Schwarze Insel
This 2021 Netflix film is marketed as a teen movie, but is rated TV-MA. Perhaps the only thing leaning in a “teen movie” description is the fact that it centers itself around a school. Sadly,…
So was von da
This 2018 drama comedy centers around the music scene and is currently available on Netflix. Bela B. stars in this film. You may recognize his voice if nothing else – he’s a member of Die…
Berlin Calling
Currently available on Netflix, this 2008 film is a drama-comedy with a focus on music. Quite a few of the actors in this film are very likely new to us. In fact, the star is…
Freaks – du bist eine von uns
This 2020 Netflix film is marketed as a drama-mystery-fantasy. Cornelia Gröschel plays our lead. She may look familiar from Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer. Next to her is Tim Oliver Schultz, whom we know from…
Familiye
This 2017 film is currently available on Netflix. It’s a drama that centers itself around crime and family. You may notice that most of the actors in this film have Middle Eastern names. It should…
Who am I – kein System ist sicher
This 2014 drama-mystery is currently available on Netflix. This film stars Tom Schilling, whom we’ve seen in a few posts already. Next to him is Elyas M’Barek, whom we also know quite well by now,…
Kidnapping Stella
This 2019 Netflix film is marketed as a crime-thriller and is rated TV-MA. The first person we see is Max von der Groeben, whom we may recognize from the Bibi und Tina series and the…
Schubert in Love: Vater werden ist (nicht) schwer
This 2016 comedy is currently available on Netflix. Olaf Schubert plays himself, kind of. Fans of German stand up and other such comedy may recognize him. His father is played by Mario Adorf, a Swiss-born…
Und morgen die ganze Welt
Another 2020 Netflix film, this social drama is rated TV-MA and covers the political spectrum of Germany. One member of the cast has been in several Netflix shows German film lovers may have seen. Playing…
Blood Red Sky
This 2021 Netflix film is marketed as an action/horror/thriller and is currently rated #2 in the US market! This film uses a variety of languages for the full global effect this film calls for, but…
Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark.
This 2014 social drama is available on Netflix. It covers the events of 1992 in Rostock, during which xenophobic riots attacked Vietnamese refugees. Using a variety of film art techniques, this film can be analyzed…
Meine teuflisch gute Freundin
Marketed on Netflix as a teen film, this 2018 film is a story of the devil and his daughter Lilith. The friend (/target) is played by Janina Fautz. Early in her career in film she…
Alles ist gut
This 2018 Netflix film handles itself with a sensitive subject, namely rape, and the consequences of keeping it secret. This film has several scenes that may be triggering to some viewers. There are some great…
Mein Führer
This 2007 is a drama comedy of WWII and is currently available on Netflix. The premise pulls a Jewish acting professor from a concentration camp in order to help Hitler’s image in the later years.…
Offline – das Leben ist kein Bonuslevel
This 2016 adventure comedy centers around teenage gaming culture and has is currently available on Netflix. There are significant ties to World of Warcraft both in game style as well as gamer life. Moritz Jahn…
Berlin, Berlin – der Film
This 2020 Netflix film is a film from an earlier TV series, using the same actors as the series. Felicitas Woll has been in a range of roles, many centering in the rom-com realm. Wir…
Wir können nicht anders
This 2020 Netflix film, otherwise known as Christmas Crossfire, stars Kostja Ullmann. Merlin Rose also joins the cast. He may look familiar from Hot Dog, an episode of Dark, or the TV series Das Boot.…
Isa & Ossi
Rated TV-MA, this Netflix film from 2020 is a rom-com. It’s pretty much a typical rich girl, poor boy story, really. Isi is played by Lisa Vicari, who we may recognize from Dark. Ossi is…
Lommbock
Currently available on Netflix, this 2017 comedy merges an underground German culture with the international culture of Dubai. Moritz Bleibtreu and Lucas Gregorowicz are our main characters – old friends and complete opposites. Of course…
Betonrausch
This 2020 Netflix film is rated TV-MA. It should be known before considering this film for practice or education that from the first moments of the film, there is nudity, sexuality, and drug use. As…
Das Wunder von Bern
This 2003 Sönke Wortmann and Rochus Hahn film is already a staple in many German classrooms. Teachers cite the slow pace and focus on soccer and family as top reasons to show this in class.…
Störtebeker
This 2006 film in two parts is an adventure film with a theme of pirates in the 14th century. It is split into two parts, each an hour and a half long. Parts of this…
Groupies bleiben nicht zum Frühstück
This 2010 rom-com has a target audience of young teenagers and preteens. The plot brings an exchange student back to Germany from America and meeting a rockstar whom she doesn’t know. Kostja Ullmann plays our…
Groupies bleiben nicht zum Frühstück
This 2010 rom-com has a target audience of young teenagers and preteens. The plot brings an exchange student back to Germany from America and meeting a rockstar whom she doesn’t know. Kostja Ullmann plays our…
Zug in die Freiheit
This 2014 documentary centers around stories of DDR escapes. There are many interviews with those who risked their lives to do so, as well as several original clips from the era. Sebastian Dehnhardt and Matthias…
