History(s) of Bavarian cinema
As early as 1896, Bavaria was captured by the Lumière brothers' cameramen. For this first view of the region, the filmmakers chose the city of Munich and its Maximilianeum. The less than one-minute film - which can be viewed online - captures strollers and carriages as they cross the Maximilian Bridge. Almost a century later, the setting has hardly changed.
German cinema was flourishing in the 1910s, but its development was brought to a halt by the First World War, only to pick up again under the Weimar Republic. In 1919, producer Peter Ostermayr founded Munich's first production company, Munich Lichtspielkunst, now known as Bavaria Film. The same year, the film Nerven is shot in Munich. Directed by Robert Reinert, it is considered one of the founding works of the German Expressionist movement, whose best-known film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene), was released a year later. A restored copy of Nerven is available from the Munich Film Museum, whose archives have preserved the film to the present day.
This period of effervescence in German cinema was unfortunately short-lived, silenced by Hitler's rise to power. At the same time, the city of Nuremberg became infamous as the meeting place of the Nazi party. The gigantic congresses held there in 1934 were captured by the camera of filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who went on to make one of her best-known films, The Triumph of the Will. Take a stroll around theDokumentationszentrum (Documentation Center of the Nazi Party Congress Site ), one of Nuremberg's major museums, and you'll catch a glimpse of the Ehrenhalle, the cornerstone of the ceremony recorded in the film. It's the perfect way to immerse yourself in the history of these still chilling images.
After the Second World War, European and international productions revived the region's film economy. Bavaria Film even became a hub of the industry from the 1960s onwards, hosting such major films as The Great Escape in 1963, Cabaret in 1972, Das Boot in 1981, The Never Ending Story in 1984 and Asterix and Obelix in 1999. Stanley Kubrick came to Munich to film his 1957 Paths of Glory at Schleissheim Castle, before Alain Resnais used the palace himself in his 1961 film Last Year at Marienbad . In the early 1970s, the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder was filmed in Munich. It was during this period that Bavarian director Rainer Werner Fassbinder produced his first feature films.
Fassbinder and the revival of German cinema
Born in Bad Wörishofen, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was interested in cinema from an early age, devouring films from every country and every filmmaker. After failing to gain admission to the Berlin Film School, he lived from odd jobs while nurturing his ambition to become a film director. In 1966, he shot his second short film, The Tramp, on the streets of Munich. A man of both theatrical and cinematic writing, he set up his own troupe, the Antiteater, with whom he shot his first feature film, L'Amour est plus fort que la mort, in 1969. Nourished by the cinematic influences of the Nouvelle Vague and the American melodrama of Douglas Sirk, Fassbinder was also strongly impressed by the theater of Brecht, which had itself been one of the main inspirations of German Expressionism. Between 1969 and 1982, Fassbinder made almost forty films, most of them shot in Bavaria. Among his earliest works, The American Soldier (1970) is a tribute to the gangster films of the 1930s, telling the story of a soldier returning from Vietnam who settles in Munich and is recruited by mobsters to carry out dirty deeds. In 1974, Fassbinder achieved international fame with his film Tous les autres s'appellent Ali. This beautiful love story between Emmi, a 60-year-old widow, and Ali, a Moroccan immigrant twenty years his junior, won the International Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. If you'd like to follow in the film's footsteps after your viewing, the Asphalt Bar where Emmi first meets Ali is now a friendly pizzeria at Breisacher Straße number 30. And the restaurant Osteria Italiana, 62 Schellingstraße, is also one of the film's landmarks, established since 1890! Fassbinder made a dozen more films, some of them popular successes. The best-known are The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978), Lola, a German Woman (1981) and The Secret of Veronika Voss (1982). These works are marked by the director's recurring themes: tolerance, self-acceptance and dealing with Germany's past. His life came to an abrupt end in 1982. Rainer Werner Fassbinder is humbly buried in Munich's Bogenhausen cemetery.
Bavarian cinemas today
Many international productions still use Bavaria as a location for filming. In Munich, you can even visit the Bavaria Filmstadt studios with the whole family, just like Universal Studios in Hollywood. Meet Asterix and Obelix, ride a legendary dragon from TheNever Ending Story or dive into a reconstructed submarine - thrills guaranteed. The studios are still in operation, and regularly host film shoots for German series and international films.
For fans of mainstream cinema, you can also follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter through the streets of Rothenburg, where some scenes from the seventh opus were filmed, or stroll by the Frauenkirche in Munich, where Freddie Mercury comes to recharge his batteries in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).
Finally, take advantage of Bavaria's most beautiful cinemas by visiting the Roxy in Nuremberg or the Museum Lichtspiele in Munich, and keep your ears open for the open-air cinemas on the banks of the Danube, regularly organized in summer in the major cities.
