1960s & 1970s – c. 1990, respectively
COM 320
History of the Moving Image
 Oberhausen Manifesto of 1962, product of 26 writers
and filmmakers who had accepted West German
government grants
 “Der alte Film ist tot. Wir glauben an den neuen.”
(“The old cinema is dead. We believe in the new cinema.”)
 West German government funding of films/TV
presentations followed
 1967 Film Subsidies Board
 1974 Film and Television Accord (Film-Fernseh-Abkommen)
 Early importance of:
 Volker Schlöndorff (trained with Louis Malle, Alain
Resnais, Jean-Pierre Melville)
 Alexander Kluge (one of the Oberhausen spokesmen),
 Margarethe von Trotta (established a “female
aesthetic”)
 The darlings of international film festivals:
 Rainer Werner Fassbinder
 Werner Herzog
 Wim Wenders
 The movement emerged in a national environment of
“forgetting” the Nazi past.
 However, across a wide variety of contexts, “diffused or
denied responsibility” is a repeated theme. . . Not truly
a “forgetting.”
 Also, the individual or “typical” person’s perspective is
presented.
 The NGC auteurs were politically sensitized, but this is
often submerged in their films.
 Auteurs not a coherent group.
 NGC auteurs employ a variety of styles, but avoid the
“slick” American style of fast editing, classic 3-point
lighting, etc.
 Late, some films (e.g., The Nasty Girl, Lars von Trier’s
Zentropa as impacted by NGC) used a unique style of
composite shot
 A revival of the “International Style,” as well as an
impetus toward a “World Market” (e.g., Schlondorff,
Wenders, Herzog)
 March 31, 1939 - present
 Directed 38 films and TV shows since 1960
 Served as a writer on 22 films and TV shows,
producer on 13, and actor in 9
 Important works:
 Young Torless (1966)
 The Tin Drum (1979)
 Worked as an assistant director for Louis Malle and Alain Resnais
(prominent directors in the French New Wave!)
 Has worked in “Hollywood” as well as Europe (e.g., Death of a
Salesman on U.S. TV in 1985; Voyager, 1991; Palmetto, 1998)
 Currently teaches film and literature at the European Graduate
School in Saas Fee, Switzerland
 Has served as the chief executive of the German production
company Studio Babelsberg (formerly known as UFA!)
 May 31, 1945 – June 10, 1982
 Writer-Director-Producer-Editor-Actor
 Directed 43 films and TV shows between 1966
and 1982
 Served as a writer on 46 films and TV shows,
produced 13, edited 18, and acted in 43
 Important works:
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Ali – Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Fox and His Friends (1975)
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)
Querelle (1982)
 One of the central figures of the New German Cinema movement
 Liked to explore themes of social alienation and institutionalized
violence
 Died of an overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills, age 37
 September 5, 1942 – present
 Directed 62 films since 1962
 Served as a writer on 52 films, producer on 24,
and actor in 19 (e.g., Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, 1980)
 Important works:
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Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
My Best Fiend – Klaus Kinski (1999) (doc.)
Grizzly Man (2005) (doc.)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) (doc.—3D!)
 The only feature film director to have filmed on every single continent,
including Antarctica.
 Also the only director who could ever successfully control actor Klaus Kinski
(this may in part be because their families shared a Munich apartment when
they were young).
 Long, extended landscape shots are among his trademarks; “TV uses
landscapes. I transform landscapes – I direct landscapes.”
