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, 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. A group of most inventive filmmakers has initiated the so called “Berlin School” of contemporary filmmaking. Therefore, 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 ten 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. Students discuss filmmakers from eastern and western parts of Germany and from Turkey. Alternating with our analyses of film, students closely read classical texts of German film theory. The course also explores the most lively film city Berlin by various field trips.
Prerequisites:
None
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students are able to:
- Understand contemporary German film after 1989
- Situate these films in the history of German film
- Analyze of contemporary films according to methods and criteria of film theory
- Define and differentiate documentary and feature film
- Understand selected classical texts of Geman film theory
- Combine theoretical insights with practical film analysis
- Reflect on filmic representation and socio-political contexts
- Understand the significance of 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:
- Professor: lectures; question-driven moderation of class discussions; advising of student’s presentations, papers, and projects
- Film screenings
- Film analysis
- Close reading of canonical theoretical texts
- Scrutinizing of further materials (e.g., interviews, reviews)
- Field trips (e.g., German Cinema Archive, film studios Babelsberg)
- Students: response papers, short presentations, project presentations, essays
Required work and form of assessment:
Attendance and active class participation 20 %
Response papers, short film review 25 %
Project presentation 25 %
Final Exam 30 %
content:
Week 1
Course Overview and Introduction
Breaking Into New Eras
Film: The Wall (1990; Die Mauer by Jürgen Böttcher; 96 min.)
Reading: Nora M. Alter, Projecting History. German Nonfiction Cinema, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2002. (Selection)
Film: Berlin. Symphony of a Great City (1927; Berlin. Sinfonie einer Großstadt by Walter Ruttmann; 62 min.) and Opus 1 (1922; by Walter Ruttmann; 10 min.)
Reading: Walter Schobert, “Painting in Time” and “Visual Music”: On German Avant-Garde Films of the
1920s, in: Dietrich Scheunemann, Expressionist Film: New Perspectives, Camden House: Rochester 2003, pp. 237 – 249.
Week 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).
Taking Up Speed – Facing New Times
Film: Run Lola Run (1998; Lola rennt! by Tom Tykwer; 81 Min.)
Reading: tom Whalen, “Run Lola Run,” Film Quarterly 53:3 (2000), pp. 33-40.
Field Trip (I): Visit of German Cinema Archive (Deutsche Kinemathek) at Berlin Film Museum
Week 3
Does History Happen Over Night?
Films: Good bye, Lenin! (2003; by Wolfgang Becker; 110 min.)
Night Shapes (1999; Nachtgestalten by Andreas Dresen; 99 min.) Reading: Selected contemporary reviews (handout).
Field Trip (II): 100 Years of Berlin Film History Guided Walking Tour
Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin
Reading: Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Bellknap Press 2008.
Week 4
Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin (continuation)
Reading: Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Bellknap Press 2008.
Tracing Political Biographies in East and West
Films: The Life of Others (2006; Das Leben der Anderen by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; 137 min.); Blackbox Germany (2001; Blackbox BRD by Andres Veiel; 101 min.)
Field Trip (III): Visit of Film Studios Berlin Babelsberg
Reading: Thomas Elsaesser, Film Industry – Film Subsidy, in: Thomas Elsaesser, New German Cinema. A History, London 1989, S. 8-35.
Week 5
Germany Today
Film: Germany 09 (2009, Deutschland 09 collectively by 13 directors, 152 min.)
Reading: Selected interviews with the directors. Eric Rentschler, West German Film in the Course of
Time. Reflections on the Twenty Years since Oberhausen, Redgrave 1984. (selection)
Classics of Film Theory (III): Alexander Kluge
Reading: Alexander Kluge, Cinema stories, New York, 2007. (selection)
Germany after Germany
Film: Head On (2004; Gegen die Wand by Fatih Akin; 116 min.)
Reading: Randall Hall, German Film after Germany. Towards a transnational aestetics, University of Illinois Press 2008. (selection)
Week 6
Presentation of projects
Review of all materials for final exams
Final Exam
LOOP: A Collaborative Collage of Films and Texts
Required readings:
A photocopied reader and handouts respectively will be provided in class.
Alter, Nora M., Projecting History. German Nonfiction Cinema, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2002.
Benjamin, Walter, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Bellknap Press 2008.
Elsaesser, Thomas, New German Cinema. A History, London 1989.
Hall, Randall, German Film after Germany. Towards a transnational aestetics, University of Illinois Press 2008.
Kaes, Anton, From Hitler to Heimat. The Return of History as Film, Havard University Press 1989.
Kluge, Alexander, Cinema stories, New York, 2007.
Kracauer, Siegfried, From Caligari to Hitler. A Psychological History of The German Film, Princeton University Press 1947.
Kracauer, Siegfried, Theory of Film. The Redemption of Physical Reality, New York 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.
Schobert, Walter, “Painting in Time” and “Visual Music”: On German Avant-Garde Films of the 1920s, in: Dietrich Scheunemann, Expressionist Film: New Perspectives, Camden House: Rochester 2003, pp. 237 – 249.
Whalen, Tom, “Run Lola Run,” Film Quarterly 53:3 (2000), pp. 33-40.
