Raphaela Film

Ekchart Schmidt examines the machinery behind the dream factory; the Hollywood myth is unmasked. How does the studio industry work? What role does marketing and the hype surrounding the stars play?

Documentary about the 2004 movie 'Der Untergang' aka. 'Downfall'

Documentary about Hollywood.

TV review of a litany of Hollywood impropriety.

A selfie-film.

Budd Boetticher talks about the Ranown Cycle, a collection of low-budget westerns of the late 1950s.

Documentary about the director Budd Boetticher.

Female fans are flocking to pop star Nik's feet. But when he announces that he is madly in love with Sarah and wants to marry her, there is an outcry from his fans. In view of Nik's popularity rating, the record company fears a slump in sales. So they stage a "meet your star" contest in which three ladies want to do everything they can to get the superstar away from Sarah. Can Nik remain faithful...?

A parade of well-known actors and directors from Germany

Daniel and Clara are on a vacation in Italy. In the form of the mysterious "Sandman" Coppola, a figure from Daniel's childhood, returns to haunt him, while he succumbs to an obsessive love with an enigmatic woman of strange beauty: Olympia, who might be far more than she first appears to be...

Documentary about Italian cinema.

Documentary about the Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles.

Documentary about Marilyn Monroe.

Film noir, which enjoyed particular success in the 1930s and 1940s, is probably the most profound genre of classic Hollywood cinema. Eckhart Schmidt tries to show the background and developments and speaks, among others, with directors such as Richard Fleischer and Robert Wise as well as with "femme fatale" actresses. Filmmakers of the following generations explain how the style and themes of noir continue to shape cinema today.

Starting out as e-mail pen pals, Daniel and Laura soon fall in love. Only problem is that she lives in Germany and he lives in Los Angeles. When they finally arrange to meet in person, they discover that there is no chemistry between them.

Documentary about the American actor Rod Steiger.

Once before, the ravishing lake mermaid Undine has warned her lover Raoul. Their humid-romantic fairy-tale love is in danger because Raoul's brother wants to destroy the pristine mountain lake idyll with an ambitious hotel project. Undine defends her paradise. She is alluring, but also perverse and unpredictable. She can give a lot of love, but she can also kill.

An Amour-Fou-Story of an old man and a young girl, remembered by the girl at the Roman places of their love. This is the first Roman Cycle Film.

Second part of Eckhart Schmidt's TreCamerone-trilogy.

Documentary about the history of German television.