 February 21, 1942 – present
 Directed 23 films and TV shows since
1975
 Served as a writer on 19 films and TV
shows, and has acted in 30
 Important works:
 The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975)
 The German Sisters (1981)
 Has starred in films by Rainer Werner Fassbender and Volker
Schlöndorff
 She and Volker Schlöndorff were married from 1971 to 1991
 Her films center around strong female protagonists, generally in a
politically-charged setting
 She is the most successful and prominent female member of the New
German Cinema
August 14, 1945 – present
Birth name: Ernst Wilhelm Wenders
Directed 53 films and TV shows since 1967
Served as a writer on 38 films and TV
shows, producer on 39, and actor in 25
 Important work:
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 Alice in the Cities (1974)
 The American Friend (1977)
 Wings of Desire (1988)
 Wenders has been successful and influential in more mainstream
cinema, as well, including the English-language:
 Paris, Texas (1984)
 Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
 Has directed music videos for U2
 President of the European Film Academy
 March 14, 1941 – present
 Directed 30 films and TV shows since 1965
 Served as a writer on 12 films and TV
shows, and producer on 14
 Important NGC work:
 Das Boot (1981) – earned him an Oscar
nomination for Best Director
 Petersen’s success with Das Boot led him to “Hollywood” success,
both critically and at the box office. His high-profile films since
that time have included:
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Enemy Mine (1985)
Outbreak (1995)
Air Force One (1997)
The Perfect Storm (2000)
Troy (2004)
 July 13, 1938 – present
 Directed 46 films and TV shows since
1967
 Served as a writer on 30 films and TV
shows, a producer on 21, and an actor in 30
 Important works:
 The Nasty Girl (1990)
 The White Rose (1982)
 Most of Verhoeven’s film subjects have involved the ugly
legacy of Nazi Germany.
 Not related to Dutch director Paul Verhoeven
 Married actress Senta Berger; together they formed the
production company Sentana.
 German Title: Der Junge Törless
 Produced in 1966
 Directed by Volker Schlöndorff
 Written by Herbert Asmodi and Volker Schlöndorff,
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based on the novel Die Verwirrungen des Zoelings
Toerless by Robert Musil
Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, May 9, 1966
A tale of sadism and peer pressure at a boys’ academy,
that serves as a metaphor for the social pressures
experienced in wider German society during Nazi rule. Two boys at a boarding
school launch a sadistic assault on a classmate after he steals from them.
Initially a passive witness, the titular character’s guilt grows until he can’t stand
by any longer. But is it too late?
Nominated for the Palme d’Or and winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes
Film Festival
Won three Film Awards in Gold at the German Film Awards, for Outstanding
Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay
The homoerotic subtext in the film is a much watered-down version of the
book, where it’s actually text.
German Title: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes
Produced in 1972
Directed by Werner Herzog
Written by Werner Herzog
Premiered in West Germany on December 29,
1972
 Spanish explorers (conquistadores) search for El
Dorado (the city of gold); they are led to their doom
against all logic
 The madman leader, Aguirre, is played by Herzog staple and madman
Klaus Kinski (see also Herzog’s 1999 documentary “My Best Fiend”
 During the filming, Herzog threatened to shoot Kinski when the actor
threatened to quit the film. When asked about the incident, he
elaborated: “The nearest police station was 40kilometers away. And for
$20 flat they would have testified to it being a hunting accident.”
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German Title: Alice in den Städten
Produced in 1974
Directed by Wim Wenders
Written by Wim Wenders and Veith von
Fürstenberg
Premiered first on West German TV on March
3, 1974, then released to theaters on May 17, 1974
An alienated journalist, traveling through America, is saddled
with a 9-year-old girl when the girl’s mother disappears.
Reflects effect of American pop culture on post-war Europe
First installment of Wenders’ “road movie trilogy,” which also
includes The Wrong Move (1975) and Kings of the Road (1976)
Received the German Film Critics Award for Best Film in 1976
German Title: Angst essen Seele auf
Produced in 1974
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Premiered in Munich on March 5, 1974
When a Moroccan auto mechanic in his forties
and a lonely German widow in her sixties meet
in a Munich bar, they embark upon a relationship that everyone
around them considers vastly inappropriate, and must find the
strength to stand up to doubts both from without and within.
 A meditation on acceptance, and how the prejudices of others
can undermine someone’s resolve.
