One immediately associates the name Boeing with the dynamic world of aviation, enormous aircraft, global air traffic, as well as success and economic power. Yet hardly anyone realises that the mighty “global player” was once a family-owned business, only very few people know that the family originally came from Germany. The film “William Edward Boeing – Ace of Aircraft” visits original sites where you can still feel the Boeing story to this very day. It delves into the archives and finds surprising new information about the family history, and includes interviews with the son of the company founder William Boeing. Detailed re-enactments, filmed in the USA with the help of a German-American team, revisit the days long gone by days of the late 19th and early 20th century in touching scenes. The result is an exciting family portrait, the gripping story of an immigrant family and an astounding documentary about an entrepreneur – the history of the Boeings and Boeing whose family ties span the Atlantic.

There is hardly a place in the world where nobody is wearing jeans. There are countless myths and legends that have developed around the invention of blue jeans. The film takes the audience on a trip back to the past. It explores the exciting and thrilling days of Lola Montez and Buffalo Bill, and reconstructs young Levi Strauss’s arduous journey from Buttenheim via Bremerhaven to New York and San Francisco.

Pianists have always regarded the concert grands of Steinway & Sons as the best in the world, which is why these instruments stand in 98 per cent of all concert halls across the globe. They are still produced mainly by hand in Steinway’s factories in New York and Hamburg and comprise more than 12,000 individual parts. The scenic documentary “Henry Steinway – Birth of a Legend” by Christopher Weinert tells the moving story of Heinrich Engelhardt Steinweg, who emigrated to America from the German town Seesen in the Harz in the mid-19th century and advanced in his new home town New York to become the most famous piano maker of all times.

From hobby gardener to millionaire: Henry John Heinz, the son of German immigrants, becomes not only one of the most successful food producers with his mother’s recipes, but also one of the best salesmen in the world. With everyday products like gherkins, sauerkraut and his famous ketchup, he has changed the eating habits of America and the world. “Henry John Heinz – Ketchup King” is the portrait of an unusual man of many talents, a man who goes through many trials and tribulations, and who founds a company that now counts as one of the big brands in the world.

Oh, he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone was Ebenezer Scrooge. A squeezing, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner.” This is the man every child thinks of when it hears the name Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Far less well-known is the real-life person the character is based on: John Jacob Astor. The fact that he did not only make history for being a miser can be seen in the film “John Jacob Astor – America’s richest man”. The film “John Jacob Astor – America’s richest man” is a breathtaking trip to a world of danger and adventure, full of new ideas and opportunities. It is a film about one of the most famous names in the world, whose namegiver has almost been completely forgotten.