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, 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. A group of most inventive filmmakers has initiated the so called “Berlin School” of contemporary filmmaking. Therefore, 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 ten 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. Students discuss filmmakers from eastern and western parts of Germany and from Turkey. Alternating with our analyses of film, students closely read classical texts of German film theory. The course also explores the most lively film city Berlin by various field trips.
None
By the end of the course, students are able to:
- Understand contemporary German film after 1989
- Situate these films in the history of German film
- Analyze of contemporary films according to methods and criteria of film theory
- Define and differentiate documentary and feature film
- Understand selected classical texts of Geman film theory
- Combine theoretical insights with practical film analysis
- Reflect on filmic representation and socio-political contexts
- Understand the significance of 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
- Professor: lectures; question-driven moderation of class discussions; advising of student’s presentations, papers, and projects
- Film screenings
- Film analysis
- Close reading of canonical theoretical texts
- Scrutinizing of further materials (e.g., interviews, reviews)
- Field trips (e.g., German Cinema Archive, film studios Babelsberg)
- Students: response papers, short presentations, project presentations, essays
Attendance and active class participation 20 %
Response papers, short film review 25 %
Project presentation 25 %
Final Exam 30 %
Week 1
Course Overview and Introduction
Breaking Into New Eras
Film: The Wall (1990; Die Mauer by Jürgen Böttcher; 96 min.)
Reading: Nora M. Alter, Projecting History. German Nonfiction Cinema, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2002. (Selection)
Film: Berlin. Symphony of a Great City (1927; Berlin. Sinfonie einer Großstadt by Walter Ruttmann; 62 min.) and Opus 1 (1922; by Walter Ruttmann; 10 min.)
Reading: Walter Schobert, “Painting in Time” and “Visual Music”: On German Avant-Garde Films of the
1920s, in: Dietrich Scheunemann, Expressionist Film: New Perspectives, Camden House: Rochester 2003, pp. 237 – 249.
Week 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).
Taking Up Speed – Facing New Times
Film: Run Lola Run (1998; Lola rennt! by Tom Tykwer; 81 Min.)
Reading: tom Whalen, “Run Lola Run,” Film Quarterly 53:3 (2000), pp. 33-40.
Field Trip (I): Visit of German Cinema Archive (Deutsche Kinemathek) at Berlin Film Museum
Week 3
Does History Happen Over Night?
Films: Good bye, Lenin! (2003; by Wolfgang Becker; 110 min.)
Night Shapes (1999; Nachtgestalten by Andreas Dresen; 99 min.) Reading: Selected contemporary reviews (handout).
Field Trip (II): 100 Years of Berlin Film History Guided Walking Tour
Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin
Reading: Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Bellknap Press 2008.
Week 4
Classics of Film Theory (II): Walter Benjamin (continuation)
Reading: Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Bellknap Press 2008.
Tracing Political Biographies in East and West
Films: The Life of Others (2006; Das Leben der Anderen by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; 137 min.); Blackbox Germany (2001; Blackbox BRD by Andres Veiel; 101 min.)
Field Trip (III): Visit of Film Studios Berlin Babelsberg
Reading: Thomas Elsaesser, Film Industry – Film Subsidy, in: Thomas Elsaesser, New German Cinema. A History, London 1989, S. 8-35.
Week 5
Germany Today
Film: Germany 09 (2009, Deutschland 09 collectively by 13 directors, 152 min.)
Reading: Selected interviews with the directors. Eric Rentschler, West German Film in the Course of
Time. Reflections on the Twenty Years since Oberhausen, Redgrave 1984. (selection)
Classics of Film Theory (III): Alexander Kluge
Reading: Alexander Kluge, Cinema stories, New York, 2007. (selection)
Germany after Germany
Film: Head On (2004; Gegen die Wand by Fatih Akin; 116 min.)
Reading: Randall Hall, German Film after Germany. Towards a transnational aestetics, University of Illinois Press 2008. (selection)
Week 6
Presentation of projects
Review of all materials for final exams
Final Exam
LOOP: A Collaborative Collage of Films and Texts
A photocopied reader and handouts respectively will be provided in class.
Alter, Nora M., Projecting History. German Nonfiction Cinema, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2002.
Benjamin, Walter, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Bellknap Press 2008.
Elsaesser, Thomas, New German Cinema. A History, London 1989.
Hall, Randall, German Film after Germany. Towards a transnational aestetics, University of Illinois Press 2008.
Kaes, Anton, From Hitler to Heimat. The Return of History as Film, Havard University Press 1989.
Kluge, Alexander, Cinema stories, New York, 2007.
Kracauer, Siegfried, From Caligari to Hitler. A Psychological History of The German Film, Princeton University Press 1947.
Kracauer, Siegfried, Theory of Film. The Redemption of Physical Reality, New York 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.
Schobert, Walter, “Painting in Time” and “Visual Music”: On German Avant-Garde Films of the 1920s, in: Dietrich Scheunemann, Expressionist Film: New Perspectives, Camden House: Rochester 2003, pp. 237 – 249.
Whalen, Tom, “Run Lola Run,” Film Quarterly 53:3 (2000), pp. 33-40.