 Nominated for the Palme d’Or, and won the FIPRESCI Prize and
the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes
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German Title: Faustrecht der Freiheit
Produced in 1975
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
and Christian Hohoff
Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
in May 1975
A man wins the lottery and faces exploitation by his
homosexual lover and friends; a tale of greed and
exploitation, and a realistic look at classism in society, etc.
Fassbinder, normally overweight, put himself on a strict
diet to lose enough weight to play the titular character.
Other English title for the film: “Fist-Fight to Freedom”
German Title: Der Amerikanische Freund
Produced in 1977
Directed by Wim Wenders
Written by Wim Wenders, based on the novel
Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith
 Premiered in West Germany, June 24, 1977
 A tale of deceit and double-dealing. Con man
Tom Ripley, currently working in the art forgery business, is
approached by an associate who wants him to become a hit man.
Unwilling to do so, Ripley suggests his associate approach a
picture framer he works with, who is dying of leukemia.
Metaphorical for the relationship between European cinema and
Hollywood!
 Ripley’s Game is a sequel to the book The Talented Mr. Ripley,
which had been adapted into the 1960 film Plein Soleil. Both
have since been remade in America.
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 German Title: Die Blechtrommel
 Produced in 1979
 Directed by Volker Schlöndorff
 Written by Jean-Claude Carrière, Volker Schlöndorff,
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Franz Seitz, and Günter Grass, based on the novel by
Günter Grass
Premiered in West Germany on May 3, 1979
Dark comedy dealing with the Nazi issue through the
eyes of the most innocent, a child; allegorical tale of
refusal of one individual to accept responsibility (he quite literally refuses to
grow up–shades of Peter Pan)
Winner of the 1979 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
In 1997, it was banned as “obscene” by an Oklahoma City District Judge. Tapes
were seized from Blockbuster and Hollywood Video stores, as well as the local
library. Oklahoma City vice officers also raided the home of a local ACLU
director of development, who had rented the video. Over a year later, the case
was dismissed.
 German Title: Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
 Produced in 1979
 Directed by Werner Herzog
 Written by Werner Herzog (based, of course, on Bram
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Stoker’s novel Dracula and the original Nosferatu)
Premiered in France on January 17, 1979
A loving remake of F. W. Murnau’s 1922 classic German
Expressionistic film.
Since the copyright on Dracula had since expired, Herzog
restored the characters’ names to those of the book
characters, but held onto Murnau’s plot structure.
The film was shot simultaneously in German and English, so the English
version is technically not a dub.
Good achievement in atmospheric horror, featuring Herzog’s signature use of
landscapes.
Kinski stands out as the vampire (not seen in the clip). He had to spend
approximately four hours per day in makeup, but never once threw one of his
famous tantrums; he and makeup artist Reiko Kruk had a good relationship.
German Title: Die Ehe der Maria Braun
Produced in 1979
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pea Fröhlich,
Peter Märthesheimer, and Kurt Raab
 Premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival
on February 20, 1979
 A gritty tale about life after World War II, focusing
on a woman struggling to stay afloat in the harsh postwar economy and
occupation, unsure whether her husband – who was sent back to the
front less than a full day after their marriage – has survived the war or
not. Her quest for survival forces her to make unsavory choices that
take her further and further away from the peace she seeks.
 Nominated for the Golden Globe; won four Film Awards in Gold and
the Film Award in Silver for Best Feature Film at the German Film
Awards.
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German Title: Die Bleierne Zeit
Produced in 1981
Directed by Margarethe von Trotta
Written by Margarethe von Trotta
Premiered at the Venice Film Festival on
September 4, 1981
 Two sisters, Juliane and Marianne, are on a quest for
social justice, but take remarkably different
approaches. While Juliane works as a journalist and uses this as a
platform for her causes, Marianne joins a group of radical domestic
terrorists. When Marianne is imprisoned for her involvement in the
group, Juliane’s continued support of her progressively damages her
own life and relationships.
