Movies & Series

Berliner Schule: The Return of Reality

Unusual works that artfully change our viewing habits

More than 25 years ago, the first films by Christian Petzold, Thomas Arslan and Angela Schanelec were made, heralding a new trend in German cinema: The "Berlin School" emerged with films that dealt with the German present in a radically different way. The journalist Katja Nicodemus ("Die Zeit") wrote: "Those were the years of the never-ending relationship comedy. There was a compartmentalisation of the world of cinema. No confrontation. No reflection... And then suddenly came this cinema... And there was suddenly this care of images, images that speak for themselves." Today, films by Christian Petzold, Maren Ade, Valeska Grisebach or Christoph Hochhäusler are among the most important works of art in German cinema. They do not seek their audience in an ingratiating way, but the audience finds these films.

More than 25 years ago, the first films by Christian Petzold, Thomas Arslan and Angela Schanelec were made, heralding a new trend in German cinema: The "Berlin School" emerged with films that dealt with the German present in a radically different way. The journalist Katja Nicodemus ("Die Zeit") wrote: "Those were the years of the never-ending relationship comedy. There was a compartmentalisation of the world of cinema. No confrontation. No reflection... And then suddenly came this cinema... And there was suddenly this care of images, images that speak for themselves." Today, films by Christian Petzold, Maren Ade, Valeska Grisebach or Christoph Hochhäusler are among the most important works of art in German cinema. They do not seek their audience in an ingratiating way, but the audience finds these films.

More than 25 years ago, the first films by Christian Petzold, Thomas Arslan and Angela Schanelec were made, heralding a new trend in German cinema: The "Berlin School" emerged with films that dealt with the German present in a radically different way. The journalist Katja Nicodemus ("Die Zeit") wrote: "Those were the years of the never-ending relationship comedy. There was a compartmentalisation of the world of cinema. No confrontation. No reflection... And then suddenly came this cinema... And there was suddenly this care of images, images that speak for themselves." Today, films by Christian Petzold, Maren Ade, Valeska Grisebach or Christoph Hochhäusler are among the most important works of art in German cinema. They do not seek their audience in an ingratiating way, but the audience finds these films.