Inside Germany’s movie houses

THE German film industry has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

After World War I, German Expressionist cinema -- created by such directors as F.W. Murnau, G.W. Pabst and Fritz Lang -- astonished and influenced filmmakers. Hitler put an end to that. German directors fled the country (several landed in Hollywood), and Hitler turned the cinema into a propaganda tool. It took years for Germany to reclaim its early legacy.

Finally, in the 1970s such innovative directors as R.W. Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog and Volker Schlöndorff arrived on the scene with provocative films such as “Fox and His Friends,” “Fitzcarraldo,” “The Tin Drum” and “Wings of Desire.”

And three decades later, German cinema seems to be going through another renaissance. Certainly, American filmgoers are more aware of German films, especially with the success this year of “The Lives of Others” by first-time feature director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, which won the Oscar for foreign language film.

“German Currents: New Films From Germany,” which opens Friday at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre, offers six recent features and one documentary from some of the country’s established and new voices.

Producer Corina Danckwerts, the West Coast U.S. representative for German Film Services and Marketing GmbH, says Tom Tykwer’s frenetic 1998 thriller, “Run Lola Run,” energized the country’s cinema.

“From my point of view, this is when American distribution . . . spent a little more attention to the films we had,” she says. Parallel with the success of “Run Lola Run” was the opening of the German Film Academy.

“You have to be a filmmaker to join,” Danckwerts says. “It really puts a lot of focus into the nurturing of filmmakers.

“I don’t want to say it is a new wave of filmmaking, but I think it is a very smooth development of storytelling, self-esteem in filmmaking and tremendous financial support,” which has encouraged filmmakers. “Germany is a great country for filmmakers to bring their vision to the screen,” Danckwerts says. “They get support from the government and from the local funding institutions. I think the German filmmaking arena has become a bit more commercial, so to speak. . . stories that can travel have become more prominent.”

The festival opens Friday with the 2006 comedy “Grave Decisions,” from first-time feature director Marcus Hausham Rosenmüller, about a young boy who believes he is responsible for his mother’s death. It was a surprise hit in Germany, says Danckwerts, and won eight German Film Awards, including best director, screenplay and score.

“It’s really a cute little comedy,” she says, adding that it’s totally different in style and tone from Gregor Schnitzler’s “The Cloud,” screening Sunday evening. “The Cloud” is an ecological thriller about the ramifications of a breakdown of a nuclear power station in Germany.

The family matinee Saturday afternoon features the 2006 blockbuster “Wild Chicks,” based on the book by Cornelia Funke, who is scheduled to attend. The film, which has spawned a sequel in theaters in Germany, was directed by veteran Vivian Naefe.

“Most movies are made for teenage boys or couples starting from the age of 16,” says Naefe. “This is a movie addressing girls, starting from 6 to 13 years old, and their mothers. . . . These are very independent girls [in the movie] who fight for their rights and fight against the boys -- but still like boys. This kind of movie didn’t exist 30 years ago.”

Screening Saturday evening is the award-winning 2006 art house film “Pingpong,” directed by another first-timer, Matthias Luthardt. The film revolves around a 16-year-old boy who turns up uninvited at his relatives’ house for a visit and ends up under the spell of his aunt.

“It’s a drama with some thriller elements,” says Luthardt, who is to appear at the screening. “You feel that something is going wrong, and there is some strange mood,” he adds.

Luthardt says there was a lot of great talent coming out of film schools in Germany in the 1990s, but “we had some bad comedies and films where you were feeling the directors wanted to imitate other directors. They weren’t looking for their own language. They didn’t have the courage to try something new. Now there is more self-confidence. There is more the will to find their own handwriting. It is much more stronger.”

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susan.king@latimes.com

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‘German Currents: New Films From Germany’

Where: American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica

When: Friday through Sunday

Price: $10

Contact: (323) 466-FILM or go to www.americancinematheque.com

Schedule

Friday: “Grave Decisions,” 7:30 p.m.

Saturday: “Wild Chicks,” 3 p.m.; “Pingpong,” “Sleeper,” 7:30 p.m.

Sunday: “Losers and Winners,” 5 p.m.; “The Cloud,” 7:30 p.m.