Staff Picks
We asked our staff members to recommend movies they love and which can currently be found on streaming services and in the media libraries. The list, which we update regularly, should give you plenty of input for many hours of home cinema. Use the filters for a quick overview of your favourite genre or to find films suitable for kids. Please note that the availability of original or other language versions of the recommended movies depends on the streaming providers.
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- LGBTIQ*
US 2006, D: John Cameron Mitchell
Rarely feels a film rated R 18+ so light and optimistic.
Available on various streaming platforms
ABRÁZAME COMO ANTES Hold Me Like Before
Costa Rica 2016. D: Jurgen Ureña
Sensitive, thoughtful docudrama about transsexual prostitutes in Costa Rica.
Available on vimeo
GB 2019–. D: Ben Taylor, Ken Herren
British comedy-drama television series starring Asa Butterfield as an insecure teenager and Gillian Anderson as his mother, a sex therapist.
Available on various streaming platforms.
US 2019. D: Lauren Morelli
Miniseries that centers on a group of LGBTQI+ people sharing a house in San Francisco. Based on the “Tales of the City” novels by Armistead Maupin.
Available on various streaming platforms.
US 2016. D: Ryan Coogler
The film, shocking precisely because of its stylistic reserve, is based on a true case and its surprising success heralded a whole new wave of black films.
Available on Netflix
US 1964. D: Michael Roemer
The story of an African-American railroad worker in Alabama in 1964, who has to struggle with family and relationship conflicts as well as the racism of a small town. In Germany this small masterpiece is little-known.
Available on YouTube
US 1988. R: Alan Parker
A deeply uncomfortable, stirring and shocking film, albeit told from a privileged perspective on a case that is based on true events from 1964.
Available on Amazon Prime
US 2018. D: George Tillmann Jr.
Youth novel adaptation, in the center of which is the African-American student Starr, who witnesses how a white cop shoots her best friend during a nightly police checkup, and who then gets into a conflict between moral duty and the fear of reprisals.
Available on Sky Ticket
FRG 1973/74. D: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
A classic of European cinema that still captivates audiences with its political topicality and relentless focus on the violence of interpersonal relationships.
Available on Amazon Prime
FR 2014. D: Boris Lojkine
Deep in the Sahara, Léonard makes his way to Europe with a group of refugees from Cameroon. Hope, a young Nigerian woman, joins them.
Available on filmingo
US 1991. Director: Ridley Scott
A tragic-comic road movie about two women who would do anything for each other.
Available on Amazon Prime MGM channel
US 2007. D: Vadim Perelman
A film that impressively paints the picture of a woman who cannot let go of the past and is plagued by her feelings of guilt.
Available on Sky Ticket
DE 2017. D: Ute Wieland
An extremely successful adaptation of the book, which makes one cry with laughter, and at the same time shakes and deeply touches the viewer.
Available on Netflix
ES/FR/IT 2018. D: Asghar Farhadi
An emotionally convincing and suspenseful drama with a star cast.
DE 2004. Director: Fatih Akin
Touching love story set within the so-called “second generation” of Turkish immigrants in Germany.
Available on Amazon Prime
USA 1985. D: Donna Deitch
This classic of queer cinema is not only one of the first films that portrayed a lesbian love in a positive light, but also impressed screen icon Greta Garbo so much that she called leading actress Helen Shaver personally.
Available on realeyz
SP 2017. D: Carla Simón
The film tells of Frida’s first weeks in the Catalan countryside with her new family after the death of her mother.
Available at Grandfilm on Demand
KE 2018. D: Wanuri Kahiu
A film about courage, hope and the magic of first love: Kena and Ziki dream of travelling, of studying medicine and of no longer having to hide their love for each other under the guise of friendship.
Available at the Salzgeber Club
Außer Atem. FR 1960. R: Jean-Luc Godard
Influential classic of French cinema and the Nouvelle Vague, which attracted attention particularly with its extraordinary visual language.
Available in the Servus TV Mediathek
GB 1979. D: Ridley Scott
Sci-fi horror film, which enjoys cult status not least because of its strong female lead character and the grandiose film design.
Available on Netflix
US 1963. D: Alfred Hitchcock
In Hitchcock’s horror classic, millionaire daughter Melanie pays a surprise visit to lawyer Mitch in Bodega Bay, where soon after strange bird attacks start to occur.
Available on Sky Ticket
DE/US 2014. D: Wes Anderson
With its symmetrical images and eccentric figures, this is a typical Wes Anderson film that tells of the events in the once magnificent Grand Budapest Hotel.
Available on Sky Ticket
FR 2018. D: Ludovic Bernard
A story about the young Mathieu, for whom music becomes a way out of social deprivation when he is discovered playing the piano by the director of a conservatory.
Available on Amazon Prime
FR/BE 2017. D: Yvan Attal
When Neïla, who is of Arab origin, is racially insulted by her professor, it causes a scandal at the university. Now the professor must show his good will to calm the situation.
Available on Amazon Prime
BE 2018. D: Lukas Dhont
The 15-year-old ballet student Lara would like to finally have gender-affirming surgery. When she is banned from dancing for health reasons, she can no longer stand the wait.
Available on Amazon Prime
US 2019. D: Chris Butler
The animated film about the journey of the natural scientist Sir Lionel Frost combines exciting fights, action-packed chases and loving characters with a great deal of humour.
Available on Netflix
US 2018. D: Spike Lee
Black comedy about the first African-American who starts his police service in Colorado Springs in 1972.
Available on Amazon Prime
US 2018. D: Mimi Leder
Film about the lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which combines elements of biopics and court dramas and invites a discussion about role models and equality.
