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Nowhere in Africa /
Nirgendwo in Afrika:
Drama (2001)
Oscar for Best Foreign
Language Film
Director: Caroline Link
Starring: Juliane Köhler,
Merab Ninidze
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For UK residents
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The Berlinale is a world-
reknowned international film
festival. Every year, films from
around the world compete for
the coveted Golden Bear.
The Tin Drum /
Die Blechtrommel:
Drama (1979)
Oscar-winning adaptation
of Günter Grass's Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff
Starring: Mario Adorf,
David Bennent
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info
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Watch 3000+ foreign films
for free with Amazon Prime.
German Film
SEE GERMAN FILM INDEX
or
BROWSE GERMAN FILM CATEGORIES:
Contemporary
German films: Dozens of German films
-- including Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated
movies -- dating from the 70s to the 21st century, from Fassbinder and
Herzog to Fatin Akin and Tom Tykwer. See Index
for alphabetical listing or browse pages chronologically from the latest,
most current film releases back to 1970: 1
| 2 | 3
| 4 | 5
| 6 | 7
New
releases: The latest German-language
films newly or soon available on DVD or VHS. More...
East
German films: A steadily growing collection
of available films made in former East Germany. More...
German
film classics & collections: From
Caligari to Hitler, German silent film classics and the earliest German
"talkies" from such directors as Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau
as well as the Nazi-era propaganda films of Leni Riefenstahl. Browse
page 1 |
2
German
directors & actors: Films and info
on German and German-born directors such as Roland Emmerich, Wolfgang
Petersen, & Wim Wenders, and actors and actresses of German-speaking
origin such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Marlene Dietrich & Franka
Potente. More ...
Documentaries:
German documentary films on historical, biographical,
and geographical topics. More
...
German
movie soundtracks: Soundtrack CDs with
audio clips from several German films such as The Edukators,
Run Lola Run, Das Boot, more
...
ABOUT GERMAN FILM
German, Austrian, and Swiss-German contributions to the film industry
are unknown to many people. For instance, did you know that ...
• MGM, Universal Studios, and Twentieth-Century Fox
were founded by German-speaking immigrants?
• prior to World War II, German movie studios provided Hollywood
with its strongest competitors?
• directors Wolfgang Petersen and Roland Emmerich got their start
making films in Germany?
• German-language films have won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film
three times?
• a German composer wrote the music for The Lion King?
The international movie industry would not be the same today without
the influence of the great German directors F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang,
Wim Wenders and Rainer Wernder Fassbinder, and Austrian directors Billy
Wilder and Otto Preminger. At the same time, German-speaking actors,
directors, and composers continue to influence the films we see -- the
most obvious being perhaps the Austrian-born actor-turned-politician
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Franke Potente and Diane Kruger are some more
recent up-and-coming film stars from Germany.
Of course, German cinema has a rich and interesting history apart from
its connection with Hollywood. The German film industry continues to
put out a variety of films worth seeing. If you're trying to learn German,
German language films are a great way to expose yourself to some native
speaker language and practice your listening skills.
GERMAN FILM INDEX
German films are listed alphabetically by title. The links will take
you to information & movie reviews with info on buying German language
movies on DVD & VHS. Bookmark us and come back to check out new
releases as they become available!
German Film Weblinks
German
Cinema: An overview from Facts about Germany from the German
government. [English or German]
German
Cinema: Lots of info about contemporary German film in an international
context. [English]
German
Film: Introduction and current news and events from the Goethe Institut.
[English or German]
German
Films: An archive containing information on scores of German films,
their directors, prizes they have won, and more. [English]
German
Film: A Brief History: A short overview of periods from the beginnings
to New German Cinema. Nice resource if you can stand the pop up ads.
