The Best German Films of All Time – A Guide to German Cinema
Die besten deutschen Filme aller Zeiten.
Some of the best films German cinema has to offer. In chronological order.
Number of films by decade:
1910s: 4
1920s: 18
1930s: 11
1940s: 6
1950s: 5
1960s: 8
1970s: 24
1980s: 12
1990s: 7
2000s: 11
2010s: 9
2020s: 7
Directors with the most entries on this list:
1. Fritz Lang (9 films)
2. Rainer Werner Fassbinder (9 films)
3. Werner Herzog (8 films)
4. Georg Wilhelm Pabst (5 films)
5. Wim Wenders (5 films)
6. Helmut Käutner (4 films)
7. Christian Petzold (4 films)
8. Edgar Reitz (4 films)
9. Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet (4 films)
10. F.W. Murnau (3 films)
11. Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (3 films)
small glossary:
Berliner Schule - Berlin School (A term used to describe a style of contemporary German auteur cinema. The movement's name was coined Berlin School because the first generation of its filmmakers all graduated from the film school DFFB in Berlin. The films of the Berlin School are often considered an alternative to contemporary German mainstream cinema.)
Neuer Deutscher Film – New German Cinema
Trümmerfilm – literally "rubble film", a short-lived movement in German post-war cinema, heavily influenced by Italian Neorealism, usually filmed on location in the post-war ruins of German cities
Some of the best films German cinema has to offer. In chronological order.
Number of films by decade:
1910s: 4
1920s: 18
1930s: 11
1940s: 6
1950s: 5
1960s: 8
1970s: 24
1980s: 12
1990s: 7
2000s: 11
2010s: 9
2020s: 7
Directors with the most entries on this list:
1. Fritz Lang (9 films)
2. Rainer Werner Fassbinder (9 films)
3. Werner Herzog (8 films)
4. Georg Wilhelm Pabst (5 films)
5. Wim Wenders (5 films)
6. Helmut Käutner (4 films)
7. Christian Petzold (4 films)
8. Edgar Reitz (4 films)
9. Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet (4 films)
10. F.W. Murnau (3 films)
11. Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (3 films)
small glossary:
Berliner Schule - Berlin School (A term used to describe a style of contemporary German auteur cinema. The movement's name was coined Berlin School because the first generation of its filmmakers all graduated from the film school DFFB in Berlin. The films of the Berlin School are often considered an alternative to contemporary German mainstream cinema.)
Neuer Deutscher Film – New German Cinema
Trümmerfilm – literally "rubble film", a short-lived movement in German post-war cinema, heavily influenced by Italian Neorealism, usually filmed on location in the post-war ruins of German cities
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- DirectorHanns Heinz EwersStellan RyeStarsPaul WegenerGrete BergerLyda SalmonovaBalduin, a student of Prague, leaves his roystering companions in the beer garden, when he finds he has reached the end of his resources. He is scarcely seated in a quiet corner when a hideous, shriveled-up old man taps him upon the shoulder and whispers vaguely of a big inheritance for Prague's finest swordsman and wildest student if he will enter into a certain agreement. Balduin rebuffs him, satirically asking his weird companion to procure him "the luckiest ticket in a lottery or a doweried wife." The old man goes off chuckling and thence onward persistently shadows Balduin, exerting a sinister influence over him, while Balduin is still disconsolate under the frowns of fortune. The Countess Margit Schwarzenberg, hunting with her cousin, to whom her father has betrothed her, meets with an accident. She is thrown over her horse's head into a river, but Balduin, who has been directed to the spot by his evil genius, plunges in and rescues her. Subsequently Balduin calls to inquire as to her condition at the castle of her father, the count, but be makes a hurried departure when Baron Waldis arrives, the contrast in their appearance discrediting him. His desire to win the countess and to humiliate the baron becomes so pronounced that he readily accedes to the compact suggested by Scapinelli, the old man, who has so pertinaciously dogged his footsteps, particularly when he learns that untold wealth and power will be his when he assigns to the other the right to take from his room whatever he chooses for his own use as he desires. The agreement is signed. Balduin receives a shower of gold and notes as his portion; Scapinelli takes Balduin's soul exposed in concrete form by his shadow. Balduin prosecutes his love affair assiduously and with apparent success, till the baron is informed of it by a jealous gypsy girl. He challenges Balduin to a duel, and the latter, assured of his superiority as a fencer, readily agrees. Count Schwarzenberg learns of the impending duel and appeals to Balduin not to kill "my sister's child, my daughter's future husband, and my heir." Balduin gives his promise, but when he goes to the venue of the duel he meets, his own counterpart stalking