Contemporary German film marks the beginning of a new era. While maintaining awareness of their traditions, a generation of young filmmakers has developed new forms of film aesthetics. Beginning in 1989, the symbolic date of fundamental changes in Europe and the bi-polarized postwar world, a new desire for investigation and invention emerged. So, the most interesting films of this artistic and cultural new beginning display intriguing relations to the social and political transitions of their time. By scrutinizing these works, two related aspects are revealed: fascinating insights into a new generation of filmmakers and challenging perspectives on Germany in transition.
Berlin has been at the crossroads of these developments. Having been the capital of five different states over the past one hundred years, Berlin embodies Germany’s modern political history. Since the breakdown of the iron curtain, the city has sought to restore its status as one of the centers of the global film industry, as it was at the beginning of the 20th century. A group of most inventive filmmakers has initiated the so called “Berlin School” of contemporary filmmaking. In short: Berlin is the place where one can not only observe contemporary German film, but also directly grasp its intriguing dynamics.
In this course, students examine major representatives of the contemporary German film scene. Each week is dedicated to one film. The course deals with distinguished movies as well as with outstanding documentaries; filmmakers from East and West Germany, as well as first generation or migrant filmmakers. Alternating with the analyses of film, students closely read classical texts of German film theory and explore the most lively film city Berlin by various field trips.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students are able to:
Discuss an overview of contemporary German film after 1989
Situate these films in the history of German film
Analyze contemporary films according to methods and criteria of film theory
Define and differentiate documentary and feature film
Discuss selected classical texts of Geman film theory
Combine theoretical insights with practical film analysis
Reflect on filmic representation and socio-political contexts
Identify fundamental sites of the film city Berlin
Structure and present observations and thoughts on films and texts (e.g., by response papers, short film reviews)
Scrutinize a specific topic through question-driven essays
Method of presentation:
Instructor lectures; question-driven moderation of class discussions; advising of student’s presentations, papers, and projects; Film screenings; Film analysis and discussion Close reading of canonical theoretical texts; Scrutinizing of further materials (e.g., interviews, reviews); Field trips (e.g., German Cinema Archive); Student project presentations
Required work and form of assessment:
Attendance and active class participation 20 %
Two response papers/short film review 25 %
Midterm Paper 25 %
Final Project and presentation 30 %
Response Papers
Every student writes two response papers (each around 2,000 characters in length) on a fictional or documentary film or on a theoretical text discussed in the seminar.
Every response paper has the following goals: 1) identify, in your own opinion, the key scene or passage of the film or text in question. Justify your choice and describe the meaning of this particular scene or passage for the film/text in its entirety; 2) formulate a question for discussion in class, that has resulted from your choice of the particular scene or passage.
Response papers are to be submitted by 12:00 p.m. on the day of the seminar session appropriate to the topic by either email or as a printed copy in the instructor’s IES Abroad mailbox.
Midterm Paper
Write an analytic short essay (around 5,000 characters) on one of the following topics:
A) „Visions of the ‘Wende’“: Consider the filmic treatment of the phenomenon of collapse and transformation in 1989 offered by either a documentary or fiction film discussed in the seminar.
B) „Montage and Politics“: Discuss the political implications of the filmic process or montage using appropriate passages from the texts by Siegfried Kracauer or Walter Benjamin read in class.
Submit Midterm Papers by either email or as a printed copy in the instructor’s IES Abroad mailbox.
Final Project: Time-Images-Essay
The Final Project is a cooperative one, for which two students work together. The result is a cooperative essay (of approximately 10,000 characters, or 5,000 characters per student) with photos/images.
The point of departure for this cooperative effort is a collectively chosen episode from the film Deutschland 09. Place this episode in relation to another fictional or documentary film that we have discussed in class (that is, to a representative scene drawn from that film). Describe the scene in question and the relationship to the latter film. Account for your choice with regards to content, form etc. and describe why, in your eyes, time-images (e.g. of Germany after 1989, of contemporary film etc.) are created. Make use of paradigmatic screen shots to illustrate your argument.
Both co-authors will, in addition, select a time-image that represents their own perspective on Berlin/Germany/contemporary film. Please take a paradigmatic Photo (with a digital camera). Add this as a third component to your essay. Describe briefly the relationship between this image and the other two scenes/ images (i.e. to the episode from Deutschland 09 and the corresponding scene from the other film selected by you).
