Angela Merkel

Jaan Tootsen’s documentary follows President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in the last year and a half of his term in office – as he grapples with the complexities of world politics and his private life. Tootsen’s keen camera eye follows Ilves at his most difficult moments, showing no mercy, but creating a gripping, rather harsh and at the same time very human portrait of the President.

Ten years ago this summer, she said the historic sentence: “We can do it”. In the WDR interview, Angela Merkel speaks publicly for the first time with refugees about the refugee movement of 2015.

An investigation into how far-right leaders in Germany have risen to the brink of power. Reporter Evan Williams examines the reasons behind the surge in support for their brand of hardline nationalist politics, and the roles of Russia and the U.S.

A portrait of Alexei Navalny (1976), the staunchest opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, severely poisoned in 2020, arrested in 2021 and died on February 16, 2024 in a Siberian prison camp under unclear circumstances.

They call themselves Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear or Voodoo Bear. Elite units of the Russian secret services are hidden behind these code names. They are among the most dangerous hackers in the world. The bears were already in the computer of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015, interfered in the US election campaign in 2016 and are currently influencing the war in Ukraine. The makers of the successful YouTube channel “Simplicissimus” in co-production with funk and SWR are back and show the destructive potential of state hacking with this documentary. With the help of leading German hackers, cyberspace experts and a lot of humor, they delicately demystify the Russian bears: Who are the people behind them? How do they operate? And what makes them so incredibly dangerous?

An analysis of the rise of the European far-right, increasingly present in both politics and everyday life: an inquisitive journey through France, Germany and Belgium.

No plot available for this movie.

The market regulates everything! Diligence and work create prosperity! Capitalism needs growth! What is the truth behind the great principles of capitalism? And how do they work in Eastern Germany - a region that has been a capitalist test laboratory for around 30 years? It is symbolic of various places in the world that are going through similar processes. Renowned economic experts answer questions. How does a large-scale settlement of a global corporation like DHL take place and what must politics make possible for this? What happens when investors pour around a billion euros into one of the largest real estate projects in Europe in the Baltic Sea resort of Binz (Prora) on the Island of Rügen and no place is created that is worth living in? And how are the people in places like Zeitz, which capitalism has obviously forgotten? The film takes you through various stations, through the strongholds of Eastern German capitalism and the places where capitalism has not yet arrived.

Danish documentary about the relationship between Queen Magrethe II and the prime ministers.

The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly it became clear how dependent countries had become on Russian gas imports for decades and what Vladimir Putin was up to. However, no country needs more gas than Germany. It was only after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine that the German government realized that Russia had long used gas as a weapon to impose its will on states. The instrument created for this purpose is the natural gas production company GAZPROM. So how did Germany become so dependent on Russian gas? The documentary shows how, over several decades and several changes of government, a broad alliance of politicians and business representatives did everything possible to secure Germany's energy supply with cheap Russian gas, while the Kremlin's foreign policy became increasingly aggressive and the warnings of experts went unheeded.