away derisively wiping his gory sword on his cloak. Balduin turns and in the far distance sees the dying victim of the deed he swore he would not do. He rushes from the spot horror-stricken. When he regains sufficient composure he makes his way to the castle of the count, but is refused admission. Determined to explain that he had no complicity in the death of the baron, Balduin climbs into a room in which the countess is seated. She receives him coldly, but soon succumbs to his ardent wooing. Just as he seeks to leave her she notices he has no shadow and that the mirror gives no reflection of him; and she drops back affrighted, the ghastly apparition of himself which takes shape in the corner of the room sends Balduin scuttling away from the castle in a paroxysm of terror. He makes a frenzied flight through a woodland estate and the streets of Prague, but wherever he stops to recover his breath he is haunted by the counterpart of himself. He reaches his rooms and draws a murderous looking fire-arm from its case. As the phantasmagorical figure strides towards him with a sinister grin, he fires, and in a few minutes the blood gushes from his own side from a fatal wound.
- DirectorRichard OswaldStarsConrad VeidtLeo ConnardIlse von Tasso-LindTwo male musicians fall in love, but blackmail and scandal makes the affair take a tragic turn.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsVictor JansonOssi OswaldaHarry LiedtkeAn American heiress seeks the hand of an impoverished German prince.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsOssi OswaldaHermann ThimigVictor JansonForced into marriage by his uncle, a man decides to fool him by marrying a life-like mechanical doll instead.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBernhard GoetzkeLil DagoverWalter JanssenWhen a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeAud Egede-NissenGertrude WelckerArch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPaul RichterMargarete SchönTheodor LoosSiegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsMargarete SchönGertrud ArnoldTheodor LoosPrincess Kriemhild vows to avenge her husband's murder but must overcome her brothers who swore allegiance to Hagen. She marries Etzel, King of the Huns, and persuades his army to attack Hagen, but she loses more than she bargained for.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftMax HillerAn aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.
- DirectorEwald André DupontStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftLya De PuttiPrologue: The murderer "Boss" Huller - after having spent ten years in prison - breaks his silence to tell the warden his story. "Boss", a former trapeze artist, and his wife own a cheap side-show that displays ''erotic sensations''. But he longs for his former glamorous life in the circus. When he meets the orphan Berta-Marie, he falls under her spell and leaves his wife and young son behind. He makes Berta-Marie his partner in a new trapeze number. One day, the famous trapeze artist Artinelli takes note of them and engages them for his trapeze show in Berlin. Their salto mortale becomes an immediate sensation. Calculatedly and cold, Artinelli seduces Berta-Marie and destroys "Boss'" happiness.
- DirectorLotte ReinigerCarl KochA handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which include befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling in love with a princess.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGösta EkmanEmil JanningsCamilla HornThe demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannStarsPaul von HindenburgThis movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeGerda MaurusWilly FritschThe mastermind behind a ubiquitous spy operation learns of a dangerous romance between a Russian lady in his employ and a dashing agent from the government's secret service.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsLouise BrooksFritz KortnerFrancis LedererThe rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
- DirectorJoe MayStarsAlbert SteinrückElse HellerGustav FröhlichJoe May's sensual drama of life in the Berlin underworld is in many ways the perfect summation of German filmmaking in the silent era: a dazzling visual style, a psychological approach to its characters, and the ability to take a simple and essentially melodramatic story and turn it into something more complex and inherently cinematic.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsLouise BrooksJosef RovenskýFritz RaspAfter falling pregnant by a pharmacist and refusing to marry, a young woman is ejected from her home and sent to a strict girls' reform school.
- DirectorPhil JutziStarsAlexandra SchmittHolmes ZimmermannIlse TrautscholdMutter Krause and her children live in the poorer section of Berlin's Wedding district. The film depicts the cruelty of poverty and communism as a rescuing force that reaches Mutter Krause and the child too late.