Present the main thesis of your common essay to the course in front of the other participants. Comments and criticism offered during the discussion may be integrated into the final version of your essay.
Submit the final version of your Time-Image-Essay by email and as a printed paper in the instructor’s IES Abroad mailbox.
content:
Week 1 Session 1: Welcome, Course Overview and Introduction
Screening The Wall (1991; Die Mauer by Jürgen Böttcher; 96 min.)
Session 2: Discussion The Wall Reading:
Jürgen Böttcher im Gespräch mit Christoph Hübner, in: Dokumentarisch Arbeiten, hg. von Gabriele Voss, Berlin 1996.
James Donald, Light in Dark Spaces. Cinema and City, in: Imagining the Modern City, University of Minnesota: Minneapolis 1999, S. 66-92.
Film:
Selections of Berlin. Symphony of a Great City (1927; Berlin. Sinfonie einer Großstadt by Walter Ruttmann; 62 min.)
Week 2 Session 1: Screening & Discussion Reading:
Tom Tykwer. Lola rennt, hg. von Michael Töteberg, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1998.
(Auswahl) Tom Whalen, “Run Lola Run,” Film Quarterly 53:3 (2000), pp. 33-40.
Film:
Run Lola Run (1998; Lola rennt! by Tom Tykwer; 81 min.)
Session 2: Classics of Film Theory (I): Siegfried Kracauer Reading:
Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler. A Psychological History of The German Film, Princeton University Press 1947 (Chapter on “Montage”).
Siegfried Kracauer, Theory of Film. The Redemption of Physical Reality, New York 1960 (Chapters on “Realism” and “Formalism”).
Films:
Selections of Berlin. Symphony of a Great City (1927; Berlin. Sinfonie einer Großstadt byWalter Ruttmann; 62 min.)
Selections of Opus 1 (1922; by Walter Ruttmann; 10 min.)
Selections of Berlin Symphony (2002; Berlin: Sinfonie einer Großstadt, 77 min.).
Week 3 Session 1: Screening & discussion Reading:
Seán Allan, Ostalgie, fantasy and the normalization of east-west relations in post- unification comedy, in: David Clarke (ed.), German Cinema since Unification, London 2006, pp. 105-126.
Good bye, Lenin!, hg. von Michael Töteberg, Berlin 2003.
Martin Seel, Humor als Laster und als Tugend, in: MERKUR 2002, Heft 9/10, S. 743-751.
Film:
Good bye, Lenin! (2003; by Wolfgang Becker; 110 min.)
Session 2: Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin Reading:
Walter Benjamin, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, Frankfurt am Main 2008. (Kommentierte Ausgabe)
Week 4 Session 1: Screening & Discussion Reading:
Eva Horn, Media of Conspiracy. Love and Surveillance in Fritz Lang and Florian von Henckel Donnersmarck, in: New German Critique, No. 1/ 2008, pp. 127-144.
Garton Ash, T. The Stasi on our minds, New York Review of Books, 54:9, 31 May, 2007.
Film:
The Life of Others (2006; Das Leben der Anderen by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; 137 min.)
Session 2: Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, Frankfurt am Main 2008. (Kommentierte Ausgabe)
Week 5 Session 1: Screening & Discussion Film:
Night Shapes (1999; Nachtgestalten by Andreas Dresen; 99 min.)
Session 2:Continuation Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin
Questions, Discussion of Midterm Papers
Reading:
Walter Benjamin, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, Frankfurt am Main 2008. (Kommentierte Ausgabe)
Week 6 Session 1: Screening Film:
Agnes and his Brothers (2004; Agnes und seine Brüder by Oskar Roehler; 111 min.)
Session 2: Midterm Papers Due
Week 7
Session 1: Reading:
Hans-Christian Schmid/ Michael Gutmann: Lichter, Frankfurt am Main 2003. (Selection)
Film:
Diskussion Distant Lights (2003; Lichter by Hans-Christian Schmid; 110 Min.)
Session 2: Excursion
Tour of the Film Museum BerlinMeeting Point: 2 p.m., Entryway to Deutschen Kinemathek Potsdamer Str. 2, (Potsdamer Platz, Sony Center)
Discussion Places in Cities (1998; Plätze in Städten by Angela Schanelec; 117 Min.)
