Past Season:

New German Cinema

Wed 14 Sep — Tue 15 Nov 2022

In partnership with the German Screen Studies Network, The Garden Cinema presents an exploration of the innovative and influential filmmaking emerging from West Germany in the 1960s, with a particular focus on eight key films made between 1972 and 1979.

This season will present some of the most celebrated films from the key filmmakers of the movement. Enhanced by expert introductions and post film discussion groups, our audience will be encouraged to consider these films within the context of the physical and psychological wounds of WWII, and the sweeping social changes brought about by rapid economic growth in the postwar period.

These eight films were made by young directors attempting to break away from the shadow of the previous generation, whilst contending with the ideological and geographical divisions of the country in the midst of the Cold War. The influence of Hollywood cinema pushes up against the bomb scarred industrial cities in the early road movies of Wim Wenders and in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s melodramas, Werner Herzog mines history to explore wild states of human psychology, and Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta engage directly with 20th century politics and history through both journalistic realism and remarkable allegory.

“The old cinema is dead. We believe in the new cinema” – Oberhausen Manifesto (1962)

Past Screenings

The Tin Drum 15

The screening on Wednesday 2 November will be introduced by Mario Slugan (Queen Mary). Oskar is born in Germany in 1924 with an… Read More
Volker Schlöndorff , Germany, 1979, 163m.
This screening has now passed.

The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum 12A

The screening on Thursday 27 October is introduced by Erica Carter (King's College London), and will be proceeded by an informal discussion in… Read More
Volker Schlöndorff & Margarethe von Trotta, Germany, 1975, 106m.
This screening has now passed.

Aguirre, Wrath of God PG

The screening on Thursday October 20 will be introduced by Lúcia Nagib (University of Reading) and will be followed by an informal… Read More
Werner Herzog, Germany, 1972, 93m.
This screening has now passed.

Kings of the Road 18

The screening on Thursday 13 October is introduced by Joanne Leal (Birkbeck). An unsettling encounter between two strangers opens this epic road movie,… Read More
Wim Wenders, Germany , 1976, 176m.
This screening has now passed.

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser PG

The screening on Thursday 6 October will be introduced by Martin Brady (King's College London) and will be followed by an informal… Read More
Werner Herzog, Germany, 1974, 109m.
This screening has now passed.

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant 12A

Screening on Thursday 29 September introduced by Stephanie Bird (UCL) and will be followed by an informal discussion in The Garden Cinema… Read More
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany, 1972, 125m.
This screening has now passed.

Alice in the Cities PG

Screening on Wednesday 14 September is introduced by Alice Guilluy (MetFilm School), and is followed by an informal discussion in The Garden… Read More
Wim Wenders, Germany, 1974, 113m.
This screening has now passed.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul 12A

Winner: Best classic title in The Garden Cinema staff picks poll 2022! The wildly prolific German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder paid… Read More
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany, 1974, 93m.
This screening has now passed.