Hildegard Knef

In December 2025, the extraordinary artist Hildegard Knef would have celebrated her 100th birthday. Her life was shaped by numerous talents, an unshakeable will to succeed and the ability to keep pushing herself forward. This documentary sheds light on the life of the legendary actress and singer.

The biography of Hildegard Knef – born in Ulm in 1925, died in Berlin in 2002 – reflects post-war and divided Germany. It also reflects the vitality, hypocrisy, and sensationalism of our society and the media that feeds it. The film features numerous original interviews with Knef, excerpts from feature films, concert recordings that testify to her stage presence, which is still incredible today, as well as TV reports from Berlin, New York, and elsewhere. In addition to her, friends and relatives, contemporary witnesses, colleagues, and journalists also have their say.

Using unpublished and newly digitalised archive footage and film material, Bettina Böhler has brilliantly assembled this film about the life and work of the exceptional artist Christoph Schlingensief, who died in 2010.

The films, affairs and struggles of the iconic star of The Blue Angel as told by Rosemary Clooney, Roger Corman, Deanna Durbin and many more.

Hildegard Knef: legendary German film diva. An actress whose personality is as complex as the characters she has played. She is by turns irritable, impatient, charming, humorous, fascinating and enchanting. But behind the many masks is the temperamental woman, the Hildegard Knef who has weathered many of life′s blows: failure in Hollywood, cancer, lost loves, the enmity of the press and, finally, the horror of aging. A Woman and a Half - Hildegard Knef is the portrait of a Knef who has become cynical and unpredictable in order to protect herself, but also a Knef full of warmth, humor and spirit.

After Henny's father loses his job at her ex-fiancee's shipyard because of Henny's affair with Sigi, he begins to panic about how to make a living and tries to find new quarters. His sister, Henny's aunt Marlene, suffers as a result of his chaotic efforts. The path to his new life requires that Henny get married, as the aunt is a strict puritan. But whoever knows Henny can be sure that things will take a few unexpected turns...

On May 17, 1946, Deutsche-Film AG (DEFA) was founded in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Until 1990, DEFA produced nearly 700 feature films, 750 animation films, 2250 short and documentary films and synchronized about 8,000 films from abroad.

No plot available for this movie.

Helke Sander interviews multiple German women who were raped in Berlin by Soviet soldiers in May 1945. Most women never spoke of their experience to anyone, due largely to the shame attached to rape in German culture at that time.

A documentary about the 75th birhday of the UFA film studios directed by Hans-Christoph Blumenberg.