More Than Ten Years Behind the Camera: How UNTOLD DPM Became a Long-Term Documentary Archive
Thirty episodes, eleven additional archive productions (deleted scenes ) and hundreds of hours of footage: UNTOLD DPM (“Die Pornomacher”) has documented people working in the adult entertainment industry for more than a decade. Now, for the first time, the complete archive is being brought together in one place as Season 3 expands internationally.
What happens when a camera does not disappear after a few days, but keeps coming back?
Over the years, individual shoots for UNTOLD DPM have developed into an extensive documentary archive. The series follows people working in the adult entertainment industry through different stages of their professional and personal lives — decisions, turning points, relationships, conflicts and change.
Pornography as spectacle is not the focus. UNTOLD DPM is interested in the people behind the public images of a highly stigmatized industry.
At its core is a simple question: How much of what society believes it knows about these people reflects their actual lives — and how much is based on prejudice?
When the Camera Becomes Part of the Background
UNTOLD DPM is filmed in a fly-on-the-wall style, following situations as directly as possible rather than creating them for the camera.
The length of the project fundamentally changes the relationship between filmmaker and subject.
“When you follow someone for only a few days, the camera is still very present and inevitably affects how they behave,” says filmmaker and photographer Sahin Dellemann. “Over the years, it becomes part of the background. That is when you begin to see not only the person in front of the camera, but the person behind it.”
This becomes particularly visible when earlier decisions take on a different meaning later. People return to the series. Careers change. Relationships begin and end. Some protagonists take completely different paths.
The series therefore documents not only what happens in a particular moment, but sometimes what that moment eventually leads to.
Luisa: Self-Determination and Social Expectations
One of these stories follows Luisa, an art student from Munich.
In front of the camera, she begins questioning her own decision and asks why female sexuality continues to be judged differently by society. She talks about reactions from people around her, family expectations, self-determination and why deeply personal choices can so quickly become subject to public judgment.
The conversation develops into a personal process of self-examination in which it becomes clear that these questions are not abstract for Luisa. They directly affect her own life and sense of identity.
Wolf Wagner: Ein ungewöhnlicher Karrierebogen
Wolf Wagner represents a very different kind of story.
His career took him from journalism through reality television and management to becoming a porn producer. Over roughly one year, UNTOLD DPM documented key stages of that unusual trajectory — from his entry into the industry to almost the end of his career within it.
Stories like these explain why UNTOLD DPM is less interested in creating a conventional portrait of an industry. The industry provides the setting. The stories themselves are about decisions, identity, ambition, relationships and their consequences.
A Stigmatized Industry as a Space for Observation
Few industries are as publicly visible while simultaneously carrying so many assumptions and stereotypes.
That is precisely what makes this environment interesting from a documentary perspective.
What does stigma do to people? How does public perception influence someone's sense of self? What happens when private decisions suddenly become subject to wider social judgment?
UNTOLD DPM does not attempt to provide a predetermined answer.
The series observes. The interpretation is left to the audience.
The Complete Archive, Available Together for the First Time
For the first time, material created over more than a decade is being brought together on UNTOLD-DPM.com.
Alongside the 30 episodes from Seasons 1 and 2, the archive contains eleven additional productions, including deleted scenes, extended stories and pieces that function almost as standalone short documentaries.
Some of this material was never originally intended for release or remained unfinished. Today, it adds further perspectives to the two existing seasons.
The complete archive is available through membership. Free teasers and excerpts continue to be published on Instagram, YouTube and X. UNTOLD DPM content has generated close to three million Instagram views within three months and around one million views on YouTube.
Staffel 3 öffnet sich international
While the first two seasons were produced primarily in Germany, Season 3 broadens the geographical scope of the series.
New stories are increasingly being produced internationally and in English, while existing episodes are also being dubbed for English-speaking audiences.
UNTOLD DPM is therefore entering a new phase: evolving from a predominantly German long-term documentary project into an increasingly international documentary series.
After more than a decade, however, the central idea remains unchanged:
A documentary series about a world everyone knows — but few truly understand.