New German Cinema

German film genre

Also known as: das neue Kino

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July 1, 2026

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New German Cinema, also known as Das Neue Kino, emerged in West Germany in the 1960s as a response to the decline of the country's film industry. A manifesto drafted at the Oberhausen film festival in 1962 proclaimed the "death of German cinema" and called for a "young German cinema." This movement was supported by government funding agencies and independent distributors, enabling a new generation of filmmakers to explore Germany's "unassimilated past".1

Key figures of this movement include Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, and Wim Wenders. Fassbinder was prolific, known for his melodramas that often explored themes of oppression and despair. Herzog's films tended towards the mystical and spiritual, while Wenders focused on themes of alienation and rootlessness in modern society. Although influential, much of New German Cinema did not find a large audience outside of West Germany, with many German directors achieving greater success in Hollywood.12

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Germany
Film of Germany
…das neue Kino, or the New German Cinema. Relying on state subsidy to subsist, the members of the movement sought to examine Germany’s unbewältige Vergangenheit, or “unassimilated past.” The New German Cinema had little commercial success outside of Germany, but it still was internationally influential. The critical acclaim afforded directors…
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…das neue Kino, or the New German Cinema. Relying on state subsidy to subsist, the members of the movement sought to examine Germany’s unbewältige Vergangenheit, or “unassimilated past.” The New German Cinema had little commercial success outside of Germany, but it still was internationally influential. The critical acclaim afforded directors…
Read More

History of film
Germany
…Das Neue Kino, or the New German Cinema, which was brought into being over the next decade through the establishment of the Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film (1965; Young German Film Board, a grant agency with funding drawn from the cultural budgets of the federal states), the Filmförderungsanstalt, or FFA (Film…
Read More
…Das Neue Kino, or the New German Cinema, which was brought into being over the next decade through the establishment of the Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film (1965; Young German Film Board, a grant agency with funding drawn from the cultural budgets of the federal states), the Filmförderungsanstalt, or FFA (Film…
Read More