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German Cinema

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1918-1933 Weimar Republic German Expressionism

1933-1945 Nazi Germany Nazi Propaganda

1950s Post-War W. Germany Heimat

1945-1989 East Germany Soviet Social Realism

1962-1980 West Germany New German Cinema

1980-Today Germany X-FilmeRevisionist historyPostmodernism

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Major Movements of German Cinema

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German Expressionism (1920-30s)

SOCIAL-HISTORIC MILEU:

Post WWI Germany

War guilt and frustration with Versailles Treaty

Hyperinflation & social unrest

Decadence (cabarets)

Expressionistic painting

Resurgent nationalism (pre-Hitler)

Germanic romanticism, idealism, myths

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German Expressionism (1920-30s)

SOCIAL-HISTORIC MILEU:

Post WWI Germany (1920-33)

War guilt and frustration with Versailles Treaty

Hyperinflation & social unrest

Decadence (cabarets)

Expressionistic painting

Resurgent nationalism (pre-Hitler)

Germanic romanticism, idealism, myths

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German Expressionism (1920-30s)

FILM AESTHETIC:

Intuition over reason

Highly imagistic, non-cognitive

Preoccupation with metaphysical, mystical & grotesque

Bleak view of the modern condition

Alienation; “inner life” in turmoil

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German Heimat Cinema (1950s)

Romanticized German history, rural life, and myths

Morally simplistic tales of love and family

Melodramatic

Rural settings: Bavaria, Austria, Switzerland

The “myth” of what Germany was

Total denial of World War II and Holocaust

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The Oberhausen Manifesto (1962)

The collapse of the conventional German film finally removes the economic basis for a mode of filmmaking whose attitude and practice we reject. With it the new film has a chance to come to life.

German short films by young authors, directors, and producers have in recent years received a large number of prizes at international festivals and gained the recognition of international critics. These works and these successes show that the future of the German film lies in the hands of those who have proven that they speak a new film language. Just as in other countries, the short film has become in Germany a school and experimental basis for the feature film.

We declare our intention to create the new German feature film. This new film needs new freedoms. Freedom from the conventions of the established industry. Freedom from the outside influence of commercial partners. Freedom from the control of special interest groups. We have concrete intellectual, formal, and economic conceptions about the production of the new German film. We are as a collective prepared to take economic risks.

The old film is dead. We believe in the new one.

Oberhausen, February 28, 1962

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New German Cinema (1960s-70s)

Response to Heimatfilme that romanticized German history, rural life, and myths

Alexander Kluge: Oberhausen Manifesto

Free from the conventions of Heimat and commercial films

Auteurist, modernist, social purpose

Deconstructive, antagonistic realism

Fantasy and ironic realism

Government subsidized

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New German Cinema (1960s-70s)

Wim Wenders

Ranier Fassbinder

Werner Herzog

Margarethe von Trotta

Alexander Kluge

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X-Filme Creative Pool (1994-)

A mutual production company run by directors

Pool talents and resources

Comparable to early days of United Artists

Goal: “Produce films that challenge audiences”

Reestablish Germany as a major player

No uniform aesthetic

Stefan Arndt, Wolfgang Becker, Dani Levy & Tom Tykwer

http://www.x-filme.net/html/filmo.html

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Revisionist History

Attempt to correct distorted views of German history

Second and third- generation directors

Focus on those who fought Nazis

Moral crises of individuals

Sympathy for plight of Jews

“A national confession”

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Postmodern Film (A few characteristics)

Postmodern view of world

Anti-foundational (no overarching mythic framework)

Non-linear narratives

Cut back and force across time & space

Self-reflexive (know it is a film)

Mix of high and low art forms

Doesn’t take itself seriously

Marginal aspects of society

Self/identity “mediated” through media