Successful directors, renowned production companies and high-ranking educational institutions: The Bavarian media landscape offers an ideal breeding ground for artistically valuable and socially relevant films. This is reflected in the quality of numerous documentaries. We recommend ten documentary highlights from Bavaria that you shouldn't miss!
Ten Documentary Film Highlights From Bavaria
By Anne Krones
"Sommerfahrt – Zeit heilt keine Wunden" (2022)
Following the publication of the first abuse scandals in monasteries, boarding schools and social institutions, Bavarian filmmaker Gereon Wetzel embarks on a journey down memory lane to his scouting days. Conversations with old companions confirm his terrible suspicions. What remains unclear is the question of guilt: what responsibility does the Jesuit order bear for the structures and systems of psychological and sexual violence that seemingly went unnoticed for years? A moving documentary by the Munich production company Südkino, which was commissioned by WDR in 2022 and has been nominated for the Grimme Prize 2023 for its important contribution to the clarification and prevention of strategic abuse.
Watch it here: free of charge at WDR.DOK
Photo: Südkino
"Der wilde Wald" (2021)
The Bavarian Forest National Park is both the setting and the protagonist of Munich filmmaker Lisa Eder's own production. In addition to breathtaking shots of a nature reserve untouched by man, researchers, philosophers, foresters and hikers have their say - a plea for the necessity of letting nature be nature.
Watch it here: VoD at Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, freenet Video, VIDEOBUSTER, Microsoft, MagentaTV, videociety, Kino on Demand and maxdome
Photo: Filmstills
"Wirecard – Die Milliarden-Lüge" (2021)
Wirecard, once a beacon of hope for the German economy, was built on a scaffolding of lies and left behind a mountain of debt worth billions in June 2020. How did it get this far? Austrian directors Benji and Jono Bergmann get to the bottom of the matter in the Sky Original documentary released in 2021. For the excellent research work on the biggest financial scandal in German post-war history, the investigative documentary from Bavarian hands not only landed on the Oscar shortlist in 2022, but also received a “Blue Panther - TV & Streaming Award”.
Watch it here: WOW
"Sorry Genosse" (2023)
The graduation film by HFF graduate (Munich University of Television and Film) Vera Brückner, released in 2023, is a widely acclaimed documentary reconstruction of a cross-border romance in Germany in the 1970s. It was produced in co-production with Nordpolaris GmbH for Bayerischer Rundfunk and supported by FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (FFF Bayern). The escape and life story of two students separated by the Iron Curtain conveys an astonishingly vivid view of the zeitgeist of the 1970s.
Watch it here: DVD start: 25.08.2023, VoD start: 25.08.2023
Photo: W-film
"Die Sache mit den Juden" (2021)
Four parts, four perspectives: Each episode of the BR documentary series “Die Sache mit den Juden” sheds light on the growing anti-Jewish resentment in Germany in recent years from a different angle. Director Richard C. Wagner lets those affected, experts and academics have their say, all of whom are looking for answers to the same question: Why is the Jewish population still caught in the crossfire of anti-Semitic hostility and attacks?
Watch it here: free of charge in the ARD media library
"Erfundene Wahrheit – Die Relotius Affäre" (2023)
The revelations surrounding Claas Relotius' largely fabricated reports shook the German and international media world. In order to show the significance of the scandal in journalism and in a democratic society, the in-house production of the pay-TV provider Sky, based in Unterföhring near Munich, goes in search of clues: a gripping true-crime documentary that looks behind the scenes of the media industry.
Watch it here: WOW
Photo: Sky
"Vom Menschen zum Cyborg" (2020)
The Munich-based streaming provider Joyn not only presents live TV shows from the ProSiebenSat.1 media group, but also plenty of successful originals, such as the 2020 documentary about Dr. Peter Scott, who was diagnosed with motor neuron disease. The film follows the path of his transformation into the first human cyborg - an attempt to increase his life expectancy despite the serious illness of his motor nervous system.
Watch it here: free on Joyn
Photo: Sugar Films Limited
"Apache bleibt gleich" (2022)
Who is behind the person with the sunglasses who has risen meteorically to become one of Germany's most successful rappers? The Prime Video documentary gives viewers their first insight into the life of Volkan Yaman aka Apache 207. “Apache bleibt gleich” comes from Bavaria: the Munich-based company W&B Television realized the production on behalf of Amazon Studios and even elicited the breakthrough artist's first public interview.
Watch it here: Prime Video
"Dreiviertelblut – Weltraumtouristen" (2020)
Hardly any director duo could portray the music of the Bavarian band “Dreiviertelblut” more successfully than Marcus H. Rosenmüller and Johannes Kaltenhauser, who have already produced successful documentaries about LaBrassBanda and Hubert Goisern. In a joint effort with Südkino, the two Munich-based filmmakers have staged the colorful work of these impressive musicians in black-and-white images - so successfully that the documentary has been nominated for the 2021 German Documentary Film Award.
Watch it here: VoD on Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play and VIDEOBUSTER
Photo: Südkino
"Juan Carlos" (2023)
The documentary about the former Spanish king will be presented in Germany for the first time at DOK.fest 2023 in Munich. It will also be available online from May 21, 2023. In four episodes, the top-class Sky original documents the rise and fall of a once revered monarch who ultimately had to abdicate and flee into exile.
Watch it here: WOW, May 21 and 28, 2023, each as a double episode on Sky Documentaries
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