Session 2: „Die Berliner Schule“ Reading:
Michael Baute, Ekkehard Knörer, Volker Pantenburg, Stefan Pethke & Simon Rothöhler, “’Berliner Schule’ – Eine Collage”, in: Kolik Sonderheft 6/2006.
Marco Abel, „Intensifying Life: The Cinema of 'Berlin School.'“ in: Cineaste 33.4 (Fall 2008).
Georg Seeßlen: „Die Anti-Erzählmaschine“, in: Freitag 37 (14. September 2007).
Week 9 Session 1: Screening & Discussion Reading:
Manohla Dargis, Two Misplaced Souls Decide They Might as Well Live, in: New York Times, January 21, 2005.
Rob Burns, Turkish-German cinema: from cultural resistance to transnational cinema, in: David Clarke (ed), German Cinema since Unification, London 2005, pp.127-149.
Thomas Elsaesser, Ethical Calculus: The cross-cultural dilemmas and moral burdens of
Head-On (2004; Gegen die Wand by Fatih Akin; 116 Min.)
Session 2: Classics of Film Theory (III): Socio-economic Contexts
Field Study: Excursion - Filmstadt Berlin - Video Bus Tour; Meeting Point 1:15 p.m., Unter den Linden 40 (beside Café Einstein)
Reading:
Thomas Elsaesser, Film Industry – Film Subsidy, in: New German Cinema. A History, London 1989, S. 8-35.
Germany 09 (2009; Deutschland 09 by a collective of 13 directors; 152 Min.)
Scenes from Germany in Autumn (1978; Deutschland im Herbst by a collective of 13 directors;, 11 Regisseure;119 Min.)
Session 2: Presentation und Discussion of Final Projects/ Essays Final project due
Required readings:
Akin, Fatih, Gegen die Wand. Das Buch zum Film von Faith Akin. Drehbuch, Materialien, Interwiews und Pressestimmen, Köln 2004.
Allan, Seán, Ostalgie, fantasy and the normalization of east-west relations in post-unification comedy, in: David Clarke (ed.), German Cinema since Unification, London 2006, pp. 105-126.
Benjamin, Walter, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Bellknap Press 2008.
Benjamin, Walter, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, Frankfurt am Main 2008. (Kommentierte Ausgabe)
Berghahn, Daniela (ed.), New Cinemas, Special Issue Turkish German Dialogues on Screen, 2009.
Bordwell, David/ Thompson, Kristin, Film Art: An Introduction, New York 2007.
Jürgen Böttcher im Gespräch mit Christoph Hübner, in: Dokumentarisch Arbeiten, hg. von Gabriele Voss, Berlin 1996.
Burns, Rob, Turkish-German cinema: from cultural resistance to transnational cinema, in: David Clarke (ed.), German Cinema since Unification, London 2005, pp.127-149.
Clarke, David (ed.), German Cinema since Unification, London 2006.
Dargis, M. Two Misplaced Souls Decide They Might as Well Live, in: New York Times, Jan. 21, 2005. Donald, James, Light in Dark Spaces. Cinema and City, in: James Donald, Imagining the Modern City,
Minneapolis 1999, pp. 66-92.
Elsaesser, Thomas, Ethical Calculus: The cross-cultural dilemmas and moral burdens of Fatih Akin’s ‘The Edge of Heaven’, in: Film Comment, May/June 2008, online: http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/mj08/heaven.htm
Elsaesser, Thomas, New German Cinema. A History, London 1989. Faulstich, Werner, Grundkurs Filmanalyse, Paderborn 2008.
Garton Ash, Timothy, The Stasi on our minds, New York Review of Books, 54:9, 31 May, 2007.
Hake, Sabine, German National Cinema, ‘Post-unification cinema 1989-2007’, London 2008, p. 190-223.
Horn, Eva, Media of Conspiracy. Love and Surveillance in Fritz Lang and Florian von Henckel Donnersmarck, in: New German Critique, No. 1/ 2008, pp. 127-144.
Kaes, Anton, From Hitler to Heimat. The Return of History as Film, Havard University Press 1989.
Kracauer, Siegfried, From Caligari to Hitler. A Psychological History of The German Film, Princeton University Press 1947.
Kracauer, Siegfried, Von Caligari zu Hitler. Eine psychologische Geschichte des deutschen Films, Frankfurt am Main 1979 (1947)
Kracauer, S, Theorie des Films. Die Errettung der äußeren Wirklichkeit, Frankfurt am Main 1964 (1960).
