From the Beginnings to the Second World War
The 7th art arrived in Berlin in 1895, thanks to brothers Max and Emil Skladanowsky (originally from the capital), who presented their projection bioskop (an animated photographic camera) in the Wintergarten. The 1920s, under the aegis of the Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft (UFA), constitute the first golden age of Berlin cinema. The UFA quickly established itself as the country's leading production company, with studios in the Berlin-Tempelhof district. Expressionist works such as Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919), Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Nosferatu the Vampire (1922), Dr. Mabuse (1922) and, of course, Fritz Lang's masterpiece Metropolis (filmed in Berlin in 1925), all produced under the UFA banner, were a striking illustration of the richness of Berlin cinema at the time. Films such as The Last Laugh (1924, by F.W. Murnau), Variety (1925, with circus scenes shot at the Wintergarten) and Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (1927, by Walter Ruttman) also put the German capital in the spotlight. As the Expressionist vein dried up, it was replaced by a realist trend, characterized in particular by the films of Georg Wilhelm Pabst(Loulou, 1929) and Joseph von Sternberg(The Blue Angel, 1930). The advent of Hitler in 1933 led to the exile of the cultural elite. Cinema was not spared, and only those films that, in one way or another, apologized for the regime were allowed to be shown. The two most significant examples are Veit Harlan's The Süss-Jew (1940) and Leni Riefenstahl's The Stadium Gods (1938), shot at the time of the Berlin Olympics. Years later, L'As des As (1982, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo) set part of its plot during this major sporting event.
Berlin, a German film reference
After the Second World War, it wasn't until the mid-1960s and the films of Volker Schlöndorff and Werner Herzog - often adaptations of famous literary texts - that German cinema once again achieved international renown. In a more social, militant and provocative vein, Werner Rainer Fassbinder (1945-1982) rehabilitated Berlin as a city of cinema, delivering masterpieces such as The Merchant of the Four Seasons in 1971, Everyone Else is Called Ali in 1973 and The Marriage of Maria Braun in 1978, not to mention the dozen or so television episodes based on Alfred Döblin's famous novel Berlin Alexanderplatz. On the East German side, DEFA, the national production company, coordinated the production of over 700 films. Among the most notable were Konrad Wolf's Der Geteilte Himmel (1964), Heiner Warow's The Legend of Paul and Paula (1972) and Frank Beyer's Jacob the Liar (1974). It was dissolved after reunification, and DEFA's Babelsberg studios are now owned by Universal. In 1989, one of DEFA's last works, Coming Out (by Heiner Carow), was the only film produced by the company with a homosexual theme. Other films from this period shot in Berlin include Thomas Brasch's Le Passager (1988) and Bernhard Wicki's La Toile d'araignée (1989), both screened at Cannes; but above all, Wim Wenders' Les Ailes du désir (1987), winner of the Palme for Best Director, is an essential reference in German cinema.
From 1990 to the present day
In 1992, Wim Wenders delivered the long-awaited sequel to his masterpiece Wings of Desire: So Far, So Close, the story of an angel in reunified Berlin. The Berlin nineties remained fruitful in terms of cinema, with works such as Dany Levi's Silent Night (1995, winning an honorable mention at the 46th Berlinale) and Tom Tykwer's Cours Lola, cours (1998). The East German years are gradually tackled in films, in a humorous way, with Sonnenallee (1999), recounting the adventures of Michael and his friends in the 1980s along Sonnenallee; in the blockbuster Good bye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003), in which Daniel Brühl recreates the GDR in a Berlin apartment; but also in a serious and tragic way through the activities of the Stasi in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others (2006, Oscar for Best Foreign Film 2007). German director Hannes Stöhr has also dedicated two of his films to the capital: Berlin is in Germany (2002), the story of a former prisoner from the East who discovers the new Berlin of reunification, and Berlin Calling (2008), a work about Berlin's nightlife through the tumultuous destiny of a DJ played by the famous Paul Kalkbrenner. More recent films include Christian Petzold's Barbara (2012, Silver Bear for Best Director); Sébastien Schipper's Victoria (2015), a thriller filmed in a single sequence shot, as well as Volker Kutscher's series Babylon Berlin (2017-), set in 1929 Berlin under the Weimar Republic, and Charité (2017-) directed by Sönke Wortmann, whose two seasons, although set in two different eras (the first in 1888 and the second during the Second World War), are set in Berlin's Charité Hospital.
The Berlinale, a festival that is very accessible to the public
Last but not least, how can we talk about Berlin in terms of cinema without mentioning the Berlinale, the Berlin Film Festival, considered one of the must-see events in the world of cinema. It is unique in that it takes place right in the heart of the city, at Potsdamer Platz, and offers wide access to the public, who can attend all screenings. In the official selection, the competition for the Golden and Silver Bears is at the heart of the festival. Other highlights include the Panorama section with over 30 world premieres, the German Film Perspective section and the International Forum for Young Cinema. And interest in the Berlinale grows every year: over 20,000 professionals and visitors, as well as almost 4,000 journalists, come together for the event. In 2023, two French films won the Golden Bear (the festival's most prestigious award) and the Silver Bear. The Golden Bear went to filmmaker Nicolas Philibert, for his documentary Sur l'Adamant, while the Silver Bear for Best Director went to Philippe Garrel for Le Grand chariot. The Jury's Grand Prize went to Red Sky, by German director Christian Petzold.
