Film Schools In Germany

Hardly a month seems to go by these days without the announcement of plans in one corner of Germany or the other for a new educational initiative in the area of audiovisual media. "Medien-campus", "International Film School", "Multimedia Academy" - the names are legion and are another phenomenon of the increasingly cut-throat competition between the German Länder to attract the most promising talents to locate in their respective regions.

Apart of the component of regional rivalries, the importance of film schools in Germany has grown over the years as the training became more thorough and diverse and, with the launching of such private commercial TV stations as RTL and SAT.1 in the mid-1980s, the explosion of production output resulted in a seemingly insatiable demand for creative new talent to make the TV movies and series for the new schedules. Often a film school graduate has been snapped up by the broadcasters even before the ink has had time to dry on his or her diploma.

Up until the beginning of the 1990s, film studies in the Western half of Germany were only possible in Berlin and Munich - at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) and the Academy of Television & Film (HFF/M), the dffb students tending to concentrate on socio-political themes while their HFF colleagues gravitated more towards the mainstream and "glossy images". Meanwhile, aspiring filmmakers in former East Germany could apply to the Academy of Film & Television (HFF/B) in the Potsdam suburb of Babelsberg.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of the borders, the film schools map had to be re-drawn and students from both parts of Germany as well as from all over the world, and not just the former Socialist countries, could now study at the Babelsberg school.

The 1990s, in particular, saw the film and TV industry finding allies in media politicians to respond to the ever increasing demand for qualified media professionals. Thus, Cologne's Academy of Media Arts and the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg were established at the beginning of the decade and have been followed over the years by a number of art colleges and polytechnics offering courses in film which also include a practical element. Rather than try to distill some common elements from the various prospectuses issued by the teaching institutions, this article will instead concentrate on giving thumbnail sketches of the leading film schools and mentioning some of the illustrious past graduates as well as spotlighting the latest talents to emerge from the academies.

dffb - Low Budgets, High Energy

Starting our tour of the German film schools in the capital Berlin, our guide takes us to the city's burgeoning new centre at Potsdamer Platz to visit the Deutsche Film- und Fernseh-akademie Berlin (German Film and Television Academy/dffb) which moved into new premises in the Filmhaus at the Sony Center this summer along with the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the Filmmuseum and the Arsenal Kino.

Launched in September 1966 with 35 students, the dffb's first couple of years were marked by a period of experimental methods, technical improvisation and political conflict leading to the expulsion of 18 students in 1968. According to the present director filmmaker Reinhard Hauff, who has been in the post since January 1993, studying at the dffb is "low budget, high energy. Freedom for radical experiments as well as for learning professional standards. Four years of consciously seeing and analysing films and for seeking a balance between technical needs and aesthetic aspirations. The aim is to make films which arouse feelings, provoke thoughts and are passionate and unforgettable".

The four-year study is divided into two-year compulsory foundation studies and then the main course, with the possibility to take up to a year out after the foundation course for an internship. Training focuses on the areas of directing, cinematography, and production with the possibility for supplementary specialisation in screenwriting, editing and digital technologies.

The dffb has never stood still but has always adapted its programme to developments in the industry. Thus, in 1997, the dffb incorporated the Script Academy (Drehbuch-Akademie) which offers a two-year course exclusively for screenwriters and is supported by the MEDIA II Programme, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, SFB, RTL and private producers.

A year later, a production class was set up at the dffb with a yearly intake of six students to train them as creative producers; and a Media Lab with state-of-the-art digital technology to acquaint the students with the technical and aesthetic possibilities of this world.

Then, in 1999, a one-year TV Producer Programme was launched on the initiative of the German TV Producers Association, the Berlin Senate, dffb and ProSieben, which is unique in Germany as the only further education programme which is targeted at professionals who already have at least two years of experience in production and/or dramaturgy and wish to train as TV producers.

As in other film schools around Germany, the emphasis here is also on the practical side with the students required to make films, individually or in groups, during their studies as well as a graduation film at the end of studies.

