This comprehensively revised, updated and significantly extended edition introduces German film history from its beginnings to the present day, covering key periods and movements including early and silent cinema, Weimar cinema, Nazi cinema, the New German Cinema, the Berlin School, the cinema of migration, and moving images in the digital era. Contributions by leading international scholars are grouped into sections that focus on genre; stars; authorship; film production, distribution and exhibition; theory and politics, including women's and queer cinema; and transnational connections. Spotlight articles within each section offer key case studies, including of individual films that illuminate larger histories (Heimat, Downfall, The Lives of Others, The Edge of Heaven and many more); stars from Ossi Oswalda and Hans Albers, to Hanna Schygulla and Nina Hoss; directors including F.W. Murnau, Walter Ruttmann, Wim Wenders and Helke Sander; and film theorists including Siegfried Kracauer and Béla Balázs. The volume provides a methodological template for the study of a national cinema in a transnational horizon.

AcknowledgmentsGeneral Introduction - Tim Bergfelder, Erica Carter, Deniz Göktürk and Claudia SandbergPart One: GenreIntroduction - Tim Bergfelder1. Evergreens: The Heimat Genre - Johannes von MoltkeSpotlight: Gloria - Joseph GarncarzHeimat - Johannes von MoltkeIrgendwo in Berlin - Horst ClausDEFA Indianerfilme - Jon Raundalen2. German Film Comedy - Jan-Christopher HorakSpotlight: Reinhold Schünzel - Christian RogowskiKurt Hoffmann - Chris WahlMichael 'Bully' Herbig - Tim Bergfelder3. Notes on the German Crime Film - Tim Bergfelder Spotlight: M - Todd Herzog4. Why We fight (about war films) - Jennifer KapczynskiSpotlight: Downfall - Paul CookeUnsere Mütter, unsere Väter - Jennifer KapczynskiThe Lives of Others - Paul CookePart Two: StarsIntroduction - Erica Carter 5. Asta Nielsen - Heide SchlüpmannSpotlight: Afgrunden - Claire JessonOssi Oswalda - Barbara Ottmann6. Siegfried - A German Film Star - Anton Kaes 7. Exotic stars under Nazism - Antje AscheidSpotlight: Hans Albers - Stephen Lowry 8. Transnational stars: Marlene Dietrich and Hildegard Knef - Erica Carter 9. Heinz Rühmann: The Archetypal German - Stephen Lowry10. Armin Müller-Stahl - Claudia Fellmer and Jon Raundalen11. German Stars since Reunification - Malte HagenerSpotlight: Hanna Schygulla - Ulrike SieglohrNina Hoss - Marco Abel Part Three: AuthorshipIntroduction - Claudia Sandberg and Erica Carter12. Transatlantic Careers: Ernst Lubitsch and Fritz Lang - Sabine Hake Spotlight: Murnau - Nicholas Baer13. Authorship under National Socialism - Eric Rentschler Spotlight: Walter Ruttmann - Michael Cowan14. Looking for Fassbinder: Denationalizing Authorship - Paul CookeSpotlight: Heiner Carow - Barton Byg15. Two Women Filmmakers: Ulrike Ottinger and Angela Schanelec - Ulrike SieglohrSpotlight: Helke Sander - Erica Carter16. Constructing Authorship: Werner Herzog is his films - Brad PragerSpotlight: Wim Wenders - Gerd Gemünden17. Fatih Akin: Global Auteur - Barbara Mennel18. The Berlin School - Marco AbelPart Four: Film Production and Circulation: Institutions and Sites Introduction - Tim Bergfelder 19. The Origins of Film Exhibition - Joseph Garncarz20. Early Cinema and its Audiences - Frank Kessler and Eva Warth21. A History of Ufa - Hans-Michael Bock, Michael Töteberg22. DEFA. Desires, Possibilities and Limitations - Claudia SandbergSpotlight: Jürgen Böttcher and Jahrgang 45 - Horst ClausHelke Misselwitz - Martin Brady23. Film Policy in the Third Reich - Julian Petley24. State Legislation and Censorship - Martin Loiperdinger25. German Film Festivals since 1945 - Caroline Moine26. Das kleine Fernsehspiel - Model of a Fernseh-Avantgarde - Claudia Sandberg27. Reinventing the Vault. German Film Heritage Institutions in the Digital Age - David KleingersPart Five: Theory, Memory, Counter-CinemaIntroduction - Tim Bergfelder and Erica Carter28. German Film Theory: The First 100 Years - Tobias NaglSpotlight: Siegfried Kracauer - Johannes von Moltke Béla Balázs - Erica CarterFrauen und Film - Annette Brauerhoch29. Political Cinema as Oppositional Practice - Marc Silberman30. Queer Cinema - Dagmar BrunowSpotlight: Rosa von Praunheim - Randall Halle31. Feminism and Women's Cinema - Erica Carter and Claudia Sandberg32. New German Cinema and History - Thomas Elsaesser33. DEFA in Transition: Untimely Film Modes for an Impossible Era - Annie Ring34. Politics of Memory: DEFA as Archive - Barton Byg and Victoria Rizo-LenshynPart Six: Transnational ConnectionsIntroduction - Deniz Göktürk 35. The German Colonies on Screen - Wolfgang Fuhrmann36. Franz Osten and Indo-German Film Relations - Eleanor Halsall37. A Short History of Film Exile - Christian Cargnelli38. Hollywood in Germany/Germany in Hollywood - Peter KrämerSpotlight: Roland Emmerich - Peter Krämer39. Beyond Paternalism: Turkish-German Traffic in Cinema - Deniz GöktürkSpotlight: The Edge of Heaven - Barbara MennelSpotlight: Sibel Kekilli - Deniz Göktürk40. German Film: Transnational - Randall HalleNotes on ContributorsBibliographyIndex