Hermann Hesse

Milarepa

In a 'no tech' future, 12 year old Mila must disguise herself as a boy in order to exact revenge on her father’s family for enslaving her and her mother.

Narcissus and Goldmund

In the dark middle ages, young unruly Goldmund is sent to a monastery by his father to atone for the sins of his mother, who abandoned them. There, he meets Narcissus, a brilliant, scholarly novice who is introverted and aloof. A unique and deep life-long friendship is born. Narcissus chooses to remain detached from the world in prayer and meditation. Goldmund, passionate, sensual and impulsive, runs away from the monastery to live a picaresque wanderer’s life, his amorous and artistic adventures leading him to discover the extremes of both ecstasy and pain. Several thrilling years pass until one day these friends cross paths again...

Homecoming

August Staudenmeyer returns after thirty years absence as a wealthy man in his hometown Gerbersau. First, the successful businessman is received with open arms. But when he stands up for the outlawed widow Katharina Entriss, he gets sidelined. August realizes that the narrow-mindedness of the Gerbersauer has by no means changed. Richer for an experience and a love, he leaves home a second time.

Assassination

"Assassination" - Adaptation of Hermann Hesse's novel "Demian". A young man's detachment from and revolt against the superficial ideals of the world of appearances and eventually awakens into a realization of self. Max Demian is his childhood friend and mentor.

A Hard Passage

"This hand-drawn animation is based on a short story by Hermann Hesse THE HARD PASSAGE. It was produced at Harvard's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts 1980-81. The voice is my own and the sound score and recording is by Bob Stoloff. It won the award for best sound at the 5th World Festival of Animation in Zagreb, 1982." -D. Pies. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

The Glass Bead Game

An opera film based on a novel by Hermann Hesse.

Kinderseele

A boy returns home from school, goes upstairs into his father's room where he steals sugared and dried figs out of his dad's chest of drawers. In spite of some remorse, he does not confess it to his father.

Steppenwolf

In the bourgeois circles of Europe after the Great War, can anything save the modern man? Harry Haller, a solitary intellectual, has all his life feared his dual nature of being human and being a beast. He's decided to die on his 50th birthday, which is soon. He's rescued from his solipsism by the mysterious Hermine, who takes him dancing, introduces him to jazz and to the beautiful and whimsical Maria, and guides him into the hallucinations of the Magic Theater, which seem to take him into Hell. Can humour, sin, and derision lead to salvation?

Siddhartha

Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin and his search for a meaningful way of life. His journey takes him through periods of harsh asceticism, sensual pleasures, material wealth, self-revulsion and eventually to the oneness and harmony that he had been seeking. The story is based on the best-selling novel by German Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse.

Zachariah

A blacksmith and an amateur gunslinger embark on journey through the west together but soon separate and have surreal experiences of their own.