German Cinema

Wolfgang Petersen, the German director whose film credits include Das Boot, a 1982 Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture -- Non-English Language (formerly Foreign Language), died in his house in Brentwood, Los Angeles, on Friday, August 12, 2022.  He was 81.

Stylized imagery and exaggerated and distorted mise-en-scene to reflect the inner psychology of the characters were the hallmarks of German Expressionism. The stylish beauty of German cinema during the Weimar was influenced by the political and psychological effects of World War I on the minds of German filmmakers, pushing them to take subjectivity to extremes and creating strange expressionistic worlds.

A partnership of the Goethe-Institut, Friends of Goethe in Southern California and the American Cinematheque produced the 13th showcase of new German films in Los Angeles, this past weekend, October 11-14, 2019. Although Germany yields a considerable number of films annually and holds one of the biggest European film festivals, the Los Angeles event seems to be marked by a “less is more” attitude, and has remained unaffected by the ambition to match the surrounding Hollywood flare.

For over a decade, the German Currents Film Festival has brought the best of German, Austrian and Swiss cinema to Los Angeles. This year’s festival line-up included a special focus on films from and about Berlin, highlighting the 50th Anniversary of the Berlin – Los Angeles Sister Partnership.