Kill Bill, Basic Instinct and more on TV + Stream

The Arte program for the first half of 2025 has been set: award-winning films and classics such as “Kill Bill” and “Basic Instinct” provide exciting entertainment. Historical milestones are presented from new perspectives.

At the Berlinale (February) and the Festival de Cannes (May), ARTE presents international cinema with award-winning films such as Robert Schwentke’s black comedy “Seneca, Oder: On the Birth of Earthquakes” and Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Antonina Tchaikovsky”.

Kai Wessel’s television film “One Day in September” (May 16/23) tells how Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and General Charles de Gaulle initiated reconciliation between France and Germany at their first meeting in 1958. Series fans can expect, among other things, “I Know Your Soul” (March 6/13) by the award-winning director Jasmila Zbanic and the award-winning British web only series “In My Skin” (January 24).

Big cinema at Arte 2025: “Basic Instinct”, “Kill Bill” and more on TV and stream

Two film evenings in February and March pay tribute to the two exceptional German talents Sandra Hülser (March 7th) and Lars Eidinger (February 12th) with new portraits. Corresponding feature films by the actors will also be shown: “Sisi & Me” (2022) and “Family Festival” (2016). But Sharon Stone will also be illuminated with a film evening (January 12th): the scene of her lasciviously crossing her legs in “Basic Instinct” (January 12th on Arte and online) is famous. Arte is also showing the film “Casino” (January 19) with Stone on TV.

Quentin Tarantino fans can look forward to June 2025: Then there will be a Tarantino focus at Arte. On television, Arte shows the cult films “Jackie Brown” (1997) and the two-parter “Kill Bill” (2003/2004) with Uma Thurman. The Tarantino films “Reservoir Dogs” (1992), “Death Proof” (2007) and “Planet Terror” (2007) are also available online on arte.tv.

“Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office” (online April 24th, TV May 1st). The series retells one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history: for years, hundreds of postmasters were wrongly accused, harassed and prosecuted because of a software error.

80 years of the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of World War II at Arte

Commemorating the tragic conflicts of the 20th century is the focus of the Arte program in the first half of the year. January 27, 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. A day of great historical and moral significance, to which Arte dedicated a focus, among other things, to RP Kahl’s “The Investigation” based on Peter Weiss.

Around the anniversary of the Russian attack on February 24, 2025, Arte is showing a focus on “Three Years of War in Ukraine”, including “The Basement Prison of Jahidne” – from the Arte series #GenerationUkraine.

On the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Vietnam in April, the four-part documentary series “Vietnam – Birth of a Nation” tells the history of the country from a Vietnamese perspective. In May, Arte will focus on the end of the Second World War 80 years ago in a comprehensive program focus.

From Thomas Mann to Leonardo da Vinci

2025 is also the anniversary year of one of the most important German-speaking writers of the 20th century: Arte is celebrating 150 years of Thomas Mann with a focus in June. Another literary highlight awaits the Arte audience in March with the documentary “The Other Sex – In the Footsteps of Simone de Beauvoir” – a re-examination of the groundbreaking work for global feminism 70 years after its first publication.

Saturday evening on Arte offers great discoveries for the whole family: In April with Ken Burns’ two-parter “Leonardo da Vinci – Life of a Genius”. And in May with “Colosseum: Rise and Ruin”, this monument of the Roman Empire that could hold 50,000 spectators as early as the 1st century AD.

Arte’s entire 2025 program preview is available as a brochure.