Rentschler, Eric, West German Film in the Course of Time. Reflections on the Twenty Years since Oberhausen, Redgrave 1984.
Schindler, Stephan K. / Koepnik, Lutz (Ed.), The Cosmopolitan Screen: German Cinema and the Global Imaginery, Ann Arbor 2007.
Schmid, Hans-Christian / Gutmann, Michael: Lichter, Frankfurt am Main 2003.
Seel, Martin. Humor als Laster und als Tugend, in: MERKUR 2002, Heft 9/10, S. 743-751. Töteberg, Michael (Hg.), Tom Tykwer. Lola rennt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1998.
Töteberg, Michael (Hg.), Good bye, Lenin!, Berlin 2003.
Whalen, Tom, “Run Lola Run,” Film Quarterly 53:3 (2000), pp. 33-40. Zeitschrift FILMKRITIK (1957-1984).
Recommended readings:
Jacobson, Wolfgang / Kaes, Anton / Prinzler, Helmut, Geschichte des deutschen Films, Stuttgart 2004.
Contemporary German film marks the beginning of a new era. While maintaining awareness of their traditions, a generation of young filmmakers has developed new forms of film aesthetics. Beginning in 1989, the symbolic date of fundamental changes in Europe and the bi-polarized postwar world, a new desire for investigation and invention emerged. So, the most interesting films of this artistic and cultural new beginning display intriguing relations to the social and political transitions of their time. By scrutinizing these works, two related aspects are revealed: fascinating insights into a new generation of filmmakers and challenging perspectives on Germany in transition.
Berlin has been at the crossroads of these developments. Having been the capital of five different states over the past one hundred years, Berlin embodies Germany’s modern political history. Since the breakdown of the iron curtain, the city has sought to restore its status as one of the centers of the global film industry, as it was at the beginning of the 20th century. A group of most inventive filmmakers has initiated the so called “Berlin School” of contemporary filmmaking. In short: Berlin is the place where one can not only observe contemporary German film, but also directly grasp its intriguing dynamics.
In this course, students examine major representatives of the contemporary German film scene. Each week is dedicated to one film. The course deals with distinguished movies as well as with outstanding documentaries; filmmakers from East and West Germany, as well as first generation or migrant filmmakers. Alternating with the analyses of film, students closely read classical texts of German film theory and explore the most lively film city Berlin by various field trips.
By the end of the course, students are able to:
Instructor lectures; question-driven moderation of class discussions; advising of student’s presentations, papers, and projects; Film screenings; Film analysis and discussion Close reading of canonical theoretical texts; Scrutinizing of further materials (e.g., interviews, reviews); Field trips (e.g., German Cinema Archive); Student project presentations
Response Papers
Midterm Paper
Final Project: Time-Images-Essay
Week 1
Session 1: Welcome, Course Overview and Introduction
Screening The Wall (1991; Die Mauer by Jürgen Böttcher; 96 min.)
Session 2: Discussion The Wall
Reading:
Film:
Week 2
Session 1: Screening & Discussion
Reading:
Film:
Session 2: Classics of Film Theory (I): Siegfried Kracauer
Reading:
Films:
Week 3
Session 1: Screening & discussion
Reading:
Film:
Session 2: Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin
Reading:
Week 4
Session 1: Screening & Discussion
Reading:
Film:
Session 2: Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin
Week 5
Session 1: Screening & Discussion
Film:
Session 2:Continuation Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin
Questions, Discussion of Midterm Papers
Reading:
Week 6
Session 1: Screening
Film:
Session 2: Midterm Papers Due
Week 7
Session 1:
Reading:
Film:
Session 2: Excursion
Tour of the Film Museum BerlinMeeting Point: 2 p.m., Entryway to Deutschen Kinemathek Potsdamer Str. 2, (Potsdamer Platz, Sony Center)
Week 8
Session 1: Screening
Reading: Selected critiques
Film:
Session 2: „Die Berliner Schule“
Reading:
Week 9
Session 1: Screening & Discussion
Reading:
Film:
Session 2: Classics of Film Theory (III): Socio-economic Contexts
Field Study: Excursion - Filmstadt Berlin - Video Bus Tour; Meeting Point 1:15 p.m., Unter den Linden 40 (beside Café Einstein)
Reading:
Week 10
Session 1: Screening & Discussion
Reading:
Film:
Session 2: Presentation und Discussion of Final Projects/ Essays
Final project due