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'
Based on the incredible true story of a massive underground escape attempt from East to West Berlin. Harry Melchior is a respected German athlete when... Read more
The tragedy of a simple soldier who is humiliated by everyone around him and is finally driven to murder; fashioned into a brilliant, compelling piece... Read more
Turkish/German director Fatih Akin ('Head-On') brings together a deeply humanistic amd multi-layered drama as he follows the stories of six people cau... Read more
Zurich, 1956: During the Cold War a compromising photograph exposes a Swiss star reporter as a Soviet spy. Unable to withstand the pressure, he commit... Read more
A mass murder, a female judge and diary entries from ages ago, surely now forgotten. Judge Brigitta Roslin has to make a long and dangerous journey b... Read more
A subtle, yet disturbing and profoundly moving drama about a Hungarian Jewish boy's life-changing experiences in Nazi concentration camps, and his att... Read more
Aleksandr Sokurov directs this German-language adaptation of the classic tale about a man who sells his soul to the Devil. The story, woven into the f... Read more
Strange, disturbing and truly unsettling parable about dwarfs and midgets confined to a barren correctional institution who literally take over the as... Read more
Post-apocalyptic horror in which a group of survivors fight for survival in a barren, desolate futureworld. It's 2016 and global warming has reduced t... Read more
RW Fassbinder's Bundesrepublik Deutschland trilogy comprises three of his most celebrated films which chart West Germany's post-war economic miracle t... Read more