Ekchart Schmidt examines the machinery behind the dream factory; the Hollywood myth is unmasked. How does the studio industry work? What role does marketing and the hype surrounding the stars play?

A parade of well-known actors and directors from Germany

Documentary about Hollywood.

Documentary about Italian cinema.

Documentary about Marilyn Monroe: 1962: America loses its blonde icon. Marilyn Monroe dies under mysterious circumstances. How did she die? The police report states: probable suicide. But there are many things that point to murder: a corpse draped too beautifully, an investigation that was cut short, evidence that disappeared. Plus Marilyn's affairs with the then US President John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby. What really happened on that fateful summer night? After her housekeeper discovers the body, six hours pass before the police are called. She finds a beautifully draped corpse, sleeping pills in the blood but no pill residue in the stomach, witnesses who seem uncertain. The first investigator thinks about murder - and is taken off the case. Today no police files can be found.

TV review of a litany of Hollywood impropriety.

Actresses from different countries perform myths.

Documentary about the director Budd Boetticher.

Documentary about the Italian director Francesco Rosi.

Documentary about the American actor Rod Steiger.

Documentary about Las Vegas.

Documentary about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Documentary by Eckhart Schmidt.

Documentary about American gangster movies.

Documentary about the new generation of Hollywood stars in the early 2000s.

Documentary about Ray Bradbury

What happens when famous directors stage an opera? Eckhart Schmidt shows successful and failed attempts.

Documentary about the German opera singer Inge Borkh.

Documentary about Hollywood stars, paparazzis and professional photographers.

Documentary about the dark side of Los Angeles.