The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of Der Klosterjäger: Cult Guide

Dir: Franz Osten

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Great Cattle War perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

After another successful performance at the Teatro Real, opera singer Carlo Baloni decides to spend the evening at a cabaret. The beautiful Giuseppa, with her amazing voice, appears on stage.

Dir: Franz Osten

A power struggle between mountain peasants who have been raising milk cows on common land and a village bailiff trying to gain power driving them off the land. Both have a ducal documents that states the opposite.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Die Dame in Schwarz perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Franz Osten

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Franz Osten

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Die raffinierteste Frau Berlins perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Franz Osten

Two neighboring Indian kingdoms are ruled by cousins - King Ranjit and King Sohat. Unbeknownst to Ranjit, Sohat is plotting to seize control of his kingdom.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Throw of Dice perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Franz Osten

A historical romance set in the Mughal Empire. Selima (Enakshi) is a princess-foundling raised by a potter and loved by her brother, Shiraz (Rai). She is abducted and sold as a slave to Prince Khurram, later Emperor Shah Jehan (Roy), who falls for her, to the chagrin of the wily Dalia (Seeta Devi). When Selima is caught with Shiraz, the young man is condemned to be trampled to death by an elephant. A pendant reveals Selima's royal status and she saves her brother, marries the prince and becomes Empress Mumtaz Mahal while Dalia is banned for her machinations against Selima. When Selima dies (1629), the emperor builds her a monument to the design of the now old and blind Shiraz, the Taj Mahal. The film contains a number of passionate kissing scenes.

Dir: Franz Osten

This adaptation of Arnold's 1861 Orientalist epic opens with documentary shots of tourists in Bombay watching street performers. Then a white-bearded old man sitting under the bodhi tree tells the tourists the story of Gautama (Rai), son of King Suddodhana (Ukil) and Queen Maya (Bala), who left his consort Gopa (Seeta) and became a wandering teacher credited with founding Buddhism. The religious epic, with its idealized figures, takes up the narrative in flashback and ends with Gopa kneeling before Gautama asking to become his disciple.