Margot Beichler

The Boy with the Big Black Dog

A little boy tries to keep a huge Newfoundland dog in his family's apartment.

Taubenjule

Eleven-year-old Jella lives with her mother in a rural idyll in which both feel at home and comfortable. Then, however, they move to the city where her father works. On parting, her friend Freitag presents Jella with a pair of pigeons. Although Jella is looking forward to life in the city, she is unable to accustom herself to her new surroundings. She is being picked on by the other children, and a neighbor′s son even releases her pigeons. They fly back to Freitag who returns them to Jella. When Jella visits the village one day, she is disappointed to learn that she has become a stranger there, as well.

Pugowitza

World War II is over and Heinrich, a young German boy, influenced by the Russians, starts to act according to Communist principles in a small German village.

The Goose-Girl at the Fountain

A young blacksmith, searching for happiness in a series of dreams, realizes that he must find a rejected princess and hold her hand. A fairytale after the Brothers Grimm.

Snow-White and Rose-Red

In an enchanted forest, the princely brothers Michael and Andreas get lost and are transformed, by a mountain spirit who jealously guards his underground treasure, into animals until the unlikely event of sincere love from a human. The only persons who may be able to give such love are the local commoner sisters Snow-white and Rose-red, who are kind and helpful by nature and stand to harvest unimagined rewards.

Das Pferdemädchen

Irka and Raya are best friends, one always knows immediately what the other wants. Irka is young, lively and a girl, Raya is old, blind and a proud mare who had great times as a show horse. The two are inseparable. But when Raya has a foal, Irka turns her attention to the small, helpless and cute animal. Her father had actually promised that she could keep both horses. One day, however, he tells her that she has to part with one of the horses. Irka has to decide for herself: The cute foal or the old mare?

Trini

Trini avenges the torture of his uncle by a landowner’s son. Trini and his fellow peons destroy the landowner’s home and overpower his guards with the help of Emiliano Zapata. Zapata is killed in a conspiracy before Trini can warn him.

Der kleine Kommandeur

Florian is the son an army general and very proud of him. When his father has to attend the annual 1st of May demonstration, Florian grabs his teddy bear and tries to follow his father.

Sleeping Beauty

On the occasion of their daughter's birth, the king and queen give a lavish feast. Among the guests are twelve fairies who endow the infant in the cradle with all good qualities. As the king loathes diligence, he does not invite the thirteenth fairy - the fairy of diligence. A captain lets her slip into the castle and she casts a spell on Sleeping Beauty, wishing death upon her. The twelfth fairy transforms and mitigates the spell. On the day she turns fifteen, the princess is to sink into a hundred-year sleep after pricking her finger on a spindle.

Hart am Wind

The electrician Peter Drews is a brigadier at a Baltic Sea dockyard. His men are among the most reliable and diligent workers at the dockyard. Their motivation, however, increasingly suffers from Peter’s narcissism and imperiousness. Even his girlfriend Brigitte who is also a member of the brigade finds it increasingly difficult to accept his behavior. One day, Peter decides that the entire group must enter the navy - just because he has received his conscription call. While four men follow Peter into the navy, Brigitte, who has broken up with Peter, takes over the control of the brigade. During the work at the ship on which Peter is based at she meets the charming lieutenant Asmus.

Mohr und die Raben von London

London in 1856. Karl Marx is living in exile in the British capital. One day, "Mohr", as Marx is called by his friends, meets the 13-year old worker′s son Joe. The boy works every day for twelve hours in a spinning mill and even has to work night shifts although that violates current rules. Marx tries to end the illegal activities of the spinning mill owner and one night shows up at the mill together with an inspector. But his foray is undermined by a robbery by the rebellious raven gang that is led by Joe′s brother Billy. The spinning mill owner of course takes this chance to blame his young workers for the theft. But Marx is not let astray and does not stop to fight against child labour. Furthermore, he tries to get the members of the raven gang back on the straight and narrow – with success.

Turlis Abenteuer

The puppet boy Turli, who was only recently been carved from wood by the toymaker Kasimir, suddenly springs to life. Turli has nothing but nonsense on his mind and wreaks chaos everywhere he goes, although he is actually supposed to attend school.

The Sons of Great Bear

As American settlers encroach on the lands of the Lakota people, Tokei-ihto witnesses the murder of his father at the hands of Red Fox, who wanted information on where the tribe finds its gold. Two years later, at the height of the Great Sioux War, Tokei-ihto and Red Fox meet again.

King Thrushbeard

A fairy-tale about a beautiful but very haughty princess Anna who cruelly mocks each of her suitors. Finally she is forced by the king to marry a beggar. The poor life, hard work and love teach the princess a lesson and turn her into a loving and kind person.

Mother Holly

The widow has an ugly and lazy daughter, Pechmarie, and a beautiful and hard-working step-daughter, Goldmarie. Because Pechmarie is her real daughter, the widow clearly favors her and makes Goldmarie do all the work. Poor Goldmarie must also sit and spin all day by the well until her fingers bleed. When she tries to rinse out the spindel, it drops into the cold water. Her unsympathetic step-mother tells her to jump in after it. Goldmarie does as she is told, and then wakes up in the middle of a beautiful field of flowers. This is the land of Frau Holle, who welcomes Goldmarie and invites her to stay, as long as she will help with the housework. Marie stays and serves Frau Holle gladly, until she suffers so terribly from homesickness that she asks to go home. Before bringing her back, Frau Holle rewards Marie with a shower of gold. Upon her return, Goldmarie and her gold are welcomed by her greedy step-sister and -mother. Hoping for the same kind of reward, the step-mother sends ...

The Hedgehog Friendship

A funny story about a friendship between the children of East Germany and Czechoslovakia.

Snow White

Hated by her jealous and bloodthirsty stepmother, Snow White flees a murder attempt and seeks shelter in the woods with seven kindly dwarfs. Feeling she is safe from harm, Snow White welcomes the disguised queen into her home...with fatal consequences.

Rumpelstiltskin and the Golden Secret

East German adaptation of Grimm‘s fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin".

The Tinder Box

A young soldier discovers three chests of copper, silver and gold and an old tinder-box in the hollow of an old oak tree. He is now rich. But he squanders the money until it is all gone. All he has left is the old tinder-box. He uses it to light a small pipe and three large dogs come to his rescue. Based on the fairy-tale by Hans Christian Anderson.

The Singing Ringing Tree

A brave prince must seek the fabled singing, ringing tree in order to win the heart of a beautiful princess.