Everyone knows Columbus, but no one knows Vespucci. Nevertheless, Vespucci’s first name “Amerigo” became the name sponsor for the America discovered in 1492. How did it come about? And who was this hardly known Italian? A swindler, as was often claimed later?…
Imposters appear as gentlemen amongst criminals. Their scams are always audacious, normally genius and often simply unbelievable. Unbelievable, but true. Why do we always fall for the fraudster’s tricks? By means of the coups of the third exceptional conman the film illuminates…
April 6th 1768 – French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville reaches Tahiti. An encounter, which will change the Island and Europe forever. It is the first French world journey and the first scientific focused maritime expedition for information. A young female botanist…
The last witness of Native American civilization was a Prince from Prussia. A feat that not even Alexander von Humboldt had achieved was accomplished by the Prussian Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied: in 1815, he ventured on an expedition along the Eastern coast of Brasil….
Prince Pückler – Playboy, Pasha, Parkomaniac watch the film in german in the ZDF Mediathek The name is associated with a brand of ice-cream rather than with a man’s life work. A dandy who had travelled the East, Prince Pückler was one…
For 18 years “Speichelbroiss” have been making noise in the Bavarian backwoods. With “Chao Leh” they have written a German-Punk-Hit for Asia. Their song about the sea nomads called Chao Leh tells us about a clan that doesn’t seem to fit in…
An intimate portrait of actor Jürgen Holtz. The ham actor as the last sovereign in the theatre – this slogan is Jürgen Holtz’ programmatic confession in relation to his profession. One of Germany’s most sought after actors, he was a controversial figure…
The official music video of the Berlin-based trio CAYAO. “Fuego Vivo” – written by Jarkko Riihimäki, arranged by Jarkko Riihimäki, Ander Perrino and Iskandar Widjaja. CAYAO: Violin – Iskandar Widjaja Piano – Jarkko Riihimäki Double Bass – Ander Perrino Lady in black…
No-one has been as famous for his art of seduction and love affairs as he: Giacomo Casanova. In his memoirs, the 18th century libertine writes extensively about his numerous amorous encounters. Far from being a Don Juan or a cold-hearted womanizer, however,…
In her self-built dream house in Bethel, Tobago, she carves Caribbean dancers from German Oak, and has turned into one of the important representatives of Afro-Caribbean art. She´s one of the few people who have turned their dreams into reality and are…
It’s one of greatest literary mysteries of all time: who wrote Shakespeare’s plays? And there really is a mystery. How could the Stratford grammar-school boy, son of a glove-maker, become the universal genius who wrote the greatest plays of all time? Why…
“Few people can realize their dreams. But if you can’t get so far as even to dream, you’re never going to realize a dream, any dream, let alone your own dream.” In a far corner of Russia is a place called Mongun…
As a young boy, he hated going to school, and his father thought he was a failure. He dropped out of medical school, because he couldn’t see blood. Finally, he decided to become a priest. However, fate decided that this unstable young…
Early morning, 19th of May 1536. A young woman, barely thirty years old, ascends the steps to the scaffold in the courtyard of the Tower of London. She has been accused of adultery and witchcraft: Anne Boleyn, the wife of King Henry…
In the winter of 53/52 B.C., the Gallic leaders gather in a remote forest to prepare for the approaching war. For years, Caesar had continually weakened their country, kidnapped their women, robbed their grain and taken hostages. Using his skilful policy of…
Tunisia: Many tourists only know the country from a hotel deckchair, or adventures on the beach. But the beaches are just the golden border to this radiant country. The country offers a great variety of landscapes and cultures. The mountain scenery and…
On the 8th of July 1497, the Portuguese discoverer Vasco da Gama left the stormy Lisbon coast, with a fleet of four small ships. No one knew if he would reach his goal. His plan was to discover the sea route to…
In 1556, in the city of Delhi, a thirteen-year-old boy named Akbar ascended the throne. He was to become the greatest ruler of his era on the Indian subcontinent: a fierce warrior and a founder of peace, a rigid autocrat and a…
Siddhartha Gautama was no liberator or reformer. He was the “enlightened” one – a title, given to him by his followers. In his state of total enlightenment, Buddha could have left the world forever, and entered long awaited Nirvana. He remained, however,…
A Christian monk was said to have recognized the boy Mohammed, as the successor to Jesus, by the signs of a birthmark, and a cloud above him in the Syrian Desert, that protected him from the desert heat. The boy from Mecca…
„Leave the world and go to Zion!“, the Mormon missionaries had been preaching, since their church was founded in 1830. Where is Zion located? It’s in America! One of the greatest migrations moved in direction of Utah, the new Mormon settlement. Dragging…
In the middle of July, in 326 B.C., on the bank of Hydaspes, a tributary of the Indus. Monsoon rain lashes the country for weeks. Used to victory, Alexander’s soldiers are demoralized by illness and the extreme climate. They marched 8,000 kilometers…
Why is music the first form of communication between people? How does music speak? Do we need sound to produce music? These are only a few questions posed by Giora Feidman, who the media acclaims as the “Israeli miracle clarinettist”. This man…
In the middle of the North Pacific, 3.000 kilometers far away from the next coastline, a lonely raft floats eastwards. Details: ZDF, Arte, 1996 Length: 43/53 minutes Written and directed by: Eike Schmitz Camera: Lars Barthel, Holger Rusch, Tim Severin, Rex Warner…
In the year of 375 AD, Europe is terrified, as if the earth were shaking. Wild hordes of horsemen, coming from the vast steppes of Asia, overrun Europe’s eastern borders. Shocking messages of murder, torture and scorched villages precede their onslaught. The…
He became a bestselling author abroad, and in his home country, Germany, he’s finally being recognized and honoured at last. Edgar Hilsenrath’s story (born in Leipzig, 1926) is the modern odyssey of a German-Jewish author. He’s an outsider, who was constantly defining…
Sommersdorf in Germany’s Middle Franconia looks like a knight’s castle straight out of a picture book. However, the Franconian idyl conceals a creepy secret, which is discovered, when the French army attacks the Prussians on a stormy evening in October 1806. Several…
Was Columbus the first explorer to discover America? No! Among many scholars today, this is an indisputable fact, but the idea is not as popular as you might think. Details: ZDF, ORF, 1992 Length: 45 minutes Written and directed by: Jens-Peter Behrend,…
In the small East German town Genshagen-Ludwigsfelde, the past, the future and the present collide. It is during the decline of East Germany; Mercedes-Benz is coming to build Europe’s most modern truck plant and “ring in a very, very new era”. The…
Adalbert Heide was one of many German youths, whose dreams of adventures in foreign lands were awakened by the books of the German writer Karl May. Moreover, this young boy from a remote area of Germany bordering Poland never forgot his childhood…
The earth quaked heavily; the sea overflowed its shores. In this way the warlike people of Atlantis sank under the earth on that terrible day and night, and their island sank into the waters. That is the first account of a disaster…