1960s & 1970s – c. 1990, respectively1960s & 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 Board1974 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 FassbinderWerner HerzogWim 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 - presentDirected 38 films and TV shows since 1960Served 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:

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:

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:

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 – presentDirected 30 films and TV shows since 1965Served 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: Enemy Mine (1985) Outbreak (1995) Air Force One (1997) The Perfect Storm (2000) Troy (2004)

July 13, 1938 – presentDirected 46 films and TV shows since

1967Served as a writer on 30 films and TV

shows, a producer on 21, and an actor in 30Important 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 VerhoevenMarried 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,

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.”

German Title: Alice in den StädtenProduced in 1974Directed by Wim WendersWritten by Wim Wenders and Veith von

FürstenbergPremiered first on West German TV on March

3, 1974, then released to theaters on May 17, 1974An 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 EuropeFirst 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 aufProduced in 1974Directed by Rainer Werner FassbinderWritten by Rainer Werner FassbinderPremiered in Munich on March 5, 1974When 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

German Title: Faustrecht der FreiheitProduced in 1975Directed by Rainer Werner FassbinderWritten by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

and Christian HohoffPremiered at the Cannes Film Festival

in May 1975A 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 FreundProduced in 1977Directed by Wim WendersWritten by Wim Wenders, based on the novel

Ripley’s Game by Patricia HighsmithPremiered in West Germany, June 24, 1977A 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.

German Title: Die Blechtrommel Produced in 1979 Directed by Volker Schlöndorff Written by Jean-Claude Carrière, Volker Schlöndorff,

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

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.

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!

Produced in 1981Directed by Wolfgang PetersenWritten by Wolfgang Petersen and Dean

Riesner, based on the novel by Lothar G. Buchheim

Premiered in West Germany September 17, 1981Powerful, 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 nominationsAll 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.

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

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.

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.

German Title: Das schreklilche MädchenProduced in 1990Directed by Michael VerhoevenWritten by Michael VerhoevenPremiered in West Germany February 15, 1990A 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 shownNominated for the Academy Award and the Golden

Globe for Best Foreign Language FilmNote the rear-projection/matte shot style

Produced in 1990 Directed by Agnieszka Holland (Poland) Written by Agnieszka Holland and Paul Hengge,

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.

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