- DirectorArnold FanckGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsGustav DiesslLeni RiefenstahlErnst PetersenA man climbs a 12,000-foot mountain to search for his wife, who was lost on their honeymoon. Another couple makes the dangerous climb with him.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakEdgar G. UlmerRochus GlieseStarsErwin SplettstößerBrigitte BorchertWolfgang von WaltershausenTwo men and two women enjoy a pleasant Sunday at the beach amid the unending toil of the working week.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsMarlene DietrichKurt GerronAn elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsRudolf ForsterLotte LenyaCarola NeherThe Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsAlexander GranachFritz KampersErnst BuschPlea against war and for friendship between peoples, through the story of French miners rescued by German colleagues after a firedamp explosion.
- DirectorGerhard LamprechtStarsRolf WenkhausKäthe HaackFritz RaspEmil goes to Berlin to see his grandmother with a large amount of money and is offered sweets by a strange man that make him sleep. He wakes up at his stop with no money. It is up to him and a group of children to save the day.
- DirectorLeontine SaganCarl FroelichStarsDorothea WieckHertha ThieleEmilia UndaAt an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsWolfgang LiebeneinerCarl EsmondMagda SchneiderVienna in the beginning of the twentieth century. Cavalry Lieutenant Fritz Lobheimer is about to end his affair with Baroness Eggerdorff when he meets the young Christine, the daughter of an opera violinist. Baron Eggerdorff however soon hears of his past misfortune...
- DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeOtto WernickeThomy BourdelleA criminal mastermind uses hypnosis to rule the rackets after death.
- DirectorLeni RiefenstahlStarsDavid AlbrittonArvo AskolaJack BeresfordThe document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin.
- DirectorLeni RiefenstahlStarsSheigo AraiJack BeresfordRalf BerzsenyiThe document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin, orchestrated as Nazi propaganda.
- DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsMarianne HoppePaul DahlkeFerdinand MarianA grieving husband tries to uncover the truth behind his wife's suicide, leading him to discover a tragic tale of infidelity and redemption.other films by Helmut Käutner on this list:
Great Freedom No. 7 (1944)
Under the Bridges (1946)
Black Gravel (1961) - DirectorHelmut WeissStarsHeinz RühmannKarin HimboldtHilde SessakA successful writer, home-schooled in his youth, masquerades as a student at a secondary school to experience all the fun and pranks he missed out on.
- DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsHans AlbersIlse WernerHans SöhnkerThe film tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger who works in a St. Pauli club on the Große Freiheit 7, and falls in love with a girl. But she prefers his rival Willem and Hannes returns to the sea.other films by Helmut Käutner on this list:
Romance in a Minor Key (1943)
Under the Bridges (1946)
Black Gravel (1961) - DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsHannelore SchrothCarl RaddatzGustav KnuthTwo barge skippers fall in love with the same woman.other films by Helmut Käutner on this list:
Romance in a Minor Key (1943)
Great Freedom No. 7 (1944)
Black Gravel (1961) - DirectorWolfgang StaudteStarsHildegard KnefElly BurgmerErna SellmerAfter returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences during World War II.Trümmerfilm
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsEdmund MoeschkeErnst PittschauIngetraud HinzeA young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post-WWII Berlin.Trümmerfilm
Albeit made by an Italian director it is considered one of the most important films of German post-war cinema. The film is equal parts Italian Neorealism and German Trümmerfilm. - DirectorPeter LorreStarsPeter LorreKarl JohnHelmuth RudolphGerman scientist murders his fiancée during World War II when he learns that she has been selling the results of his secret research to the enemy.
- DirectorKurt HoffmannStarsJohanna von KoczianHansjörg FelmyWera FrydtbergThe movie explains Germany from 1913 until 1955 by example of two contrary characters: The idealistic journalist Hans (H.-J. Felmy) loses his work during the Third Reich, whereas opportunist Bruno (R. Graf) makes career to himself in the NSDAP party. After World War II ended, Bruno manages to be indispensable to the US administration and becomes a successful and well respected businessman, despite his Nazi-past. At the same time, Hans tries to earn a living on the countryside. But one day a time will come when both men will meet again.
