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?

Hollywood would be nothing without them: without the stars, who combine a lot of light and shadow, who act as rebels not only in front of but also behind the camera.

What girls do when they're alone and lonely.

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...?

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

Documentary about Italian cinema.

Documentary by Eckhart Schmidt.

Documentary about Hollywood.

Documentary about Los Angeles.

Documentary about Hollywood.

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.

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...

A Palermo head-off-legend about love and hate.

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

Nude poetry reading: pure fun!

Documentary about Marilyn Monroe: 1962: America loses its blonde icon. Marilyn Monroe dies under mysterious circumstances. How did she die? The police report states: probable suicide. But there are many things that point to murder: a corpse draped too beautifully, an investigation that was cut short, evidence that disappeared. Plus Marilyn's affairs with the then US President John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby. What really happened on that fateful summer night? After her housekeeper discovers the body, six hours pass before the police are called. She finds a beautifully draped corpse, sleeping pills in the blood but no pill residue in the stomach, witnesses who seem uncertain. The first investigator thinks about murder - and is taken off the case. Today no police files can be found.

Aspiring actors and actresses talk about making it in Hollywood and how they perceive this world. Casting directors and filmmakers also share their perspectives.

A parade of well-known actors and directors from Germany

Second part of Eckhart Schmidt's TreCamerone-trilogy.

Harold Nebenzal talks about his career.