In 1993, the promising director Tom Tykwer hit the scene: his feature debut DIE TÖDLICHE MARIA (DEADLY MARIA) impressed audiences as a wilfully composed and taciturn, intimate play. But that was about it. “The new German film”, one critic snubbed, “is a disappointment through and through.”

1994 wasn’t any better. Films by Tim Burton (BATMAN) and Australian splatter-fan Peter Jackson – in the meantime world-famous through LORD OF THE RINGS – were showcased.

1995: Graf and Rödl made television thrillers, Schlingensief and Praunheim flipped the audience a bird – Germany remained, as one newspaper wrote, “an underdeveloped cinematic trouble zone.”

No wonder, then, that everyone recollected on yesteryear’s successes. In 1996, Bernd Eichinger showed up with two “German Classics”: one – DAS MÄDCHEN ROSEMARIE (A GIRL CALLED ROSEMARIE) – he directed himself, the other – DIE HALBSTARKEN (“Yobs”) – he “merely” produced. More important than the remakes was GEFÄHRLICHE FREUNDIN (“A dangerous woman friend”), a female film noir by Hermine Huntgeburth. But it didn’t escape notice that, although Germany might not have any great directors, it certainly did have great actors – “faces to rely on”, “star movies” even.

In 1997 Schlingensief showed, under the title DIE 120 TAGE VON BOTTROP (120 DAYS OF BOTTROP), the last “New German Film”: an eerie Punch and Judy show. But there was also – really new and really good – WINTERSCHLÄFER (WINTER SLEEPERS) from Tykwer. The international program enthused with LIVE FLESH by Almodóvar and THE FULL MONTY by Peter Cattaneo from Great Britain.