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Gerd Ehlers

Actor
Gerd Ehlers was a German actor, born on May 21, 1924, in Hohensalza, Germany (now Inowrocław, Poland) and died on May 10, 1988. Ehlers was known for his work in East German cinema. He appeared in a variety of films produced by DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft), the state-owned film studio of East Germany. Some of his notable films include "Der Reserveheld" (1965), a comedy that showcased his versatility as an actor, and "Die Gerechten von Kummerow" (1982), based on the novel by Ehm Welk, where he played one of the village characters. Ehlers was well-regarded for his character roles, often portraying figures of authority or patriarchal types. Though he did not receive major international awards, his contributions to East German cinema were appreciated, and he remains a respected figure in the history of German film.

Films

What Would Happen If...?

What Would Happen If...?

By Gerhard Klingenberg

1960 | 90 min | Timeless

While the GDR government tries to collectivize agriculture, the appearance of mysterious gentlemen in West German cars triggers wild speculation.

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Sag mir, wo du stehst

Sag mir, wo du stehst

2011 | 30 min | Documentary

Arrested, interrogated, persecuted, suppressed. At the Hohenschönhausen Memorial in Berlin, eyewitnesses recall the Stasi methods used during arrest. All of them remain traumatized. Their accusations are directed at the former SED regime. Conversely, former Stasi employees deny that any injustice occurred. In the film, both sides confront each other. A battle for the interpretation of the past begins. Personal memories, however, show that history has many facets. But it is the dialogue between victims ...

The GDR Complex

The GDR Complex

2016 | 90 min | Documentary

Young, gay, and conservative, Mario Roellig is a witnesses to the atrocities committed in the GDR. He guides groups through the Stasi prison where he was once incarcerated. A love affair with a politician from West-Berlin made him try to flee to the West, but he got unlucky and was detained at the famous Stasi prison Berlin Hohenschoenhausen. Today Roellig confronts GDR aficionados and is also confronted by people who still believe in social utopias. And he tries to overcome his hurt feelings: ...

Mit dem Wort Wende

Mit dem Wort Wende

2009 | 3 min | Shorts

Filmmaker Juliane Henrich explores the term "Wende" (course change) by means of a speech by Christa Wolf, which she gave shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Alexanderplatz in Berlin. A time-lapse recording of the Berlin television tower is intertwined with fragments of Wolf's speech on 04.11.1989. The writer called into question the term "Wende", which today is synonymous with the peaceful revolution of 1989, but it was actually SED Secretary General Egon Krenz who first spoke of a ...

Test Drive to Paradise

Test Drive to Paradise

1992 | 83 min | Timeless

Can love be sin? The young priest Strobel (Axel Milberg) takes part in a bus trip to Lourdes. On board: the strict nun (Christiane Hörbiger), a renitent bus driver (Mathias Gnädinger), a mysterious older lady (Inge von Ambesser) and a lot of pious foot soldiers. When the pregnant woman, (Barbara Auer) who smuggles herself into the bus Maria fanatics, turns out to be the lover of the priest, an unmasking hide-and-seek game of lustful lies and asceticism begins. "Fast paced with bold dialogue, beautiful ...

Duerer’s Heirs

Duerer’s Heirs

1996 | 58 min | Documentary

"It cannot be said more coarsely and more precisely: in the GDR, German painting is more German…" was the opinion of the writer Günter Grass at the beginning of the 1980s. The fall of the Wall in 1989 made it possible to take a closer look at this ‘German’ painting of the faded GDR. At the centre of the film is a group picture. The picture was taken in the early 1960s in Leipzig, a field of experimentation and testing for a 'new German realism' under socialist conditions. What connects the founders ...

The Case of Mr. Spalt

The Case of Mr. Spalt

1988 | 95 min | Timeless

A satirical story that revolves around director Otto Spalt, who tries in vain to score funding for his latest project. He is confronted with all the absurdities of the bureaucratic apparatus that makes funding decisions.

Silentium - From life in the monastery

Silentium - From life in the monastery

2015 | 84 min | Documentary

Four Benedictine nuns, a priest, and thirty sheep live in the Habsthal convent in southern Germany. Director Sobo Swobodnik delves into the devout daily lives of the convent sisters. The daily spiritual life consists of choir prayers, meditations, Eucharist celebrations, mesmerism and the night prayer, in addition to the care of house and garden. But it hasn't been quiet for a long time, because the Habsthal convent, which looks back on a history of more than 700 years, is visited by more and more ...

Feldarbeit

Feldarbeit

2012 | 39 min | Documentary

In calm and exploring images between the poles of documentary and fiction, Henrike Meyer is reaching out, looking for some kind of reconciliation. The filmmaker accompanies her father during the harvest, an exhausting time that leaves little or no room for any form of familiar daily routine. This makes FELDARBEIT an actual portrait of fieldwork. Henrike Meyer’s intimate perspective of an outsider gives an insight into the workings of a large agricultural firm that employs seasonal workers. The German ...

Adventure Anthroposophy - Rudolf Steiner and his influence

Adventure Anthroposophy - Rudolf Steiner and his influence

2008 | 110 min | Biography

What was the thinking of this man, who, in the past century, gave significant impulses to pedagogy, agriculture, medicine, economics, natural science, art and architecture? What is anthroposophy and how does it affect the world today? How justified are the accusations of anti-Semitism and racism? We visit important stations in Steiner's biography (Lower Austria, Vienna, Weimar, the Goetheanum in Dornach), Waldorf schools in Germany and Africa, and the anthroposophically oriented Sekem Farm in Egypt. Followers ...

Paths in the Night

Paths in the Night

1999 | 93 min | Drama

Walter is a man in his late 50s for whom reality is somehow slipping away. In GDR times he was the director of an industrial collective, but now his life's work is a ghostly ruin. Walter is stunned by a world that has discarded him - and an inner rampage has begun. With Hilmar Thate as Walter, Cornelia Schmaus as Sylvia, Henriette Heinze as Gina, and Dirk Borchardt as Rene. "Andreas Kleinert's calm yet powerful cinematography portrays not only the lack of perspective and stagnation of the dismantled ...