Hannes Schuler

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One and a half years before the begin of the Second World War during the annexation of Austria in March of 1938, Hitler conceived the megalomaniac idea of creating the largest European art center in his home town of Linz. At the beginning of the war on the 1st of September 1939, not only did his armies advance but also his art thieves began to fan out in their great foray of art plundering; an expedition on a previously unheard of scale began. Not only did the task forces of diverse National Socialist organizations pillage the occupied countries; Nazi bigwigs like Goering also took whatever they felt was valuable. This documentary includes the long and eventful journey of an exceptional masterpiece of European art: the Ghent Altar, created by van Eyck.

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The two navigators, Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Francis Drake, shared the same ambition: to circumnavigate the globe by ship, in the service of their countries, Spain and England, which hoped to gain political and economic supremacy from the feat.

In the heart of a metropolitan city of 15 million people and among the construction of a new billion-dollar transportation network, an archaeological sensation has been discovered: the ancient harbour of Theodosious, lost from the history books for over 1000 years.

Around four million years ago, ape-like creatures discovered the advantages of walking upright. The starting point of a fascinating journey that, with many dead ends and setbacks, leads to modern man, who populates the whole world as a successful model of evolution. The impressive computer animations bring viewers closer to prehistoric and early man than ever before. The film also accompanies the world-renowned paleoanthropologist Friedemann Schrenk from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt to hotspots of human history between South Africa and Europe. The film shows documentary scenes from the hotspots of human history as well as spectacular computer animations.

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Our planet is running out of drinking water. Only a vanishingly small proportion of the world's water is available as usable fresh water. This precious resource is beginning to shrink at an alarming rate, as natural water reservoirs are out of balance due to climate change. The documentary accompanies research projects that offer hope.

Between love madness, scandals, intrigue and happiness - the stories of German princesses on the Russian tzar's throne were shaped by strokes of fate. Princess Charlotte of Prussia was married on exactly her 19th birthday in 1817 with the future Russian Tsar. She joined a long line of German princesses at the Tsar's court, beginning with Catherine the Great and extending to the last Russian Empress. 200 years later, her descendant Maria in St. Petersburg is searching for the traces of these German women.

Whether for symbolic, religious or aesthetic reasons, tattoos are practised all over the world. But what is it that drives so many people, of all ages and social backgrounds, to modify their own bodies despite the pain? Sometimes regarded as a mere fashion statement, tattooing actually has an ancestral history: as the famous glacial mummy Ötzi testifies, the practice already existed over five thousand years ago.

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In the middle of the 20th century, a small town in Spanish Andalusia on the Costa del Sol becomes an international high society meeting place: Marbella. The nucleus is the “Marbella Club” – opened in 1954 by Prince Alfonso zu Hohenlohe, a descendant of the German nobility. His rich, famous club friends enjoy this picturesque setting on the Mediterranean. The insider tip for the nobility, the super-rich and Hollywood stars quickly becomes one of Europe's tourist hotspots. A rapid rise begins, which seems to know no limits thanks to bubbling petrodollars, but then almost fails due to one of Spain's biggest corruption scandals. The focus of the film is the city itself. How did the once insignificant coastal town become a metropolis of the international jet set? How have glamor and scandals shaped the city? How did she maintain her charm and appeal despite profound periods of decline?