Based on extensive interviews, shot on 16mm in a series of static long takes, Filmemigration aus Nazideutschland, is one of the most fascinating examples of "Film history on film" ever produced. Straschek devoted years to researching the topic and accumulating both film and non-film materials. Apart from some radio features and articles, however, this 290-minute TV programme remains the only published trace of Straschek's lifelong work on the emigration of film personnel. He had intended to publish a three-volume book, encompassing all available data about 3,000 emigrants originating from the centre and peripheries of film production, but the book never materialised.
Stars, pop culture and the attitude to life between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11 are shown in this documentary on the 30th anniversary of the former music channel VIVA, which first shaped the zeitgeist - and was then overrun by it.
At Phoenixsee, an artificial lake in the southern part of Dortmunds, two worlds collide between modern apartments for the rich while the old-established working class is living just a few blocks away. The newly-rich Hansmann family just moved here from Düsseldorf while the Neuraths have been living in Dortmund for their whole life. As their children are attending the same school and play in the same soccer team, the families and their problems become entangled.