“Berlin School” – Postulate of the Film as an Art, or “The Longing for Saving the Story”
Abstract
The article is an attempt to present the history and the essence of the artistic phenomenon that appeared in the German cinema in the mid-1990s, which shortly afterwards the film critics hailed as the “Berlin school”. Acting in the spirit of renewal of the German film, the directors, among whom we find names well known today, such as Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), Valeska Grisebach (Western) and Christian Petzold (Barbara), never created any formalized movement, but it is possible to analyse their work as a certain whole based on specific ideological and aesthetic order, referring to both the plot itself, their formal structure, and periphery activities - production, distribution and reception. Characterized by audiovisual severity, narrative modesty and realistic pronunciation, the “Berlin School” films, first performed as niche TV productions, in the first decade of the new century honoured during the subsequent Cannes festival editions, have in time become part of the European mainstream cinema, reaching a wide audience.
Keywords:
Berlin school, Maren Ade, Christian PetzoldReferences
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Authors
Ewa Fiukkwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
independent researcher Poland
Filmoznawczyni, autorka książek Inicjacje, tożsamość, pamięć. Kino niemieckie na przełomie wieków (2012) oraz Obrazo-światy, dźwięko-przestrzenie. Kino Toma Tykwera (2016), jak również artykułów dotyczących filmu i kina (publikowała m.in. w „Kulturze Popularnej”, „Kwartalniku Filmowym”, „Kinie” oraz w tomach zbiorowych). Autorka przekładów z języka niemieckiego i polskiego. Zainteresowania naukowe: film niemiecki, film w kontekście innych sztuk i nauk społecznych, antropologia filmu, analiza filmu. Obecnie przygotowuje kolejną autorską publikację dotyczącą kina transnarodowego, postkolonialnego, podejmującego temat (post)migracji.
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