- DirectorLadislao VajdaStarsHeinz RühmannSigfrit SteinerSiegfried LowitzHaving doubts about the guilt of the obvious suspect in the murder of an eight year old girl, a police detective decides to investigate the case on his own.German-Swiss co-production
- DirectorBernhard WickiStarsVolker BohnetFritz WepperMichael HinzIn 1945, Germany is being overrun, and nobody is left to fight but teenagers.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsDebra PagetPaul HubschmidWalther ReyerIn Eschnapur, a local Maharajah and a German architect fall in-love with the same temple dancer.
- DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsHelmut WildtIngmar ZeisbergHans CossyThe story takes place in postwar Germany, following Germany's loss in World War II. For years, people struggled with shortages of everything, housing, water, food, clothing.other films by Helmut Käutner on this list:
Romance in a Minor Key (1943)
Great Freedom No. 7 (1944)
Under the Bridges (1946) - DirectorFerdinand KhittlStarsFriedrich JoloffErnst MarbeckWilfried SchröpferFeature-documentary "pointing up a thousand facets of this world and probing to determine what may lie beneath the surface".
- DirectorWill TremperStarsKarin HübnerLouise MartiniHarald LeipnitzA thick fog force the travelers to persevere on the ground for many hours at Berlin-Tempelhof airport. Among them is a businessman who is facing ruin and not shy away, throwing his girlfriend to another man's neck in order to save himself.
- DirectorFrank BeyerStarsManfred KrugKrystyna StypulkowskaJutta HoffmannA film about living and working conditions in the GDR of the 1960s, including a little love story, of course.
- DirectorDanièle HuilletJean-Marie StraubStarsGustav LeonhardtChristiane LangPaolo CarliniThe life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach as presented by his wife, Anna.
- DirectorMay SpilsStarsWerner EnkeUschi GlasHenry van LyckA free-wheeling comedy, Zur Sache Schaetzchen chronicles a day in the life of Martin, a witty yet lazy songwriter who'd rather not get out of bed. During the opening sequence, Martin watches a break-in on the other side of the street. In the morning, his friend Henry forces him to report it to the police, yet Martin gets bored with the cops and flees. The two of them spent the rest of the day escaping the law, in the Munich zoo and a public bath, were Martin meets Barbara. Block, the record company executive, needs Martin's new song lyrics right away, and Martin, who continually cranks out mad random remarks, comes up with a ridiculous sailor song. In the end, Martin's playful- ness collides with the authority the police represents. The movie is certainly not plot based; it draws its superior humor from one-liners and the hilarious, carefree insanity of its protagonist.
- DirectorKonrad WolfStarsJaecki SchwarzVasiliy LivanovAleksey EybozhenkoGregor Hecker, who fled Germany with his parents, returns to Germany as a lieutenant in the Red Army.
- DirectorPeter FleischmannStarsMartin SperrAngela WinklerElse QueckeAbram returns to his small village and although his repairing skills are needed, people's suspicion about his sexual preferences make his life hard.
- DirectorTom ToelleStarsJörg PlevaSuzanne RoquetteDieter Thomas HeckA candidate in a game show is hunted by three men. He will get a Million DMark, if he survives for a week; the hunters will get the money, if they can kill the candidate. The audience of the show is watching the transmissions of twenty camera teams filming the hunt. The showmaster appeals to the TV-viewers to help either the candidate or the hunters, whomever they want.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsFini StraubingerM. BaaskeElsa FehrerThrough examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since adolescence, and her work on behalf of other deaf and blind people, this film shows how the deaf and blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiRuy GuerraHelena RojoIn the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsMargit CarstensenHanna SchygullaKatrin SchaakeA troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.
- DirectorWerner SchroeterStarsMagdalena MontezumaChristine KaufmannCandy DarlingThis is about the life and myths about famous opera singer Maria Malibran (1808-1836). She died on the stage.
- DirectorHans-Jürgen SyberbergStarsHarry BaerIngrid CavenHanna KöhlerThe story of the legendary King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886), his opera interest and friendship with theatre personalities such as Richard Wagner and Joseph Kainz, and at the same time a reflection of the German 1800s.
- StarsKlaus LöwitschBarbara ValentinMascha RabbenSomewhere in the future there is a computer project called Simulacron one of which is able to simulate a full featured reality, when suddenly project leader Henry Vollmer dies. His successor Dr. Fred Stiller experiences odd phenomena. A good friend, Guenther Lause, disappears in the middle of a conversation and a week later nobody has ever heard of him. And those fits of dizzyness - Stiller cannot believe himself to be fool. There has to be an explanation for all this. Could Simulacron have something to do with it?
