FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER: GERMAN CINEMA IN THE AGE OF THE MASSES • Trailer

The time of the Weimar Republic (1918 to 1933) was a great period in the history of cinema. This was a time when the film industry in Germany flourished, with auteurs such as Fritz Lang and FW Murnau at their prime. It has been argued that Weimar cinema prefigured the era of Nazism, and anticipated the moral and political collapse of a liberal society. In this documentary, director Ruediger Suchsland asked the question: "What does cinema know that we don't know?" Investigating this question, Suchsland traces the diversity and beauty of early filmmaking. He includes celebrated titles as METROPOLIS, M, ASPHALT, NOSFERATU and BLUE ANGEL but also mentions lesser known titles that are waiting to be rediscovered. Besides ideological concerns, he also considers the many facets or the socio-cultural atmosphere that have influenced these films, such as the fascination with brainwashing and the rise of consumerism. FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER is an entertaining rollercoaster trip to the best period of German cinema and into the abyss of German subconscioussness.