Author: 4hunters

Karl May wrote his books before ever having been to the exotic locations where they were set. How did he manage to tell such unbelievably detailed and authentic stories by the power of his imagination alone? Where did he get his knowledge and creativity?

This film paints the portrait of a man who, with seemingly superhuman powers, overcame the harsh blows fate sent him. A man who found a second identity and home in the magnificent settings of his novels.

Elaborately shot dramatic scenes show not only parts of the author’s multifaceted life but also the fictional adventures of his hero Kara Ben Nemsi as he hunts criminals in the East with his friend Hadschi Halef Omar. Rainer Strecker, a Berlin actor (Einsatz in Hamburg), plays both Karl May as well as his alter ego Kara Ben Nemsi. Hadschi Halef Omar is played by Adnan Maral (Türkisch für Anfänger). The fictional worlds from Winnetou and Old Shatterhand will be shown in clips from movies based on those novels.

On the documentary level, scientists have reconstructed the methods by which the author created his “travelogue.” Dr. Johannes Zeilinger, Chairman of the Karl May Society, takes the audience to the real locations of the novels in the Tunisian desert. Back in Bamberg, Germany, he discovers a literary treasure, the last surviving manuscripts of the most widely read German author.

A personality profile, written by Professor Hinderk Emrich deciphers the extraordinary talent of the great dreamer. The story of his own life is Karl May’s last riddle.

Time and again, the Vietnam War is cited as a comparison when commenting on the American military presence in Iraq. Between 1965 and 1975, the USA had deployed in South-East Asia to contain communism. They had temporarily increased their troop numbers to half a million GIs. Washington at the time subscribed to the so-called domino theory, and John F. Kennedy had warned that the Marxist world revolution could spread from Indochina to Thailand, Burma and even India. Today, the question is whether the phantom war being waged by George W. Bush against global terrorism, which in reality has targeted revolutionary Islam, is based on a comparable misjudgement.

Under the cover of night on October 2, 1961, 53 inhabitants from a village in the prohibited area flee to the West. It is the largest escape across the German domestic border. A total of 14 families leave everything behind and risk their lives to flee their strictly controlled and regulated daily existence. The first concrete posts had already been piled near the village, and rumors were flying about an impending forced resettlement. In our film we reconstruct the story of this night, and we show what led half of the villagers to leave their home forever. Our protagonists are the refugees who were the parent’s generation, a number of their then-children, and also inhabitants of the village who still live in Böseckendorf today. In addition to memories about the escape itself, witnesses convey the living conditions in the prohibited area and the escalation of the situation in the so-called “protective strip,” the 500-meter wide sector right next to the border. We show that October day in Böseckendorf from the perspective of the refugees as well as those who stayed. We describe their planning, the wearying hours before the departure, the life-threatening journey across the border sector, the situation of those who stayed, and the flustered reactions of the border police and the secret police (Stasi).

One of the greatest myths in the history of mankind centers on the Queen of Sheba, said to have been fabulously rich and extraordinarily beautiful. She gave her name to a whole cultural epoch and shows up in all three of the world’s great religions, but we don’t really know whether she in fact existed or how powerful she may have been, if indeed she was a historical figure. The inhabitants of Saba earned their living mostly by trading incense. They more or less had a monopoly on this much sought after substance, which was used in all the temples around the Mediterranean. Based on this successful trade, a rich culture developed, mainly evident in the capital of Marib, which already had a population of about 30,000, and most of those inhabitants were affluent. It is still unknown whether the monopoly really lay solely in the hands of the famous, beautiful Queen of Sheba, or whether the inhabitants of Saba indeed lived in a matriarchy. Today, archaeologists are bringing to light how influential and powerful the Sabaeans had been in their time. In Yemen, they have found Marib and are now gathering previously unknown information about this ancient culture. They have discovered the remnants of giant palaces, stones piled up with astonishing precision, for houses with up to eight stories. And a true fairy tale castle is said to exist, the residence of the Queen of Sheba, with ceilings of pure alabaster. Along the route of the incense traders, Jens Dòcker follows the Queen of Sheba into a marvelous, if also largely unknown country. Starting with the archaeological sites, he will try to evoke the life and culture of the Sabaeans. A fabulous expedition follows the trail of the Queen of Sheba.

