The Resilience of German Cinema and Its Global Stars

By the ULTIMATE Berlin Editorial Team

Babelsberg, UFA and the Weimar golden age (1912–1933)

The studio at Babelsberg, just outside Berlin, opened in 1912, and in 1917 UFA brought the industry together. In the 1920s Berlin was one of the film capitals of the world: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) and F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) defined Expressionism, Fritz Lang made Metropolis (1927) and M (1931), and Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel (1930) made Marlene Dietrich a star.

From 1933 many of these film-makers, a large number of them Jewish, were forced to leave, and much of their genius went on to shape Hollywood.

Marlene Dietrich’s Berlin, and Berlin on film →

Two Germanys and the New German Cinema (1945–1990)

After the war the country’s cinema developed in two states: in the East, DEFA made its films at Babelsberg; in the West, a group of young directors declared in the Oberhausen Manifesto of 1962 that the old cinema was dead.

The New German Cinema that followed became one of the most admired in the world: Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Veronika Voss won the Golden Bear, Werner Herzog took Klaus Kinski up the Amazon in Aguirre, Volker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum won the Palme d’Or and the Oscar, and Wim Wenders won best director at Cannes for Wings of Desire.

Since reunification (1990–present)

Since 1990 German cinema has had both art-house acclaim and box-office hits: Run Lola Run and Good Bye Lenin! were seen around the world, Fatih Akin’s Head-On won the Golden Bear in 2004, and Nowhere in Africa, The Lives of Others and Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front, winner of four Oscars, all won the Oscar for best foreign language or international film.

Must-watch films: the classics

To understand German cinema, start with the classics, then the modern masters.

• Nosferatu (1922): F. W. Murnau’s haunting vampire film, the first great horror film.
• Metropolis (1927): Fritz Lang’s vision of a city of the future, one of the most influential films ever made.
• The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel, 1930): Josef von Sternberg’s film with Marlene Dietrich as the cabaret singer Lola Lola.
• Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin, 1987): Wim Wenders’s poetic film of angels watching over the divided city, best director at Cannes.

Must-watch films: the modern masters

• The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel, 1979): Volker Schlöndorff’s adaptation of Günter Grass, winner of the Palme d’Or and the Oscar.
• Run Lola Run (Lola rennt, 1998): Tom Tykwer’s breathless race across Berlin, told three times.
• Head-On (Gegen die Wand, 2004): Fatih Akin’s fierce love story, winner of the Golden Bear.
• The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen, 2006): Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s drama of an East Berlin playwright and the officer who listens in, winner of the Oscar.

The stars

German cinema has given the world some of its most magnetic faces.

• Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992): born in Berlin, the star of The Blue Angel and of Hollywood’s golden age.
• Hanna Schygulla: the muse of Fassbinder, from The Marriage of Maria Braun onwards.
• Klaus Kinski (1926–1991): the volcanic star of Herzog’s Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo.
• Daniel Brühl: the star of Good Bye Lenin! and many international films.
• Sandra Hüller: the star of Toni Erdmann and Anatomy of a Fall, for which she was nominated for the Oscar.

Where to watch in Berlin

Berlin is one of the great cities for film. The Babylon in Mitte, Kino International on Karl-Marx-Allee and the Delphi Filmpalast in Charlottenburg are classic picture palaces, and every February the Berlinale, held since 1951, turns the city into the capital of world cinema, with many screenings open to the public.

Our advice: buy Berlinale tickets online the moment sales open, and see a film in one of the old picture palaces, not a multiplex.

Babylon →   Kino International →   Delphi Filmpalast →   Berlinale →

Hidden on the silver screen: international productions filmed in Germany

Studio Babelsberg and Germany’s cities and old towns have hosted some of the biggest international productions of recent years.

• The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014): Wes Anderson filmed mainly in Görlitz, on the Polish border, where a department store became the hotel’s interior, and at Babelsberg.
• Bridge of Spies (2015): Steven Spielberg filmed the prisoner exchange on the Glienicke Bridge between Berlin and Potsdam, where the real exchanges took place.
• Inglourious Basterds (2009) and the Bourne films: both were filmed partly in Berlin and at Babelsberg.

Berlin on film →

The Germans of Hollywood

Germans helped to build Hollywood from the start.

• Carl Laemmle (1867–1939): born in Laupheim, the founder of Universal Pictures.
• Ernst Lubitsch (1892–1947): born in Berlin, the master of sophisticated comedy, from Ninotchka to To Be or Not to Be.
• Marlene Dietrich: from Berlin to Paramount, one of the great stars of Hollywood.
• Wolfgang Petersen (1941–2022): the director of Das Boot, who went on to Hollywood with In the Line of Fire and Troy.
• Hans Zimmer: born in Frankfurt, the composer who won Oscars for The Lion King and Dune.

Questions and answers