Thomas Tielsch

Architecture of Happiness

For a hundred years, the former fishing village of Campione d'Italia, an Italian enclave in Switzerland, has drawn enormous wealth from a monumental casino. There is hardly a resident who has not benefited economically or socially from it. But the bankruptcy of this colossus destroys all prospects and autonomy. The reopening gives the village one last chance.

Wood

An environmental spy infiltrates the global syndicate for illegal timber trading. With the aid of a hidden camera he documents the chain of illegal activities, from harvesting of the wood to the marketing of “washed” products in supermarkets. This turns out to be an excellent motor for political change.

Palace for the People

The life and death of socialist architectural monsters. An epic fairy-tale in five chapters.

Reality Check

In the past, those who were convinced that they were being pursued by invisible rays or that their telephone conversations were being monitored were considered to be paranoid. Nowadays, people are being monitored as soon as they produce any sign of life. That is just the beginning, however. The research is ongoing and the reality is not far behind.

Bugarach

Bugarach. Nothing ever really happens in this bucolic village in Southern France at the base of the mountain that gives it its name. But the villagers' peace and quiet vanishes when the news story circulates around the globe like a viral video that this close-knit community of 194 inhabitants will be the only place on the planet to survive the December 21st apocalypse foretold by the Mayans. 'Bugarach' dives deep into the subject of the apocalypse to reflect on the fears and coping strategies of humankind in times of deep material and spiritual crisis in the Western world.

Cesar's Grill

In order to rescue his father's ramshackle grill restaurant, filmmaker and vegetarian Dario Aguirre is traveling back to his homeland Ecuador. What starts out as a strange debate about opening times, chips and Excel spread sheets, develops into a moving family drama.

The Venice Syndrome

Tourism takes its toll on the inhabitability of Venice.

The Singing City

Portrait about the planning and rehearsal of Richard Wagner's Parsifal directed by Calixto Bieito at the opera house in Stuttgart.

The Woman with the 5 Elephants

Documentary about Svetlana Geier, a Ukranian who has translated the great works of Dostoyevsky into German. First her father ends up in one of Stalin's prison camps, then young Svetlana herself experiences the German invasion. In order to survive she learns German at home in Kiev. She is good and gets work as a translator before ending up in a German camp in 1943. Now, 65 years later, she is a renowned translator who in her twilight years has translated the great works of Dostoevsky. For the first time in all these years, she returns to Kiev together with her granddaughter.

Heavy Metal auf dem Lande

Donzdorf on the edge of the Swabian mountains in Southern Germany. A village just like any other, with a pointed church spire, a supermarket and a new housing estate. But Donzdorf is the seat of "Nuclear Blast Records", one of the world's most successful independent heavy-metal record companies. The company's boss, Markus Staiger, grew up with heavy metal, like many young people in rural areas, and has turned his enthusiasm into an empire with branches in Los Angeles and other major cities. Housewives from the village work for the mail order department, sending out bloody skulls to every conceivable place in the world. Listening Sessions are held in the village pub, where the offerings are commented on by the regulars as critically as by international journalists. The film takes a look at the occasionally comical interaction of the tranquil village inhabitants with the rather crude hard rock scene.