Christine Haase

The film histories of Germany and the United States have long been seen as intertwined, but scholarship has focused on émigré works of the 1930s and 1940s, on links between Weimar film and American film noir, and on the conflicted relationship between directors of the New German Cinema and Hollywood. Recently, German film studies has begun reexamining the interconnection of the two film cultures and focusing on the internationalism of German cinema, but little research has been done on contemporary German directors' involvement in American cinema, a gap in scholarship that this book fills. The study offers ways of understanding current German cinematic engagement with America and different directorial responses to the hegemonic pressures of Hollywood. It delineates the historical trajectory of German-American film relations in the 20th century, then analyzes the careers and works of four German-born directors who have significant ties with American cinema: Wolfgang Petersen, Roland Emmerich, Percy Adlon, and Tom Tykwer. A series of close readings of their productions isolates the cinematic practices and strategies with which these filmmakers negotiate the different national cultural and cinematic paradigms they traverse. The book analyzes constructions of national cultural identity, probes the boundaries of national cinemas, and expands our understanding of emerging hybrid film cultures. It is a contribution to German film studies and to the emerging field of transnational film studies. Christine Haase is Associate Professor of German at the University of Georgia.

German Filmmakers and America, 1985-2005

When Heimat Meets Hollywood

Alison Guenther-Pal

Antje Ascheid

Christian Rogowski

John E. Davidson

Stefan Soldovieri

Lutz Koepnick

Janet McCabe

Brad Prager

Nancy P. Nenno

Robert C. Reimer

Richard W. McCormick

Tim Bergfelder

Elizabeth Mittman

Alasdair King

Hester Baer

Light Motives undertakes a long overdue critical reassessment of German popular cinema, challenging the traditional view of German film history and offering new ways to think about popular cinema in general.

German Popular Film in Perspective

Light Motives

Christine Haase

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