HUAS79114 - New German Cinema

Course Description

This course examines the work of filmmakers who sought in the 1960’s and 70’s to create a new German cinema and with this a new German national identity. Funded largely by government subsidies, these filmmakers rejected the commercial basis of film in favor of the personal Autorenfilme, a distinctly German version of auteurist cinema. Beginning in the early 1960’s with what came to be called Young German Cinema, these filmmakers issued manifestos and declarations and created their own Filmverlag to fund and distribute independent films. These film sought to break with the stagnant film culture of post-war Germany, which had retreated safely into the nostalgic Heimat films and historical dramas of the 1950’s, and to confront directly the more recent history of their parents’ generation under National Socialism as a means of forcing Germany to confront its past. They regarded their films as a significant contribution to the national project of Vergangenheitsbewältigung - coming to terms with the past.

Course Outline

Course Syllabus

Notes

Online registration deadline: Thurs, Jun 8, 5PM CT