Studying German Cinema

Maggie Hoffgen

Softcover | 23.98 x 1.78 x 17.81 cm | 256 pp

Auteur Publishing |  2017 | 9781906733001

Taking a text-led, chronological approach, Studying German Cinema is directed at non-specialists such as students of German, Film Studies, and the general reader with an interest in German cinema seeking a useful primer to the subject.

Following an introduction, each of the 14 chapters focuses on one key film - from the ground-breaking horror Nosferatu to the Oscar-winning Das Leben der Anderen  (The Lives of Others) - and puts it into its relevant contexts. Depending on the individual film, these include exploration of industrial practices both in West and East Germany; aesthetic approaches; auteurist traditions (including films by Fassbinder, Wenders and Herzog); and ideology. Each film is embedded in its cultural and political context. Together, the historical discussions provide an overview of German history from the end of World War I to the present.

Useful suggestions are made as to studies of related films, both those discussed within the book and outside, making Studying German Cinema the complete introduction to one of the most fascinating and turbulent of national cinemas.