[English]
Austrian
film: A brief history of Austrian cinema [English]
German-Hollywood
Connection: German connections to the American film industry. [English]
The Lives of Others
/ Das Leben der Anderen |
 |
Drama (2006)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch |
REVIEW:
Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, this is a first-rate
thriller that, like Bertolucci's The Conformist and Coppola's
The Conversation, opts for character development over car
chases. The place is East Berlin, the year is 1984, and it all
begins with a simple surveillance assignment: Capt. Gerd Wiesler
(Ulrich Mühe in a restrained, yet deeply felt performance),
a Stasi officer and a specialist in this kind of thing, has been
assigned to keep an eye on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch, Black
Book), a respected playwright, and his actress girlfriend,
Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck, Mostly
Martha). Though Dreyman is known to associate with the
occasional dissident, like blacklisted director Albert Jerska
(Volkmar Kleinert), his record is spotless. Everything changes
when Wiesler discovers that Minister Hempf (Thomas Thieme) has
an ulterior motive in spying on this seemingly upright citizen.
In other words, it's personal, and Wiesler's sympathies shift
from the government to its people--or at least to this one particular
person. That would be risky enough, but then Wiesler uses his
privileged position to affect a change in Dreyman's life. The
God-like move he makes may be minor and untraceable, but it will
have major consequences for all concerned, including Wiesler himself.
Writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck starts with a
simple premise that becomes more complicated and emotionally involving
as his assured debut unfolds. Though three epilogues is, arguably,
two too many, The
Lives of Others is always elegant, never confusing. It's
class with feeling.
Review by Kathleen C. Fennessy
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON 
|
Sophie Scholl: The
Last Days / Sophie Scholl: Die letzten Tage |
 |
Drama / War (2005)
Director: Marc Rothemund
Starring: Julia Jentsch, Gerald Alexander Held, Fabian Hinrichs |
REVIEW:
Through its simplicity and scrupulous attention to historical
detail, Sophie
Scholl: The Final Days proves to be both thrillingly suspenseful
and emotionally devastating. During the peak of the Third Reich,
Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch, The
Edukators), along with her brother Hans and other students
in Munich, formed a resistance group called the White Rose and
distributed anti-Nazi leaflets. Sophie Scholl begins on a crisp
winter day, with Sophie and Hans distributing leaflets around
the empty halls of a university before class is let out. The tension
only increases as they are arrested, interrogated, and swiftly
convicted in a brutal show trial. The heart of the film are the
scenes between Sophie and her interrogator, Robert Mohr (Gerald
Alexander Held), a loyal Nazi who nonetheless respected and perhaps
even admired Sophie. Their arguments, distilled down from hours
of historical record, crackle with emotion and resonate throughout
history, from Communist totalitarianism to the Bush administration
condemning critics of the Iraq war as traitors. Jentsch's restrained
performance only grows more and more moving over the movie's course.
A deeply engaging and powerful movie.
Review by Bret Fetzer
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
|
Head
On / Gegen die Wand |
 |
Drama /
Romance (2004)
Director: Fatih Akin
Starring: Cahit Tomruk, Sibel Güner
|
REVIEW:
German-born Turkish filmmaker Fatih Akin writes and directs the
drama Gegen die Wand (Head-On).
Set in a working-class Hamburg neighborhood, the story follows
two Turkish immigrants who get together in a marriage of convenience.
Cahit Tomruk (Birol Unel) is a heavy drinker and a fighter who
crashes his car into a wall. While visiting his psychiatrist,
Dr. Schiller (Hermann Lause), he meets fellow patient Sibel Guner
(Sibel Kekilli). She's desperate to get away from her restrictive
family, so she asks Cahit to marry her. Wanting to change his
life anyway, Cahit agrees to the arrangement. After their wedding,
Sibel celebrates her freedom by drinking, dancing, and having
one-night stands. Meanwhile, Cahit carries on an intimate relationship
with hair stylist Maren (Catrin Striebeck). Eventually, Cahit
and Sibel learn to care for one another after a climactic trip
to Istanbul. Head-On
won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004.
