Marlene Dietrich in a red knitted sweater looks up at the sky.

Digital collection

We keep hundreds of thousands of objects on film and television history in the archives of the Deutsche Kinemathek, including films, screenplays, photos, posters, costumes, film equipment and much more. Our new search portal (so far only in German) allows you to search for films and individual objects from our collections. A search for film holdings and collections of papers is currently not yet possible – we are working on integrating this function. 

You can also discover our online presentations, which present individual holdings in detail. These include the personal estate of Marlene Dietrich, storyboards and drawings by production designer Ken Adam, historical photographs of Berlin cinemas or an edition of all the film materials for Murnau’s ‘Tabu: A Story of the South Seas’. 

This digital offer is intended to give you an insight into the variety and depth of our collections – regardless of place and time – and to facilitate your research into film, television, and cultural history. 

Online presentations

  • Four men, a car and a horse pose for a photo during filming.

    Känguruh-Film Archive

    Browse the production archive of the Berlin documentary film company Känguruh-Film, which features ordinary people and extraordinary animals. The search is only available in German.

  • Costume designer Monika Bauert with an actor in a lizard costume on the film set. The actor hugs her and kisses her on the head.

    Personal Papers and Company Archives – Inventory overview

    You can explore our Personal Papers and Company Archives which have an inventory of over 600 items. Here we present a selection of around 60 of them in detail. 

  • Black and white photograph of a man from the indigenous Polynesian population of Bora Bora on the beach, holding a spear.

    The Making of F. W. Murnau’s ‘Tabu’ – The Outtakes Edition

    17,500 meters of outtakes and extensive materials related to the making of Murnau’s ‘Story of the South Seas’

  • Three people and a dog in front of a cinema façade in Berlin, black and white photograph from 1910.

    Photographs on Movie Theater History in Berlin

    From local movie theaters to colossal film palaces – discover 100 years of Berlin’s cinema culture!

  • The painted film poster shows red skyscrapers with faces on a yellow background streaked with traces of fire.

    Burn Marks – Film Posters from a Salt Mine

    Seventy posters were stored in a salt mine in Grasleben during World War II. They have been restored, digitized and are once again accessible.

  • Director Werner Herzog on the beach, on the right, together with actors standing on the left.

    Werner Herzog Archive

    Discover photo galleries from 44 of Werner Herzog’s films and dive into the world of the director’s imagery.

  • Marlene Dietrich in a red knitted sweater looks up at the sky.

    Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin

    Get the first glimpse online into the Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin.

  • Painted movie poster in the style of the 1920s, showing the face of a woman with red lips, short hair and blue eye shadow.

    Josef Fenneker Collection

    Josef Fenneker was one of the most important film poster artists of the 1910s and 1920s. An almost complete collection of his film posters is available for viewing, together with information about Fenneker's life and work.

  • Pencil sketch from 1979 of a film set design showing a modern room with a round conference table in the middle.

    Ken Adam Archive

    Discover the artistic oeuvre of production designer Ken Adam, known for his work with directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Robert Aldrich and István Szabó as well as many on James Bond films.

  • Black and white shot of a woman looking through the lens of a movie camera.

    DFFB Archive

    Nearly fifty years of history at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) are now online: our DFFB archive website hosts full-length films, interviews with people who made or experienced events firsthand and a broad range of relevant supporting documents.

  • Black and white shot of director Heinrich Breloer during filming on a boat, pointing to the left while the two actors look in the same direction.

    Heinrich Breloer production archive

    An extensive dossier of director Heinrich Breloer's production work is featured in our Personal Papers and Company Archives. It features a range of materials that provide insights into his methodology and approach.

  • A historic 16mm camera with matching case.

    Camera Database

    The Camera database indexes almost 850 historical film characters as found in the largest public museums and collections in Germany.

  • In a studio, a woman sits as a model for a sculptor with her eyes closed.

    Lost Films – Film Reconstruction on the Internet

    "Lost Films" is an internet portal aimed at collating information and documents on films that are considered lost. More than 3,500 titles are available for research.

  • The Dahms couple stand in front of their bakery store in a black and white photograph from 1987.

    Berlin – Ecke Bundesplatz

    The documentary series covers more than a quarter-century of German ways of life. Discover photos and other documents related to making the long-running documentary project in Berlin.

  • Very long queue in front of a bank branch in a residential area of Berlin in 1989.

    Moments in Time 1989/1990

    Discover almost 7,000 private films and photos plus 100 accompanying written memories from the Fall of the Wall and German reunification.

  • The actress Asta Nielsen stands in a dress and crown with her arms on her hips in a festively dressed group and looks challengingly to the side.

    European Film Gateway

    The EFG Portal gives you quick and easy access to hundreds of thousands of film historical documents as preserved in European film archives and cinémathèques.