 Won the Golden Lion and FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice Film Festival;
Actresses Jutta Lampe and Barbara Sukowa tied for Best Actress and
both took home the prize!
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 Produced in 1981
 Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
 Written by Wolfgang Petersen and Dean
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Riesner, based on the novel by Lothar G.
Buchheim
Premiered in West Germany September 17, 1981
Powerful, intense film that illustrates the
claustrophobic atmosphere and tension inside
a German U-boat during WWII; provides the viewer an
opportunity to view the war through the eyes of the “enemy” Etc.
Received six Academy Award nominations
All of the major actors could speak English, and did their own
voices when the film was dubbed.
With a budget of $15 million (31 million DM), it was the most
expensive German film ever made until Perfume: The Story of a
Murderer came out in 2006.
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German Title: Die weiße Rose
Produced in 1982
Directed by Michael Verhoeven
Written by Mario Krebs and Michael
Verhoeven
Premiered in West Germany, September 24, 1982
A German resistance group in Nazi Germany faces
danger at every turn; film explores daily life under
fascist rule, including harsh treatment of women.
Based on real events at Munich University during World War II
Won the German Film Award in Silver for Outstanding Feature Film;
star Lena Stolze (also the star of The Nasty Girl) won the German Film
Award in Gold for her performance.
The inflammatory speech given by the Gauleiter, which incites the
campus riot, is word-for-word from the real-life speech.
 Produced in 1982
 Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
 Written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and
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Burkhard Driest, based on the novel Querelle
de Brest by Jean Genet
Premiered at the Venice Film Festival,
August 31, 1982
A homosexual nightmare/fantasy based on a novel
by Jean Genet; last film by Fassbinder; a highly stylized and
expressionistic film starring French New Wave darling Jeanne Moreau
and Brad Davis (Midnight Express)
R. W. Fassbinder’s final film
Controversial enough that it received no prizes at any of the film
festivals it was entered into, something that triggered a tirade from
Venice Film Festival judge Marcel Carné, who felt it had been slighted;
to date, the only “award” nominations it has ever received were three
Razzies for its music.
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German Title: Der Himmel über Berlin
Produced in 1987
Directed by Wim Wenders
Written by Peter Handke, Richard Reitinger,
and Wim Wenders
Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, May 17, 1987
An angel falls in love with a mortal and begins
searching for a way to become mortal, himself.
Inspiration for the 1998 film City of Angels
Nominated for the Palme d’Or; won Best Director at Cannes
Also won Best Foreign Film at the 1989 Independent Spirit Awards
A replica of the Berlin Wall had to be constructed for filming, because
filming the actual wall was prohibited. It had to be rebuilt after the
first mock-up warped in the rain.
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German Title: Das schreklilche Mädchen
Produced in 1990
Directed by Michael Verhoeven
Written by Michael Verhoeven
Premiered in West Germany February 15, 1990
A strong-willed young woman struggles to
research the role of her small town’s past in
Nazi resistance. . . or collaboration.
A fictionalized version of the story of Anna Rasmus and the town
of Passau in Bavaria
Denial of responsibility is again shown
Nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for
Best Foreign Language Film
Note the rear-projection/matte shot style
 Produced in 1990
 Directed by Agnieszka Holland (Poland)
 Written by Agnieszka Holland and Paul Hengge,
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based on the book by Solomon Perel
Premiered in France November 14, 1990
A very personal look at Nazi Germany through the
confused eyes of a German-Jewish boy who survives
by posing as a non-Jew, even joining the Nazi army;
based on true events .
Holland’s screenplay was nominated for the Acadamy Award for best
adapted screenplay
It was not nominated for Best Foreign Language Film because it
received a very lukewarm reception in Germany itself and thus not
submitted.
Director Agnieszka Holland, herself, is Polish, and generally
considered part of the Polish New Wave movement rather than the
New German Cinema.
 end