatal consequences that is disguised as an accident. But the sister sees through the plan.

Felidae

A domestic house cat named Francis investigates the grisly feline murders taking place in his new neighborhood.

Kolp

Set in the fast and loose ambience of 1947 in West Germany, this story is about Hans Kolp, an inventive, teenage urban con artist who takes advantage of an out-of-control black market where almost any Allied goods can be stolen and traded for a tidy profit. Hans learns to speak good English from an American soldier friend, and bored with school -- which is nothing more than a big room in the railroad station with only one teacher to mind all levels of students -- the enterprising Hans starts a gang of petty thieves. Armed with a stolen jeep, the youngsters deal successfully in stolen goods, with Hans doing a good impression of a G.I. Business is so good, in fact, that when someone arrives to encourage Hans to get into the big-time with stolen vehicles and U.S. Army uniforms, the first crisis comes up in the small gang. Members want to back away from that level of dangerous dealing, but Hans wants to go for broke -- a difficult decision that will determine the young con's future.