In the 1920s – the Golden Age of silent film – Hollywood’s closest economic and artistic competitor was Germany. However, with the Nazi takeover of government, society, and culture, German film products declined in quality and interest. Unlike Japan and Italy, the two other defeated Axis powers, who actually went through a film renaissance in the postwar era, Germany saw no such return to the creation of many remarkable films. It was not until the 1970s with the arrival of das neue Kino that German films returned to the screens of world theaters, thanks to unique works by Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders, Schlöndorff, and von Trotta. The four latter directors have continued making excellent films for the past thirty years, but it wasn’t until the arrival of RUN, LOLA, RUN (1998) that worldwide film festival critics began talking about an even newer generation of interesting German film directors. Our new series will feature works by four of those younger directors and two relatively recent films by veterans of the 1970s.
-- Chale Nafus, Director of Programming, Austin Film Society
-- Chale Nafus, Director of Programming, Austin Film Society