She was extreme and insatiable. She loved power – and men. Catherine the Great: a German princess on the tsar’s throne. She supposedly had 21 lovers, but only one knew how to unite politics and unrestrained passion. Grigori Potemkin, the empress’s favorite and general, was the only one who succeeded in kindling a deep love in her. Two fascinating and ingenious personalities who worked hand in hand to carry out their plan: conquering the South all the way to the Black Sea in order to finally turn Russia in to a European superpower. Even today, the unusual love relationship between Catherine and her “conqueror” is connected with famous legends. Did this prince, the man who knew exactly how to use theatrical gestures such as carrying a jewel-encrusted sword to impress people, really build “Potemkin villages” for his lady? These Hollywood-like facades supposedly lined the bank of the Dnieper River when Catherine went to see the success of their mission. Computer animation illustrates the historical fake, and scientists unveil truth behind the myth. Reenacted scenes round out the story and show important episodes in the empress’s life and shed light on the historical facts. A retrospective of her forced marriage with the insane successor to the throne shows her absolute thirst for power. She bore the most serious humiliations while she waited to grow powerful enough to overthrow the tsar and her impulsive, unpredictable husband. She then seized the crown herself, supported by her then lovers. As sole ruler, she originally wanted to follow the ideas of Enlightenment and free the Russian people from serfdom. But her desire for reform failed because she was in the habit of giving land and hundreds of thousands of serfs as gifts, and not only to her lovers. She even expanded serfdom throughout the conquered Ukraine, and sent an army of millions of colonists there. The French philosopher Diderot said of her: “Catherine may do whatever she pleases”. Scenes of poverty and misery create a contrast to the dizzying splendor of the St. Petersburg palaces where Catherine lived, and to the luxurious “love nests” which she gave to her favorites. High-quality documentary pictures sweep the audience away to the breath-taking world of the Russian tsars.

She was the first “Queen of Hearts,” a 15-year-old girl from the Bavarian countryside who captured the heart of Austria’s monarch Franz Josef and was received in Vienna by cheering crowds. Her happiness seemed to be perfect and her life one endless waltz. And because such things only happen in fairy tales, Sisi became the rainbow press’s darling and the embodiment of the wishes and desires of the masses. When she rode out to the Prater, people came out in droves to see for themselves how beautiful she was. Paparazzi followed her every move, and mobs of journalists dug around for the intimate secrets and details of her life. Sisi, who was shy, finally broke under the weight of the grandiose masquerade that was her life. Behind the glittering façade was a progressive-minded woman who wanted to escape from the Viennese “prison” and the rigid, antiquated protocol of the Austrian court. She tortured herself with starvation diets, nightly forced marches and hour-long workouts. She became obsessed with styling her glorious hair and recognized that her legendary beauty was also an instrument of power. She used this to influence her husband, who loved her passionately, to fulfill her wishes and even as a lever to move Austrian politics. Sisi became a fanatically committed rebel interested in the Hungarian ex-revolutionaries. Her project had so much success and influence that Franz Josef was crowned King of Austria-Hungary. She managed to break down the hateful courtly ceremonies, escape the dictates of her overbearing mother-in-law, take the education of her children in her own hands, and even have private relationships. And yet she remained trapped in a gilded cage. Her only escapes were as a jet-set-vagabond, traveling to the most sophisticated seaside resorts in all of Europe, and as a passionate parforce-rider who risked life and limb. Her tragic and meaningless death by the hand of an Italian anarchist made her myth immortal. This insightful re-enactment, partially in “Paparazzi-look,” creates a portrait of the “Empress against her will” which refutes the popular stereotype of the fairy-tale princess. The Viennese historian Brigitte Hamann in cooperation with contemporary journalists reveal the “cult of personality” machinery of 150 years ago.