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsBrigitte MiraEl Hedi ben SalemBarbara ValentinA lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsYella RottländerRüdiger VoglerLisa KreuzerA German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsMargit CarstensenKarlheinz BöhmBarbara ValentinAfter the death of her abusive father, the lonely librarian Martha marries an equally vile businessman - Helmut. The cruel and torturous nature of their relationship leads Martha to believe Helmut might be trying to kill her.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsBruno S.Walter LadengastBrigitte MiraA young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to talk or walk, and bearing a strange note.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsRainer Werner FassbinderPeter ChatelKarlheinz BöhmA suggestible working-class innocent wins the lottery but lets himself be taken advantage of by his bourgeois new boyfriend and his circle of materialistic friends.
- DirectorDanièle HuilletJean-Marie StraubStarsGünter ReichLouis DevosEva CsapoIn expressive, melodic tones, the fraternal pair debate God's true message and intent for His creations, a conflict that leads their followers - in extravagantly choreographed song and dance - towards chaos and sin.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsRüdiger VoglerHanna SchygullaHans Christian BlechA writer goes on a road trip across West Germany with a group of eclectic people he meets along the way.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsJosef BierbichlerStefan GüttlerClemens ScheitzThe foreman of a small village glassworks dies without revealing the secret to the famous "Ruby Glass".
- DirectorWim WendersStarsRüdiger VoglerHanns ZischlerLisa KreuzerA traveling projection-equipment mechanic works in Western Germany along the East-German border, visiting worn-out theatres. He meets with a depressed young man whose marriage has just broken up, and the two decide to travel together.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsDennis HopperBruno GanzLisa KreuzerTom Ripley, who deals in forged art, suggests a picture framer he knows would make a good hit man.
- DirectorHans-Jürgen SyberbergStarsHeinz SchubertPeter KernHellmut LangeDirector Hans-Jurgen Syberberg examines the rise and fall of the Third Reich in this brooding seven-hour masterpiece, which incorporates puppetry, rear-screen projection, and a Wagnerian score into a singular epic vision. Syberberg, who grew up under Nazi tyranny, ruminates on good and evil and the rest of humanity's complicity in the horrors of the holocaust.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsBruno S.Eva MattesClemens ScheitzIn Berlin, an alcoholic man, recently released from prison, joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in a determined dream to leave Germany and seek a better life in Wisconsin.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsVolker SpenglerIngrid CavenGottfried JohnA transgender woman tries to salvage something from the wreckage love has made of her life by confronting her anguished past, hoping to find ultimate acceptance among former acquaintances and herself.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiIsabelle AdjaniBruno GanzCount Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsHanna SchygullaKlaus LöwitschIvan DesnyMaria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.
- DirectorUlrike OttingerStarsTabea BlumenscheinLutzeMagdalena MontezumaA woman presented as a "trinkerin" is having a special tour in Berlin. She bought herself a single-way ticket and will drink everywhere she can.
- DirectorVolker SchlöndorffStarsDavid BennentMario AdorfAngela WinklerIn 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
- StarsGünter LamprechtClaus HolmHanna SchygullaIn late-1920s Berlin, Franz Biberkopf is released from prison and vows to go straight. However, he soon finds himself embroiled in the city's criminal underworld.
- DirectorRudolf ThomeStarsHanns ZischlerSabine BachWolfgang KinderAn architect falls in love with a student who engages actively against urban speculation in her neighborhood, for which he is jointly responsible.
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsJürgen ProchnowHerbert GrönemeyerKlaus WennemannA German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsNatja BrunckhorstEberhard AurigaPeggy BussieckA teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
- DirectorMargarethe von TrottaStarsJutta LampeBarbara SukowaRüdiger VoglerTwo sisters both fight for women's rights. Juliane is a journalist and Marianne a terrorist. When Marianne is jailed, Juliane feels obligated to help her despite their differing views on how to live.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleJosé LewgoyThe story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.
