The devastation of World War One left Germany's budding film industry, like much of Europe, in tatters. But necessity being the mother of invention, German Expressionism was born. Relying heavily on symbolism and shadow rather than elaborate and costly sets, films like 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' are still studied by film students the world over. By the mid-1920s, the industry was getting back on its feet and great directors like Fritz Lang and FW Murnau were making their early masterpieces. However the onset of Nazism and the impending war led many of Germany's artists, including filmmakers, to flee to the U.S. Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Douglas Sirk, Karl Freund and many more all continued their careers in America while the German film industry virtually disappeared. It was not unitl the '60s and '70s that new talents emerged. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Viktor Schlondorff and Wim Wenders revitalised German cinema and today international hits such as 'Run Lola Run' and 'Goodbye Lenin!' assure us it is here to stay. Right: 'Run Lola Run'
It is winter in Montauk, at the far end of Long Island. There are two deck chairs on the windswept beach. The chairs are waiting for two people who ha... Read more
Drawing on the true events of Spring 1943 when hundreds of German women protested the incarceration of their Jewish husbands in the Jewish Welfare Off... Read more
Knockout exercise in style and tension follows a flame-haired German punkette (Franka Potente) as she races to get 100,000 marks and deliver it to her... Read more
Time is running out for Lola. She's just received a frantic phonecall from her boyfriend, who's lost a small fortune in cash belonging to his Mob boss... Read more
Schultze is a middle-aged accordionist whose lust for life is re-invigorated when he hears a Cajun zydeco riff on the radio. He becomes obsessed with... Read more
German filmmaker Florian Gallenberger makes her feature debut with this epic Indian love story spanning 60 years. In the early 1940s Riva and Masha a... Read more
A transcendent meditation on love and religion, filmed in Northern Mexico by native auteur Carlos Reygadas ('Battle in Heaven'). The story revolves ar... Read more
The beautiful Romy Schneider, while still in her teens, leads in a star making performance as the beloved Austrian Empress Elisabeth, "Sissi". This 19... Read more
Julia Jentsch puts in a masterful performance as one of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi resistance heroes. Arrested by the gestapo in 1943 for her pa... Read more
Hoping to revamp his shabby Hamburg diner, owner Zinos Kazantsakis (Adam Bousdoukos) hires a gourmet chef, only to drive away his regular patrons. To... Read more