Peter Badel

Material

"Pictures from the late eighties in the GDR on up to the immediate present in the year 2008 in Germany. What has been left over besieges my mind. All these pictures keep reassembling themselves to make up something which they were originally not made for. They are still in motion. They are becoming history." (Thomas Heise)

Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos

In the 1970s the North American Soccer League marked the first attempt to introduce soccer to American sports fans. While most teams had only limited success at best, one managed to break through to genuine mainstream popularity - the New York Cosmos. The brainchild of Steve Ross (Major executive at Warner Communications) and the Ertegun brothers (Founders of Atlantic Records), the Cosmos got off to a rocky start in 1971, but things changed in 1975 when the world's most celebrated soccer star, the Brazilian champion Pele, signed with the Cosmos for a five-million-dollar payday. With the arrival of Pele, the Cosmos became a hit and the players became the toast of the town, earning their own private table at Studio 54. A number of other international soccer stars were soon lured to the Cosmos, including Franz Beckenbauer, Rodney Marsh, and Carlos Alberto, but with the turn of the decade, the team began losing favor with fans and folded in 1985.

Im Glück (Neger)

Documentary by Thomas Heise.

Endlich Urlaub!

The architect Nora wants to go to Greece with her fiancé, the successful lawyer Tobias Becker. During the holidays in Crete Tobias should also find a link to Nora's children Julia and Ben. But the two kids can not smell Tobias, and it gets even thicker: Due to an annoying double occupancy Nora and Tobias have to share the dream house with the event manager Marion and her divorced husband Tobi, because both families have booked under the name Becker. While the two teens Philip and Julia quickly discover their sympathies for each other, the parents need a little longer for it ...

Mein Bruder - We'll Meet Again

Thomas Heise, noted documentary filmmaker from the former GDR, takes a trip to France to visit his brother Andreas. His brother lives there in a rather unusual situation.

Vaterland

Documentary by Thomas Heise.

Barluschke

The documentary relates how in the second half of the 20th century the agent Berthold Barluschke was first a henchman of the State Security Service of the GDR and then of the West German Federal Intelligence Service.

Driving School

In the GDR, purchasing a car was such a difficult process that many families applied for one years in advance. For example, Gisela secretly orders a Wartburg model after the birth of her first child. By the time the vehicle is ready, her daughter is a teenager, and Gisela's husband, who actually prefers walking, has already bought a second Wartburg from a friend in financial trouble. As a result, the couple decides to sign up for driving school together.

The People's Police Force, 1985

Thomas Heise documents the everyday life of the "People's Police Force" in Berlin Mitte.

The House, 1984

Thomas Heise's documentary portrays the meeting of officials and citizens in the district office of Berlin-Mitte in 1984. The movie uniquely displays how socialist officals and citizens interact.