- DirectorHans-Jürgen SyberbergStarsEdith CleverMartin SperrRobert LloydRichard Wagner's last opera has remained controversial since its first performance for its unique, and, for some, unsavory blending of religious and erotic themes and imagery. Based on one of the medieval epic romances of King Arthur and the search for the holy grail (the chalice touched by the lips of Christ at the last supper), it recounts over three long acts how a "wild child" unwittingly invades the sacred precincts of the grail, fulfilling a prophecy that only such a one can save the grail's protectors from a curse fallen upon them. Interpreters of the work have found everything from mystical revelation to proto-fascist propaganda in it. Hans-Jurgen Syberberg's production doesn't avoid either aspect, but tries synthesize them by seeking their roots in the divided soul of Wagner himself. The action unfolds on a craggy landscape which turns out to be a gigantic enlargement of the composer's death mask, among deliberately tatty theatrical devices: puppets, scale models, magic-lantern projections. The eponymous hero is sung by the specified tenor voice (Reiner Goldberg) but mimed on screen by a male and a female performer alternately, reflecting what the director takes to be the creator's own sexual conflicts. Syberberg's pacing, dictated by the majestic pace of Wagner's score, is slow, but enlivened by constant subtle shifts in point of view, and memorable performances by actress Edith Clever as the villainess/heroine Kundry (sung by Yvonne Minton), orchestra conductor Armin Jordan as the remorseful knight Amfortas (sung by Wolfgang Schoene), and Robert Lloyd (the faithful retainer Gurnemanz).
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsRosel ZechHilmar ThateCornelia FroboessPartially based on the life of Sybille Schmitz, who found fame under the Nazi regime, but whose career was destroyed afterward. Veronika Voss is a once prominent UFA actress, kept by her doctor, who raises suspicion in a sports journalist.
- DirectorDanièle HuilletJean-Marie StraubStarsChristian HeinischNazzareno BianconiMario AdorfAfter making the domestic servant pregnant, a woman who doubles his age, a young man of only seventeen years from the German bourgeoisie is sent by his family to the United States in order to avoid a huge scandal.
- StarsMarita BreuerRüdiger WeigangKurt WagnerThe village of Schabbach experiences the shifting fortunes of Germany from 1919 to 1982.
- DirectorDanièle HuilletJean-Marie StraubStarsAndreas von RauchVladimir BarattaMartina BarattaThe tragedy of the death of Empedocles, philosopher in Ancient Greece. Hölderlin's work adapted to cinema by Straub and Huillet.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsBruno GanzSolveig DommartinOtto SanderAn angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.
- DirectorJörg ButtgereitStarsHermann KoppHeinrich EbberMichael KrauseSeven episodes, each taking place on a different day of the week, on the theme of suicide and violent death.
- StarsHenry ArnoldSalome KammerFrank RöthHermann Simon, an aspiring composer, comes of age in Munich during the troubled 1960s.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsDominique HorwitzThomas KretschmannJochen NickelThe story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.
- DirectorChristoph SchlingensiefHelge SchneiderStarsHelge SchneiderHelmut KörschgenAndreas KunzeDetective 00 Schneider has to return from retirement to catch a mad art collector.
- DirectorAngela SchanelecStarsSophie AignerVincent BranchetKatharina EckerfeldMimmi is a very lonely girl not knowing what to do with her life. On the search for friends and boy-friends she strays lonely in different cities.Berliner Schule
- DirectorTom TykwerStarsFranka PotenteMoritz BleibtreuHerbert KnaupAfter a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleThe love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.
- DirectorCaroline LinkStarsJuliane KöhlerMerab NinidzeMatthias HabichDue to Hitler's threat, Walter Redlich, a Jewish lawyer, immigrates to Kenya with his wife Jettel and daughter Regina. Things take a turn when the family is ordered to move by the British officers.
- DirectorMaren AdeStarsEva LöbauDaniela HoltzJan NeumannAs an awkward idealistic high school teacher begins her first job in the city, things turn out to be much tougher than she had imagined.
- DirectorWolfgang BeckerStarsDaniel BrühlKatrin SassChulpan KhamatovaIn 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.
- DirectorOliver HirschbiegelStarsBruno GanzAlexandra Maria LaraUlrich MatthesTraudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
- DirectorFatih AkinStarsBirol ÜnelSibel KekilliGüven KiraçWith the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.