New German Cinema

140 movies   5 tv shows  

This is a source list I made for my brand-new (as of 2026) <a href="https://boxd.it/PPFGu">Werner HerzAugust Challenge</a>, celebrating both Herzog and the New German Cinema movement.

This list is shuffled together from two other Letterboxd lists of New German Cinema films: <a href="https://boxd.it/1zk98">One from film professor Dawn Fratini</a>, and <a href="https://boxd.it/gKHJ6">another one by Ramanthis</a>, as well as the partial filmography given in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_German_Cinema">Wikipedia article</a> on New German Cinema.

Although Wikipedia states that the New German Cinema movement lasted only 20 years between 1962 to 1982, this list includes several titles from much later, either by the same set or filmmakers or otherwise somehow related.

Shadow of Angels (1976) [Movie] Douban IMDb WikiData TMDB
Schatten der Engel
director: 丹尼尔·施密德 actor: 英格丽·卡文 / 赖纳·维尔纳·法斯宾德
other title: 天使之影 / Schatten der Engel
Beautiful, detached, laconic, consumptive Lily Brest is a streetwalker with few clients. She loves her idle boyfriend Raoul who gambles away what little she earns. The town's power broker, called the rich Jew, discovers she is a good listener, so she's soon busy. Raoul imagines grotesque sex scenes between Lily and the Jew; he leaves her for a man. Her parents, a bitter Fascist who is a cabaret singer in drag and her wheelchair-bound mother, offer no refuge. Even though all have a philosophical bent, the other whores reject Lily because she tolerates everyone, including men. She tires of her lonely life and looks for a way out. Even that act serves the local corrupt powers.
Kings of the Road (1976) [Movie] IMDb Douban TMDB WikiData Skybridge
Im Lauf der Zeit
8.3 (82 ratings) director: 维姆·文德斯 actor: 吕迪格·福格勒 / 汉斯·齐施勒
other title: 시간이 흐르면 / Im Lauf der Zeit
Itinerant projection-equipment repairman Bruno Winter and depressed hitchhiker Robert Lander - a doctor who has just been through a break-up with his wife and a half-hearted suicide attempt - travel along the Western side of the East-German border in a repair truck, visiting worn-out movie theaters, learning to communicate across their differences.
I Only Want You to Love Me (1976) [Movie] Douban IMDb TMDB WikiData
Ich will doch nur, daß ihr mich liebt
8.6 (20 ratings) director: 赖纳·维尔纳·法斯宾德 actor: 维图斯·策普里夏 / Elke Aberle
other title: 我只希望你们爱我 / Ich will doch nur, daß ihr mich liebt
Peter grew up during the economic miracle, bereft of parental care and love. Learning early on that interpersonal relationships are based on the principles of exchange or purchase, he abides by these rules and gives generous presents to his family and his wife, Erika. But when he is unable to keep up this lifestyle, his story takes a horrendous turn...
Strongman Ferdinand (1976) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
Der Starke Ferdinand
director: 亚历山大·克鲁格 actor: Heinz Schubert / 韦雷妮丝·鲁道夫
other title: 强人费迪南 / Der Starke Ferdinand
The clownish security chief of a West German business is obsessed with protecting his factory from fancied and real breaches, especially from groups such as The Red Army Faction. Ferdinand's paranoia and methods can't be contained by his company. The sympathetically-drawn Ferdinand's ludicrous actions recall those of the cynical, disastrous axis between fascism and big business in 1930's Europe: satire of the rise of private security.
Heart of Glass (1976) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
Herz aus Glas
8.0 (23 ratings) director: 沃纳·赫尔佐格 actor: 约瑟夫·贝尔比奇 / Stefan Güttler
other title: 유리의 심장 / ガラスの心
A small Bavarian village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obssessed with the lost secret.
Signs of Vigorous Life:New German Cinema (1976) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb
Signs of Vigorous Life:New German Cinema
other title: 活力新生的迹象:新德国电影 / "Omnibus" Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema
Signs of Vigorous Life: New German Cinema features interview footage with Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Volker Schlondorff, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The documentary takes you through the origins of German film during its post war failures to the birth of the New German Cinema and its founding members.
The American Friend (1977) [Movie] IMDb Douban TMDB WikiData
Der amerikanische Freund
7.8 (44 ratings) director: 维姆·文德斯 actor: 丹尼斯·霍珀 / 布鲁诺·冈茨
other title: 美国朋友 / Der amerikanische Freund
Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.
The Consequence (1977) [Movie] WikiData IMDb Douban TMDB
Die Konsequenz
8.4 (7 ratings) director: 沃尔夫冈·彼德森 actor: 尤尔根·普洛斯诺 / 厄内斯特·汉纳瓦德
other title: 结果 / Die Konsequenz
1977 film directed by Wolfgang Petersen
The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (1978) [Movie] Douban IMDb TMDB WikiData
Das Zweite Erwachen der Christa Klages
director: 玛加蕾特·冯·特罗塔 actor: 蒂娜·恩格尔 / Silvia Reize
other title: 克里斯塔‧克拉格斯的第二次觉醒 / Das Zweite Erwachen der Christa Klages
Three people rob a bank to help a day care center that's in debt. Wolf is captured, Werner identified, police suspect Christa is the third. She and Werner ask Hans, a clergyman, to launder the money and give it to the kindergarten. He refuses. They try Ingrid, Christa's friend, who tries to help, but the school rejects the money. When tragedy strikes Werner, Hans helps Christa bolt to a collective in Portugal. Ingrid visits her; their relationship makes the collective nervous, so she returns to Germany and ceases living in hiding. The police are still looking for her and so is a witness to the robbery, Lena, a bank clerk. Lena's interest brings Christa's second awakening.
Germany in Autumn (1978) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
Deutschland im Herbst
other title: 德国之秋 / Deutschland im Herbst
Nine fictitious documentaries and films reflect the mood of late 1970s Germany, particularly the two-month period in 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped by the RAF (Red Army Faction). The kidnap had been made to orchestrate the release of the original leaders of the RAF, aka the Baader-Meinhof.
Reply Quote July 23, 2026