Films

A prince must find an enchanted tree to win the hand of a proud princess. With the help of the ruler of the kingdom of magic, he finds the precious tree, but he can only take it if he fulfils one final condition: to make the princess fall in love with him before sunset. Adapted from a tale by the Grimm brothers, this is a landmark work of European children’s cinema that combines romance, fantasy and a sense of unease, produced at DEFA, a studio in the former GDR. Between a prince turned into a bear, a green-haired princess and a malevolent dwarf, the symbolism and psychedelic visual effects in Technicolor create a magical and haunting atmosphere that evokes the worlds of Jean Cocteau, David Lynch and Michael Powell, but also the unforgettable classic “The Wizard of Oz”.