DEFA-Studio für Trickfilme

A culture festival is held in the village. Everyone is invited to take part, which is why the devil is also signing up to take part....

Puppet animated film based on a fairytale by the Brothers Grimm.

Olli, the main character in the movie, got a very bad grade and is terribly annoyed. She runs away from home and, together with a dog and a horse, finds a (mad? nutty?) scientist in a windmill. They experience the strangest adventures in this windmill and find other interesting characters, a lot of excitement and peril. While you may well interpret something as the "socialist value system" into this movie, it is more meant to be a children's movie, showing the kids that there are more exciting things out there than the ones that your parents and teachers show you, and that you will only find out most of those things on your own, if you show enough curiosity.

The leader of a group of young technicians tells us the story of the "Proxima Centauri Company", which may one day become reality. Four researchers are tasked with flying a proton rocket to our neighboring solar system Proxima Centauri, and analyzing living conditions on planet A 4. However, a mysterious black forest awaits them on the planet, the secret of which they can only uncover after dangerous and adventurous research work. However, they discovered a strong plant growth hormone that also promises great benefits for earthly agriculture. In this way, the researchers return to Earth with important findings.

A young merchant's son spends his entire fortune to be able to throw lavish parties with his cronies. All he has left in the end is an old magic suitcase that can be used to fly.

Faustus wants to invent a fire that is stronger than all previous flames. Then death approaches him. In order to prolong his life, he makes a pact with Mephistopheles. When he has found the fire, he burns the contract and is ready to die. Death shows him life in the form of Margaret, with whom Faust falls in love. In order to regain his youth, he sells the flame to Mephisto. Faust enjoys the idyll of love while the Black Knight, Mephisto's servant, subdues the land with fire. When Faust refuses to enter the service of evil, his wife, child and home are destroyed by the flame. Faust makes another pact with Mephisto and invents a fire that blows up knights and devils. This time, Death orders him to discover the fire of life.

The devil wants revenge on Kasper for his last defeat and kidnaps Gretel in a helicopter. Kasper uses all the possibilities of modern technology to find and free Gretel, but the devil always manages to shake off his pursuer. He insidiously saws through the bridge and Kasper and his Trabant plunge into deep water. The devil sees himself as the winner, but has not reckoned with Kasper's determination and the reliability of the little car. In the end, the evil kidnapper is defeated and locked in the fridge.

For his mockery a witch transforms the pert boy Jacob into an ugly dwarf, but teaches him at the same time how to cook. Jacob quickly becomes a master of his trade and is named the prince's first cook. Only the mysterious herb "sneeze-with-passion" is unknown to him. Based on a fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff.

With the young Friedrich Engel’s letters and drawings from the years between 1838 and 1842, a unique cinematic portrait is created. The viewer thus gets to know the young Engels personally, learning about the significant moments of his development from a bourgeois-liberal upbringing to the theoretical partner of Karl Marx. Later be awarded the Gold Dove at the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week.

A farmer and his wife had a girl in addition to their seven sons. An evil old woman turned the boys into ravens because she had not been invited to the christening. When the girl turned seven, she learned of the sad fate of her brothers and set out to redeem them. Her journey to the end of the world, to the sun, moon and stars, was adventurous and full of danger. But the girl persevered, found her brothers in the glass mountain, was able to rescue them and return with them to her parents' house.

When Luitpold Leuwenhaupt sees a faboulous goose in the local pet shop, he can't resist buying it for christmas. But the three kids become friends with the goose, calling her 'Auguste'. So, is there any way left for Luitpold to make a fine christmas feast out of Auguste?

Animated short film based on Andersen's tale.

One morning, a tailor was sitting at the window sewing. A shopkeeper came by and loudly offered plum jam for sale. The little tailor spent his last penny to treat himself. But the sweet smell of plum jam attracted a lot of flies, and when the tailor struck, seven fell by the wayside. This deed seemed so remarkable to the little tailor that he made himself a belt on which it was written that he had killed seven in one go.

Kunz, the poor day laborer who is richly blessed with children, discovers the secret of the cave in the Simeliberg while collecting wood. Robbers keep their looted treasures there. Kunz takes some of it from time to time so that he can put a little more on the table for his family. Kunz's rich, stingy and suspicious neighbor discovers the secret of the treasure cave. His greed blinds him so much that he runs into his misfortune.

Knurri, a little rabbit, and his family want to sell eggs at the market. On the way there, Knurri strolls along and discovers late in the day that he has lost his eggs. A ravenous badger has devoured them. Nobody at the market wants to buy eggs from the rabbit family. Only when Knurri comes along and suggests painting the eggs with flower paint does the business get going and everyone is happy.

When the Nazis took power, the Jewish artist Leo Haas (1901-1983) was arrested in his Czechoslovakian hometown. He spent the next six years in different concentration camps and became known for the paintings he did in the Theresienstadt camp. This film presents Haas as a political artist and resistance fighter and celebrates him as a socialist caricaturist dedicated to the GDR.

A farmer owns a pear tree, three daughters and a chicken. Every year he has to deliver three baskets of pears to the king. Once, when he is unable to fill the third one, he puts his youngest daughter in it. The prince discovers her and immediately falls in love. The king is against the union and sets her the difficult task of fetching the treasure chest from the Tower of Winds. With the prince's help, the pear girl overcomes all difficulties and brings the treasure chest to the castle. Nevertheless, she is not supposed to get the prince and has to outwit the king with a clever idea.

The lighthouse keeper Jonathan not only has to restore the old tower, but living together with a lazy tomcat, a nagging goat and the dog Moonlight also causes some problems. Thanks to Jonathan's empathetic help, they all find a way to live together.

Animated short film based on the Andersen tale. A king envies his son for the carefree way he spends his days and wants to find him a wife. She must not only be beautiful, but also particularly sensitive, which she must prove with the pea test in bed. The first, a hard-working peasant girl, is sent home immediately, the second leaves of her own accord because she finds the prince too boring, the third passes the test and marries the prince. Now he becomes king, and the old man retires to feed swans from now on.

A man waits at the side of the motorway with a tow rope, waiting for a car to tow him. Many, many cars go by without stopping until the driver of a small dilapidated car takes pity on him. The rope is attached. The other end of the rope leads to a pot-hole in the road. Lurking insides the pot-hole is a surprise.