The best Volker Schlöndorff’s documentary movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Volker Schlöndorff’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Volker Schlöndorff.
Filmmakers in Action
7/10
What is the state of cinema and what being a filmmaker means? What are the measures taken to protect authors' copyright? What is their legal status in different countries? (Sequel to “Filmmakers vs. Tycoons.”)
Fassbinder
6.7/10
A film portrait of the influential Bavarian actor, director and screenwriter who publicly confessed
his homosexuality.
Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song
7.8/10
The films, affairs and struggles of the iconic star of The Blue Angel as told by Rosemary Clooney, Roger Corman, Deanna Durbin and many more.
Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power
7.6/10
The views and thoughts of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood have never been more relevant than today. Readers turn to her work for answers as they confront the rise of authoritarian leaders, deal with increasingly intrusive technologies, and discuss climate change. Her books are useful as survival tools for hard times. But few know her private life. Who is the woman behind the stories? How does she always seem to know what is coming?
Henri Langlois vu par...
Thirteen filmmakers talk about Henri Langlois and their relationship with him.
Billy Wilder Speaks
7.6/10
In 1988, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff sat down with legendary director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) at his office in Beverly Hills, California, and turned on his camera for a series of filmed interviews. (A recut of the 1992 TV miniseries Billy, How Did You Do It?)
I Don't Just Want You to Love Me
7.1/10
A documentary about the life and work of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Filmstunde
7.8/10
Werner Herzog interviews guests on the art of filmmaking.
Code Name: Melville
7.5/10
Mixing interviews, rare archival footage and film extracts, the film shows how Melville's works were impacted by what he experienced in his youth during WWII, and how it structured his whole approach to cinema, not only in its thematic but also in its aesthetics.
Arthur Miller: A Man of His Century
An unparalleled portrait of Arthur Miller (1915-2005), a major writer who left an indelible mark on the world. Miller's life is intimately connected with the great themes that marked the 20th century. Glamour, fame, social criticism and Marilyn Monroe.
From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses
7.3/10
Focuses on the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) and its 'collective spirit' in cinema. The purpose of film as a cultural tool is examined. Based on celebrated sociologist Siegfried Kracauer's seminal book 'From Caligari to Hitler' (1947).
Nuits transparentes
Strolling through France (Roanne, Nice and Carcassonne) with some excursions abroad (Munich, Montreal, New York).
Hollywood's Second World War
7.2/10
For the USA, World War 2 was an all-out war - to mobilize the masses, the US government launched a huge propaganda campaign and cinema, the medium of the masses, was quite simply their most important weapon. Government authorities monitored the production of feature films and the military itself produced documentaries aimed at rallying the American people to support the troops. This film tells the story of four Hollywood directors of European origin, who returned to the "Old World" during the Second World War to make propaganda documentaries for the US Army at the front: William Wyler from Alsace, Frank Capra from Italy, Anatole Litvak from Ukraine and - in post-war Germany - Billy Wilder from Austria.
Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder
6.7/10
A funny walk through the life story of Billy Wilder (1906-2002), a cinematic genius; a portrait of a filmmaker who never was a boring man, a superb mind who had ten commandments, of which the first nine were: “Thou shalt not bore.”
Neuer Deutscher Film Report
Interview film with the protagonists of the New German Cinema in 1966.
A Life for Movies - Lotte Eisner
6.7/10
Tangerine Dream: Sound from Another World
7.9/10
Documentary of German electronic musical group Tangerine Dream.
Peter Eisenman: Building Germany's Holocaust Memorial
This documentary explores the creation of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as designed by architect Peter Eisenman. Reaction of the German public to the completed memorial is also shown.
Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema
7.3/10
BBC documentary about the rise of the New German Cinema and several of its most important figures.
Sympathisanten - Unser deutscher Herbst
6.3/10
West Germany in the 1970s. Many artists, journalists and intellectuals were branded as sympathizers of Baader-Meinhof's left-wing terrorism. The parents of the director, too: Margarethe von Trotta and his stepfather, Volker Schlöndorff. With extensive archive materials and film clips as well as Margarethe von Trotta's private diaries the film portrays one German family and the society of the time.
