Berlin school glossary : an ABC of the new wave in German cinema

308 Pages·2013·23.5 MB·English

by  Roger F. Cook

Edited by Roger F. Cook, Lutz Koepnick, Kristin Kopp and Brad Prager C
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Berlin School Glossary is the first major anthology to mark the increasing international importance |

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of a group of contemporary German and Austrian filmmakers initially known as the Berlin o
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School: Christian Petzold, Thomas Arslan, Christoph Hochhäusler, Jessica Hausner, and others. p

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The study elaborates on the innovative strategies and formal techniques that distinguish these
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films, specifically questions of movement, space, spectatorship, representation, desire, location, a
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and narrative. Abandoning the usual format of essay–length analyses of individual films and r
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directors, the volume is organized as an actual glossary with entries such as bad sex, cars, the
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cut, endings, familiar places, forests, ghosts, hotels, interiority, landscapes, siblings, surveillance,
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swimming pools, and wind. This unique format combined with an informative introduction
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will be essential to scholars and fans of the German New Wave.
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“This volume brings together established and emerging scholars of German-language
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cinema to present an illuminating overview of the Berlin School as German-
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language cinema’s new New Wave. The essays that make up this glossary echo in
GLOSSARY GLOSSARY
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their suggestive eloquence the Berlin School’s aesthetics of the tentative, the quietly
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observational, and the concrete everyday. An essential read for all those interested
in German-language film’s contribution to world cinema today.” L

Erica Carter, Professor of German and Film, King’s College London G
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“The strength of this volume’s structure is its flexibility and openness. The irreverence S
of its methodology is very welcome because it mirrors the impulses of the Berlin A
School itself. Cineastes should love this book.” R
AN ABC OF THE NEW WAVE IN GERMAN CINEMA AN ABC OF THE NEW WAVE IN GERMAN CINEMA
John Davidson, author of Deterritorializing the New German Cinema Y

intellect | www.intellectbooks.com Edited by Roger F. Cook, Lutz Koepnick, Kristin Kopp and Brad Prager
Berlin School Glossary
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Berlin School Glossary
An ABC of the New Wave in German Cinema
Edited by
Roger F. Cook, Lutz Koepnick, Kristin Kopp and Brad Prager
intellect Bristol, UK / Chicago, USA
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First published in the UK in 2013 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2013 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2013 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Cover designer: Holly Rose
Cover image: Stills from Gespenster (2005) © Schramm Film Koerner
& Weber.
Copy-editor: MPS Technologies
Production manager: Jelena Stanovnik
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
Print ISBN: 978-1-84150-576-3
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-061-0
ePub ISBN: 978-1-78320-062-7
Printed and bound by Hobbs, UK
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgment vii
list of Berlin school films ix
the glossArists xiii
introduction: the Berlin school—under oBservAtion 1
AmBient sound 27
the Anti-hAuptstAdt 35
BAd sex 41
Beginnings 51
Borders 57
Boredom 67
cArs 75
the cut 83
disengAgement 87
dorfdiskos 93
eclectic Affinities 101
endings 109
fAmiliAr plAces 117
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Berlin School Glossary
forests 127
frAmings 137
ghosts 147
hotels 157
interiority 165
interpellAtion 173
lAndscApe 181
lAnguAge 187
long tAkes 195
pools 205
predecessors 213
renovAtion 223
seeing And sAying 231
siBlings 239
striesow, devid 247
surveillAnce 255
urBAn miniAtures 263
violence 271
wind 279
imAge sources 287
index 289
vi
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Acknowledgment
The editors of this book wish to thank the Research Council of the University of Missouri as
well as Washington University in St. Louis for their generous support of this project and its
publication.
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List of Berlin School Films Referred to in the Following Pages
Afternoon (Nachmittag, 2007). Directed by Angela Schanelec. Director of Photography: Reinhold
Vorschneider. Produced by Nachmittagfilm (Berlin). Premiere: February 13, 2007, Berlin
Film Festival. 97 min.
Beats Being Dead (Etwas Besseres als den Tod, 2011). Directed by Christian Petzold. Director
of Photography: Hans Fromm. Produced by Schramm Film Koerner & Weber (Berlin).
Premiere: February 16, 2011, Berlin Film Festival. 88 min.
Be My Star (Mein Stern, 2001). Directed by Valeska Grisebach. Director of Photography:
Bernhard Keller. Produced by Filmakademie Wien (Vienna) and the Hochschule für Film
und Fernsehen »Konrad Wolf« (Potsdam-Babelsberg). Premiere: February 15, 2001, Berlin
Film Festival. 63 min.
Bungalow (2002). Directed by Ulrich Köhler. Director of Photography: Patrick Orth. Poduced
by Peter Stockhaus Filmproduktion GmbH (Hamburg). Premiere: February 7, 2002, Berlin
Film Festival. 85 min.
The City Below (Unter dir die Stadt, 2010). Directed by Christoph Hochhäusler. Director of
Photography: Bernhard Keller. Produced by Heimatfilm GmbH + Co KG (Cologne). Premiere:
June 29, 2010, Munich Film Festival. 109 min.
The Days Between (In den Tag hinein, 2001). Directed by Maria Speth. Director of Photography:
Reinhold Vorschneider. Produced by November Film GmbH (Berlin). Premiere: January
2001, Max Ophüls Festival, Saarbrücken. 119 min.
Dealer (1999). Directed by Thomas Arslan. Director of Photography: Michael Wiesweg.
Produced by Trans-Film GmbH (Berlin). Premiere: February 11, 1999, Berlin Film Festival.
71 min.
En route (Unterwegs, 2004). Directed by Jan Krüger. Director of Photography: Bernadette Paaßen.
Produced by Schramm Film Koerner & Weber (Berlin). Premiere: February 11, 2004, Berlin
Film Festival. 81 min.
Everyone Else (Alle Anderen, 2010). Directed by Maren Ade. Director of Photography: Bernhard
Keller. Produced by Komplizen Film GmbH (Munich and Berlin). Premiere: February 9,
2009, Berlin Film Festival. 124 min.
Falling (Fallen, 2006). Directed by Barbara Albert. Director of Photography: Bernhard Keller.
Produced by Coop99 Filmproduktion GmbH (Vienna). Premiere: September 4, 2006, Venice
Film Festival. 88 min.
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