This comedic musical tells the story of Gabi, a young hairdresser from the Baltic coast who desperately wants to be a jockey. One day, she packs her bags, drives to Hoppegarten, and is soundly rejected by the head coach. Gabi doesn't want to give up, and in order to at least have a roof over her head, she rushes into a marriage with the seemingly nice Freddie. However, this marriage soon proves to be her second rejection, as Freddie openly dislikes the fact that she wants to be a jockey. The first ray of hope comes when a kind-hearted stableman lets Gabi train in secret. Will she be able to find love while still remaining true to her dreams?

Sonya, an art student, loves the med student Dieter. And Siegi, a factory worker, loves the bricklayer Eddie. At a lavish Carnival party at East Berlin's art school an unintentional exchange of partners begins. When everyone takes off their masks, Dieter realizes that he did not spend the evening with Sonya, but with Siegi! Director Slatan Dudow, a collaborator of Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler, was a celebrated DEFA director, yet East German officials had problems with the film. They saw it as undermining their plan to bring together the intelligentsia and workers; they also objected to the film's sensuality, which they perceived as a challenge to socialist morality. Campaigns that were organized against the film, however, could not prevent the light and fanciful romantic comedy from becoming a box office hit. The audience was intrigued by the upbeat musical score, the young, fresh faces on screen and the sensuous story line. Content warning: This film contains racist imagery, in the form of a white protagonist wearing blackface at a Carnival party.

Ulla is a sensitive and principled 10th-grader in a small East German town. When Winfried falls in love with her, he adopts her passion for protecting the environment. One day, they discover that an illegal trout farm and weekend home are being built in the middle of a conservation area. Ulla tries to stop the project and gets her classmates involved. Winfried is in a difficult position because it is his father, the powerful director of a company, who is responsible. As they meet resistance from officials, the others gradually give up the fight to save the local nature reserve; but not Ulla, who is left to deal with the consequences. BIOLOGY! was one of the very few East German films that dealt with protecting the environment. This topic was taboo in the GDR, where all data on environmental demage was classified information. Nevertheless, grassroot activists-often under the umbrella of the church-represented a small but vigorous environmental movement.

After he gets out of jail, Hoffi is looking for a fresh start. He wants to find Urban, a role model of sorts that he met during a brief hospital stay. Along the way, Hoffi meets a young woman, Gila, who is willing to overlook his past. Despite her family's disapproval, Gila decides to build a life with Hoffi, but initially he balks at the responsibility. Thanks to the encouragement of his brigade members, Hoffi realizes his mistake and decides to give his relationship with Gila a chance. Director Ingrid Reschke, one of very few female directors working at the DEFA Studio for Feature Film, and author Ulrich Plenzdorf based the script on 1960s news reports, as a way to address social problems including hooliganism, housing shortages and issues faced by children of single parents. This impressive portrait of young workers on large GDR construction sites was shot mainly on location and in Totalvision-East Germany's version of CinemaScope. The black-and-white film follows in the tradition of DEFA "Berlin films" of the 1950s and 1960s, depicting Berlin as a tolerant, cosmopolitan city.