Rex Gildo’s songs and musicals made him very popular. His best-known song was “Fiesta Mexicana” from 1972. Rosa von Praunheim tells the story of his life in the context of the gay pride movement, the normative pressures of the Schlager music industry, and the profound changes currently underway.

A fascinating exploration of the literary — The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, by English playwright William Shakespeare (1604) — and lyrical — Othello, by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (1887) — myth of Othello, the desperately tragic story of a Moorish general in the army of the Venetian Republic whose absurd jealousy poisons his love for his wife Desdemona.

Luca, a young aspiring model, tries to elevate his modeling career, by meeting up with the once-very-famous-photographer Jerry, that he has met online. Jerry will introduce him to a glamorous new world Luca could only dream of. but at what cost? Sternchen examines the abusive side of the fashion industry, and how mentorship gets confused with sexual and personal domination.

The two-part documentary Pop & Passion tells of power and magic, but also of the pressure and excess that prevails in the pop business.