Wolfgang Bergmann

Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity

Can a work of art remain relevant 200 years after its creation? Ludwig van Beethoven’s last completed symphony proves it’s possible.

Russia's Millennium Children

The Putin era in Russian politics began on 31 December 1999, shortly before the millennium celebrations. The children born on that day and at the turn of the millennium have now come of age. They have only ever known ex-KGB man Vladimir Putin at the pinnacle of power. What do this generation think and feel? Some are ardent Putin opponents, for others he is an idol. Some want to leave the country others want to fight for change. From the perspective of these millennium children, torn between private dreams and political aspirations, a nuanced portrait of the ‚Putin generation‘ emerges.

On the Bridge of Death and Life

Every year many thousands of people visit the mighty Nanjing Yangtze Bridge. Every year dozens of them have no intention of leaving the bridge alive. But there is one person determined not to see them plummet to their deaths: Chen Si. For some 13 years now he has sacrificed every free weekend to patrol back and forth across the bridge on his motorcycle.

The Tragedy of a Simple Man

Woyzeck takes psychotropic drugs and punishes himself physically. He has no choice. It's his living. With what he earns selling his body and by working in a restaurant and in subway tunnels, he just about makes ends meet. Coming home to his wife Marie and his infant child, he’s an impotent wreck -- and definitely unable to afford the earrings he sees Marie wearing one day. She’s frustrated and the jewelry is a gift from the local pimp. Woyzeck wasn't supposed to find out. But he has. Plagued by voices, he loses his already weak grip on reality. He retreats into the tunnels with Marie and the baby. There Woyzeck is the master of life and death.

Peer Gynt

Young Peer Gynt returns home once again after unsuccessfully looking for work. His mother already goes to meet him and he describes his alleged adventures to her. In his imagination, he sees himself as a king and escapes reality with his stories. His mother would have liked him to marry Ingrid, with whose dowry they would be well provided for, but Ingrid is promised to Mats and will marry him the very next day. While Peer once again escapes into his world of thoughts while lying in the grass, he is laughed at by the others of the village. They warn him to come to Ingrid's wedding feast, where the whole village is celebrating. But he does not care and there he meets Solvejg, whom he likes very much, but she initially turns away from him. So he kidnaps the bride Ingrid, incurring the wrath of the groom and the rest of the village youth.