Available on Netflix
DE 2019. D: Erik Schmitt
After the early death of her parents, Cleo became a loner. As an adult, she comes across a treasure map and finds hope: part of the treasure is a magical clock that can be used to turn back time.
Available on Amazon Prime
DE/US 2008. D: Stephen Daldry
The drama revolves around the issue of coming to terms with the past of those born after the Second World War and raises questions about guilt, morality, responsibility, law and justice without providing answers.
Available on Netflix
DE 2019. D: Nora Fingscheidt
Nine-year-old Benni is wild, aggressive and unpredictable: she is kicked out of foster families, residential groups and the special school. Actually she only wants one thing, to live with her mother again.
Available on Netflix
GB/PH/US 2019, Drs: James Jones, Olivier Sarbil
Thriller-like documentary film about the bloody anti-drug war in the Philippine capital Manila.
Available on YouTube and Arte Mediathek
DE/IT 2017. D: Tobias Wiemann
After a severe asthma attack 13-year-old Amelie has to start therapy in the South Tyrolean Alps. With 15-year-old Bart, she sets out to climb a mountain peak to get to a fire which is said to have healing power.
Available at Amazon Prime
DE 2014. D: Thomas Heinemann
This tragicomedy tells the story of 11-year-old Lola and her friend Rebin, who lives illegally in Germany with his family in precarious circumstances.
Available on Amazon Prime
US 2017. D: Greta Gerwig
A coming-of-age tragicomedy, which revolves around a strong-willed 17-year-old woman who insists on being called Lady Bird.
Available on Amazon Prime
US 2012. D: Derek Cianfrance
Atmospheric and captivating film about a fairground stuntman who suddenly finds out that he has a child.
Available on Amazon Prime
GB 2014. D: Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin
Entertaining family story with a good dose of black British humour.
Available on Amazon Prime
US 2019. D: Steven Soderbergh
Satire about the publication of the so-called Panama Papers – ingenious and entertaining.
Available on Netflix
AU 2015. D: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Story about a woman who returns to her small hometown in rural Australia and shakes things up with her fashion creations.
Available on Sky Ticket
GB 2019, D: Alastair Fothergill
Mini-series that takes the audience on a journey around the world and shows fauna and flora in breathtaking pictures.
Available on Netflix
Augenblicke: Gesichter einer Reise. Faces Places.
FR 2017. D: Agnès Varda
This highly entertaining, moving and multiple award-winning film is rightly considered a worthy legacy of the great Agnès Varda.
Available on iTunes and others
CH 2018. D: Barbara Miller
The film illuminates the sexual oppression of women as a global problem in a way that is both captivating and revealing.
Available on Amazon Prime and others
Mein Leben als Zucchini. My Life as Zucchini.
CH/FR 2017. D: Claude Barras
A film full of depth and warmth, which is able to inspire children and adults alike.
Available on Amazon Prime and others
US/GB 2013. D: Steve McQueen
Oscar®-winning film drama that illustrates the absurdity and insanity of slavery.
Available on Amazon Prime, Maxdome
DE 2016. D: Maren Ade
An unusual father-daughter-story, carried by two great main characters, at the same time sad and incredibly funny.
Available on Amazon Prime and others
Germany 2015. D: Arne Feldhusen
Comedy by Arne Feldhusen (TATORTREINIGER, MORD MIT AUSSICHT) about two impostors in top form.
Available on Netflix
US 2016. D: Denzel Washington
Viola Davis received an Oscar for her role as Rose Maxson, who has been faithfully supporting her husband Troy for years, although he does not make it easy for her. Even when he cheats on her, she does her duty, but the marriage falls apart.
Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime
Alles steht Kopf. US 2015. D: Pete Docter, Ronaldo del Carmen
Adorable Pixar animated film about the voices in your own head.
Available on Disney+
US 2017. D: Craig Gillespie
Tonya Harding achieved world fame as a figure skater with the so-called triple axel – but also through the connection to an assassination attempt on her colleague Nancy Kerrigan.
Available on Netflix
Nightcrawler – Jede Nacht hat ihren Preis. US 2014, D: Dan Gilroy
A darkly cynical, exciting examination of the phenomenon of human curiosity, which borrowed from Michael Powell’s masterpiece PEEPING TOM from 1960.
Available on Netflix and others
DE 2019. D: Nadia Kailouli, Jonas Schreijäg
The protocol of a rescue mission, whose captain Carola Rackete involuntarily gained SEAWATCH3 is the protocol of a rescue mission whose captain Carola Rackete involuntarily gained wide-spread attention when she and her team rescued 53 people from Lampedusa and questioned the course of EU migration policy.
Available until 9 October 2020 on ndr Mediathek.
JP 1992. D: Hayao Miyazaki
Light-hearted animated film about an air pirate turned into a pig, which celebrates freedom like no other film.
Available on Netflix
OSS 117 – Der Spion, der sich liebte. FR 2006. D: Michel Hazanavicius
Funny agent film parody that perfectly copies the aesthetics and motifs of early James Bond films and whose German dubbed version is extremely well done.
Available on Amazon Prime
FRG 1964. D: Eugen York
An unjustly forgotten gem of a detective movie from Germany for all those for whom real crime entails the smell of cigarette smoke and a floppy hat.
Available on Amazon Prime
DE/AT/CZ 2019. D: Heinrich Breloer
TV two-part docudrama in which Tom Schilling and Burghart Klaußner give outstanding portrayals of the young and the old Bertold Brecht respectively. The movie also includes film footage and interviews with contemporary witnesses.
Available in the ARD Mediathek