Kästner und der kleine Dienstag
This 2016 historical drama is currently available on Amazon. Kästner is played by Florian David Fitz, who we’ve seen and discussed already. Among the cast is also Katharina Lorenz, who we may recognize from her…
Driven Crazy
This 2020 film, currently available on Amazon Prime, is rated 16+ there. It would easily be rated R, were it to be rated in America. Robin Czerny is a face we may recognize from Kokowääh…
Verfolungswahn bei der Gartenarbeit
This is a 2 minute short film, available on Amazon, about a man attempting to do his yard work and running into obstacles – both of the neighbor variety as well as the technical variety.…
Erledigung einer Sache
This 2014 short film, currently available on Amazon, deals with hard family situations. One actress may be especially familiar to viewers – Nina Petri played an important role in Lola rennt. She’s also been in…
Homework
This 2016 short film, currently on Amazon, shows a father helping his child with their homework. The father is an exotic dancer, which we see about half way in. (While not at a G rating,…
Eine gute Geschichte
This 2013 short film, available on Amazon, is not in IMDB. It centers around a story of WWII. Bargaining language with money and formal commands are used in the beginning of this film, followed by…
Vor deiner Tür
This 2015 short film is the inner thoughts of a man and woman as they prepare to meet each other. This film includes several topics of getting oneself ready and considering all possibilities in what…
Das Fischer
Although not in IMDB, this 2017 short film, billed as a “comedy, sports, western” film, is available on Amazon currently. We see a German man in Hessen reading a fishing magazine before traveling to Idaho……
Kennen wir uns?
This 2019 short film, currently available on Amazon, is a drama. Although not the main character in this one, Mira Benser, who plays the main character in the short Milch & Zucker, makes an appearance…
Milch & Zucker
This 2018 short film (available on Amazon) is a drama focused on the first meeting of a daughter and her biological father, who put her up for adoption. This film includes comprehensible use of family…
Etage X
This 2016 short film was released first in Switzerland, although it is a German production. It centers around two women stuck in an elevator together. The first 5 minutes of this film includes comprehensible input…
3 Türken und ein Baby
This 2015 comedy is currently available on Netflix! Ekram Bora (AKA the Türkish-German rapper Eko Fresh as well as Elektro Eko) plays one of the three brothers in this film. This was his first time…
Flucht nach Berlin
This 1961 drama-thriller, currently available on Amazon, was a West German production centering around farmers leaving East Germany to flee the collectivization that was taking place. Being a post-war older film, the actors may not…
Willkommen bei den Hartmanns
This 2016 Drama-Comedy is already well-known by German teachers across the states. With a central theme of immigration, this film lends itself well to the topics our advanced students are expected to be able to…
Das Rad
This 2001 German short film is currently available on Amazon prime. This film uses stop motion. One of the voices is done by a voice actor who we hear in the German version of Asterix…
Speechless
This 2016 short film is currently available on Amazon Prime. It features Heike Makatsch, who we know from films such as Hui Buh, Tom Sawyer, Anatomy 2, and even Love Actually. Not actually in German…
Die fruchtbaren Jahren sind vorbei
This 2019 comedy is in Swiss German and revolves around conception and birthing as a woman in her 30s. German teachers don’t often have a ready supply of Swiss films to view, which may be…
Sommer des Falken
This 1988 German film, filmed in Südtirol, Italy, is an adventure film. Perfect setting for an adventure, really! Most of the actors in this film were only in this one, or in very few others.…
Flussfahrt mit Huhn
This 1984 family adventure film focuses on familial relationships of children and the adventures they have up near the North Sea. Most of the actors either only acted in this film or have only been…
Fips, der Affe
On the same DVD with Max und Moritz, Der Struwwelpeter, and Plisch und Plum, this Wilhelm Busch short story has much more explicit racism than most of his work. At one point in the first…
Plisch und Plum
This Wilhelm Busch work, read by the narrator Helmut Hansen, may be less well-known than Max und Moritz or Struwwelpeter, but popular enough to have been translated into English long ago. This story is a…
Max und Moritz
This simple audio-film uses the images from Wilhelm Busch’s Max und Moritz to tell the story. For those less familiar with the book, some of the Streiche (tricks, or in this case the chapters) may…
Struwwelpeter
This audio-film uses images from Wilhelm Busch’s Struwwelpeter exclusively. It goes through each short story with a musical clip and a collage of images from the book. At times the music is distracting, as it…
Frau im Mond
This 1929 Fritz Lang film, written by his then-wife Thea von Harbou, was banned by the Nazis in 1937 due to a prop – the film shows in detail the first working rocket, and the…
Mahlzeit DDR
This 2003 documentary discusses the common problems of food shortages during the DDR era. It includes footage of propaganda films and ads from East Germany. This film includes many interviews with Germans who had various…