Anti-Heimat Cinema: The Jewish Invention of the German Landscape studies an overlooked yet fundamental element of German popular culture in the twentieth century. In tracing Jewish filmmakers’ contemplations of “Heimat”—a provincial German landscape associated with belonging and authenticity—it analyzes their distinctive contribution to the German identity discourse between 1918 and 1968. In its emphasis on rootedness and homogeneity Heimat seemed to challenge the validity and significance of Jewish emancipation. Several acculturation-seeking Jewish artists and intellectuals, however, endeavored to conceive a notion of Heimat that would rather substantiate their belonging. This book considers Jewish filmmakers’ contribution to this endeavor. It shows how they devised the landscapes of the German “Homeland” as Jews, namely, as acculturated “outsiders within.” Through appropriation of generic Heimat imagery, the films discussed in the book integrate criticism of national chauvinism into German mainstream culture from World War I to the Cold War. Consequently, these Jewish filmmakers anticipated the anti-Heimat film of the ensuing decades, and functioned as an uncredited inspiration for the critical New German Cinema.

This book investigates the construction of national identity in films of the New German Cinema using – for the first time – an explicitly cultural studies methodology.

Examines changing attitudes among Germans as evident in films of the modern German era, leading away from guilt and atonement and seeking national identity.

Offers a fresh approach to German film studies by tracing key genres -- including horror, the thriller, Heimat films, and war films -- over the course of German cinema history

German National Cinema is the first comprehensive history of German film from its origins to the present. In this new edition, Sabine Hake discusses film-making in economic, political, social, and cultural terms, and considers the contribution of Germany's most popular films to changing definitions of genre, authorship, and film form. The book traces the central role of cinema in the nation’s turbulent history from the Wilhelmine Empire to the Berlin Republic, with special attention paid to the competing demands of film as art, entertainment, and propaganda. Hake also explores the centrality of genre films and the star system to the development of a filmic imaginary. This fully revised and updated new edition will be required reading for everyone interested in German film and the history of modern Germany.

Traces the development of the state-sponsored company (DEFA), which was primarily responsible for film production in East Germany from 1946 to 1992. Most of the 16 essays were presented at a conference in Reading, England, at an unspecified date. Looking at specific films and scriptwriters, they analyze the representation of fascism and anti-fascism in the 1940s and 1950s, conflicts between the state and film makers in the 1960s, and social-political criticism of the 1970s and early 1980s. Paper edition (unseen), $25. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This study examines the development of the German Heimatfilm from the 1950s until today and investigates how the traditional Heimatfilm differs from contemporary Heimat cinema. In discussing different Heimatfilm genres, such as the traditional post-war Heimatfilm, the Anti-Heimatfilm, the modern Heimatfilm, as well as the urban Heimatfilm, this research analyzes how the Heimatfilm's settings, characters, narratives and aesthetics changed over the past decades. In an era of globalization, which is characterized by mobility and travelling characters such as migrants or guest workers, the idea of a spatially defined home is put into question. Therefore, the notion of Heimat cannot be seen as a spatial concept anymore, but rather as an internal sense of belonging and identity, which travels with people through spaces. Consequently, the notion of Heimat, which was usually associated with a rural setting in traditional Heimat cinema, can also be present in an urban locale, as epitomized by the urban Heimatfilm.

This study of Edgar Reitz's 1984 film saga Heimat explores the cultural contexts of the Heimat tradition and examines the political debate surrounding the film's reception. Responses were largely supportive but some critics were disturbed by an apparent tendency to induce a sense of uncritical nostalgia in viewers. Reitz, by contrast, had wanted to make a film which would help people confront their memories of the Third Reich. The author tests hostile critiques not only against the film's elliptical narrative but also against Reitz's filmic techniques. She examines the interplay of realism and authenticity, and shows how Reitz dramatizes the confrontation between modernity and rural communities, while consciously alluding to the problematic and much-derided Heimat genre.

'What this study achieves, above all else, is to underscore the constant yearning of the German psyche for a potent and cohesive identity, compelling us to ponder not only the cultural accomplishments this has inspired, but also the afflictions it has, in no small part, brought upon the nation' -Forum for Modern Language StudiesGerman identity has been a controversial theme throughout the modern age, especially in the wake of unification. This study explores the theme of identity between locality and nation in literature and film from the late nineteenth-century through to the present, locating key novels and films in a wider cultural context of great significance for an understanding of German history.

Overview of Nazi cinema