Review by Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris
|
Downfall: Hitler and
the Last Days of the Third Reich / Der Untergang |
 |
Drama / War (2004)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Alexander Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch |
REVIEW:
The riveting subject of Downfall is nothing less than
the disintegration of Adolph Hitler in mind, body, and soul. A
2005 Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film, this
German historical drama stars Bruno Ganz (Wings
of Desire) as Hitler, whose psychic meltdown is depicted
in sobering detail, suggesting a fallen, pathetic dictator on
the verge on insanity, resorting to suicide (along with Eva Braun
and Joseph and Magda Goebbels) as his Nazi empire burns amidst
chaos in mid-1945. While staging most of the film in the claustrophobic
bunker where Hitler spent his final days, director Oliver Hirschbiegel
(Das
Experiment) dares to show the gentler human side of der
Fuehrer, as opposed to the pure embodiment of evil so familiar
from many other Nazi-era dramas. This balanced portrayal does
not inspire sympathy, however: We simply see the complexity of
Hitler's character in the greater context of his inevitable downfall,
and a more realistic (and therefore more horrifying) biographical
portrait of madness on both epic and intimate scales. By ending
with a chilling clip from the 2002 documentary Blind
Spot: Hitler's Secretary, this unforgettable film gains
another dimension of sobering authenticity.
Review by Jeff Shannon
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris
|
The Edukators / Die
fetten Jahre sind vorbei |
 |
Comedy / Crime (2004)
Director: Hans Weingartner
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Julia Jentsch
New US Release
November 2005 |
SYNOPSIS:
Berlin student Jule is hoplessly indebted due to an accident she
caused, uninsuredly hitting a rich businessman's limousine. Evicted
from her flat she moves in with her boyfrend Peter and soon learns
that Peter and his flatmate, Jan, are breaking into luxurious
mansions at night. Instead of stealing or vandalizing, though,
they carefully and ornately rearrange furniture and valulables
and leave obscure messages. Jule convinces Jan, who has a crush
on her, to pay a visit to the villa of her creditor.
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris
|
Love in Thoughts
/ Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (2004) |
 |
Drama / Romance (2004)
Director: Achim von Borries
Starring: Daniel Brühl, August Diehl |
SYNOPSIS:
Is that really it, the highest point in the life? Günther (August
Diehl) and Paul (Daniel Bruehl) are convinced of it: They want
to live, in full courses and without compromises - and they require
same of the love. They are both a kind of school boys and best
friends in 1927 Weimar Germany. Together with Günther's sister
Hilde (Anna Maria Muehe) they spend the weekend in a summer house
on the country, outside Berlin. Paul is fascinated by the girl
and falls in love with her. And first it looks in such a way,
that Pauls feelings are finally answered. But Hilde loves another
one. Secretly she meets with a young good-looking boy named Hans
(Thure Lindhardt) - Günther's former lover. Hans is a boy from
a much lower class who works in the kitchen of a restaurant/dance
club. In the garden of the house they celebrate a rushing celebration.
When Hans pushes surprisingly to them, it sets a roller coaster
travel of the feelings into course, which gets very soon out of
control.
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris
|
Schultze Gets the Blues
|
 |
Comedy / Drama (2003)
Director: Michael Schorr
Starring: Horst Krause, Harald Warmbrunn
|
SYNOPSIS:
When Schultze and two colleagues are sent into early retirement,
schnaps, chess, and fishing can amuse them only for so long. Ready
for an adventure, Schultze gets sent by his folk music club to
their sister city in Texas to play his accordion at a sausage
festival. The unusual journey takes him to the swamps of Louisana.
Michael Schorr mixes reality and fiction in this unconventional
film about a man who goes away to find himself.
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris
|
The Miracle of Bern /
Das Wunder von Bern |
 |
Comedy / Drama (2003)
Director: Sönke Wortmann
Starring: Matthias Lubanski, Richard Lubanski |
SYNOPSIS:
It is 1954. After 10 years as a Soviet prisoner of war, Richard
Lubanski returns as a broken man to his home in Essen. He discovers
that his son Matthias has found a surrogate father in the soccer
player Helmut Rahn, for whom the 11-year-old works as a water
boy. Rahn calls the boy his good luck charm. When the German team
makes it into the finale, Matthias naturally wants to accompany
the team to Bern. Lubanski, however, has no sympathy for his son's
dreams.
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris
|
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