Even during Friedrich August’s childhood, the future Elector of Saxony was known for his vivid imagination and his desire to live his life like a heroic epic. Because he was the younger son, he had no expectation of ascending the Elector’s throne. Fate, however, decreed an early death for his brother, and Friedrich August came to power in 1694. Driven by the strength of his imagination, he was able to turn his dreams of absolute power into reality and became the “Sun King of Saxony.” His life was a political coup de main in which myth and truth were inextricably interwoven. As legend has it, this Saxon Hercules could break horseshoes with his bare hands, amused himself with the most beautiful women in the land, and fathered 354 children with his many mistresses. He possessed treasures such as those described in fairy tales, built an entire castle out of porcelain, and bought the Polish crown so that his majesty would outshine all others. Terra X sets out on an expedition into this man’s magical realm, the fairy-tale king who forcefully wielded his political power, and who loved beauty as well as battles. This documentary approaches this fascinating figure in an entertaining way. The approach is based on a unique document from Count Heinrich Jacob von Flemming, the head of August the Strong’s Secret Cabinet. He wrote a character sketch of his monarch which is as intimate as it is smug. Flemming, played by the Dresdner actor Günter Kurze, narrates the film. Re-enacted scenes in close association with scientific research reconstruct the King and Elector’s realpolitik. They explain with what political intrigue and tactics August the Strong gained the Polish crown, how he financed his costly lifestyle as a baroque prince and, together with his ministers, how he uncovered a tax scandal of enormous dimensions. The re-enactments also illustrate the fairy-tale world in which August the Strong lived. Some of the scenes were filmed on original locations in the Dresden Zwinger and the legendary king’s treasure chamber, the historical Grünen Gewölbe which was reopened in 2006. In the film, a fireworks display in the baroque garden Großsedlitz also marks the beginning of the king’s calamitous affair with the beautiful and self-confident Countess Cosel (Katharina Abt). August the Strong is played by a native of Dresden, the actor Bruno F. Apitz who is well known from German television series. He plays the king as a baroque playboy and tough, power-hungry politician. Leo Natalis plays the young August as well as the first born of the legendary muscle man from Saxony.

Why were many aristocrats enthused by Hitler and his ideas as early as 1929/30? And why did the majority of them first see the criminal side of the NS-regime very late…if at all? Why was – contrary to what has been suggested so far – the number of aristocrats who were true to the “Fuehrer” until the bitter end larger than the number of those who worked to overthrow the NS-regime? Why was, as historian Stephan Malinowski put it, the average aristocrat a supporter of the regime rather than a resistance fighter during the “Third Reich?” Why is the legend of “nobility = resistance,” which has been cultivated for decades, simply not right? Using the von Bismarck family and other families of the German high aristocracy as examples, the TV-documentary ”Nobility and National Socialism“ creates a many-layered picture of the nobles in the time from Hitler’s rise in the nineteen-twenties and early thirties to the end of the Third Reich. The documentary is not intended to be a history of political scandal which exposes or necessarily criticizes but is an attempt at clarification.

The kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer in 1977 is the most spectacular political crime in recent German history. But the events of this portentous fall of 1977 have obscured until now the actual biography of this businessman. For a long time, explorations of his career remained taboo. It´s the TV pictures of his captivity, of the events at the Stammheim prison, and of the symbols of the RAF (Red Army Faction), that have become embedded in the viewers´ minds. In this film, we will aim to portray the real Hanns Martin Schleyer for the first time. In the 1930s Schleyer, the son of a conservative and nationalistic judge in Offenburg, belonged to the young, radical student leaders of the National Socialists. In the early 1940s, he learned techniques for organizing industries as a member of the “Central Association of Industries for Bohemia and Moravia”. After his internment, he resumed his professional ascent, starting in 1951 at Daimler-Benz. His life history (he soon was called „the boss of the bosses”) made him into a “magnet” for the RAF terrorists, as his later kidnapper Stefan Wisniewski put it. On the other hand, an interviewer for the magazine “stern”, Kai Hermann, in 1975 found it difficult “not to like him spontaneously”: “He does not deny anything, he does not embellish anything, he does not apologize. He has an unbroken relationship with his past.” For our documentary, which will be released simultaneously with the publication of a book, we will, in addition to doing exhaustive archival research, interview family members, contemporaries and friends like Kurt Biedenkopf and Eberhard von Brauchitsch, as well as assistants and co-workers from his times at Daimler-Benz, the BDI (Association of German Industrialists) and the BDA (Association of German Employers), and his counterparts from negotiations with the unions. We will also draw upon a wealth of audio-visual material about Schleyer from the 1960s and 1970s. In interviews we would like to find out more about what image of Schleyer the terrorists had, and how much they really knew about his life. The documentary will show an emblematic German career, and by that certainly achieve a strong response from the public and the media.