And the dffb is no different to any of the other institutions in being able to call on a veritable "Who's Who" of respected professionals to impart their knowledge and experience to the budding filmmakers as guest lecturers: Michael Ballhaus, Werner Herzog, Thomas Arslan, Helma Sanders-Brahms and Sophie Maintigneux are just a handful of the industry figures teaching what they do.

Among the best known of the dffb graduates are Wolfgang Becker (winner of the Student Academy Award in 1988 for Schmetterlinge/Butterflies), Detlev Buck (Liebesluder), Wolfgang Petersen (The Boat), Eoin Moore (Break Even), Marc Schlichter (Ex), Fred Kelemen (Verhängnis), and, most recently, Nathalie Percillier (Hartes Brot/Sticky Dough).

HFF Munich - Close Links to the Local Industry

Just over a year after lessons began at the dffb, the doors opened at the Academy of Television & Film (HFF/M) in Munich in November 1967 with 53 students. Initial difficulties were organisational rather than political: the fact that the academy's premises were spread throughout Munich constituted a hurdle to overcome and, in fact, the HFF/M has only been housed in its own building since 1988.

The College is structured in five departments: two general (I. Communication Science and Supplementary Studies, and II. Technique) and three specialised (III. Feature Film and Television Movie, IV. Film and TV Documentary, and V. Production and Media Economics) and is geared to training, in particular, for the professions of television commissioning editor, dramaturg, film director, production manager and producer. The catalogue of courses was expanded in 1997 with new professorships in departments III., IV. and V. for Dramaturgy and Story Telling; Applied Aesthetics, Image Composition and Cinematography; Television Journalism; Advertising, Public Relations and Corporate Image Film, which allow all of the students the chance for a specialisation of their skills.

As Doris Dörrie, the professor for Dramaturgy and Story Telling points out, "the main goal of my work with students is to convey the idea that writing is a skill and help them lose their fear. At the same time, the question arises: What do you want to tell? And why? These two apparently 'harmless` questions can easily drive you out of your mind because they are difficult to answer".

The interests and needs of budding screenwriters are also addressed by two initiatives which are closely linked with the HFF/M: the Screenwriters Workshop Munich and SAGAs - Writing Interactive Fiction. In addition, the Academy is the co-organiser along with the International Munich Film Weeks of the annual Inter- national Festival of the Film Schools which is now held parallel with the Filmfest München each June.

While the running order "Television & Film" in the Academy's name may have prompted some critics to claim that the tele-vision aesthetic ruled supreme in Munich, the list of the "old boys and girls" represents some of the key figures in the German cinema over the last 30-odd years, ranging from Dörrie herself through Wim Wenders and Roland Emmerich, to Vivian Naefe, star producer Bernd Eichinger and Dominik Graf, let alone the dynamic new generation ranging from Nico Hofmann (Land der Väter, Land der Söhne), Katja von Garnier (Student Academy Award winner in 1994 with Making Up (Abgeschminkt)), and Caroline Link (Beyond Silence) to Sönke Wortmann (Der Bewegte Mann), Rainer Matsutani (Nur über meine Leiche), Rainer Kaufmann (Kalt ist der Abendhauch) and Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck (Dobermann).

Moreover, a new producer generation has been created thanks to the pioneering efforts of the department V. Production and Media Economics which set such people as Michael Bütow (Babelsberg TV), Henrik Meyer (Letterbox), Stephan Ottenbruch (SAT.1) and Wolfgang Latteyer (Indigo Film) on their way.

HFF Babelsberg - Film School with Long Tradition

Returning northwards to the "other" HFF, our guide notes that, like the dffb, the "Konrad Wolf" Academy of Film & Television (HFF/B) has also taken up residence in new premises this summer - from being scattered in villas along the banks of the Griebnitzsee to having a purpose-built building on the lot of Studio Babelsberg.

Founded in 1954 as the German Academy of Film Art, the film school was known as the GDR Academy of Film & Television from 1969 to 1990 and assumed the appendage "Konrad Wolf" from 1985 in honour of the great East German director, the creator of such classics as Ich war neunzehn and Solo Sunny.

Following reunification, the academy passed under the auspices of the higher education authorities in the Land of Brandenburg, having to re-invent itself in every respect: politically, technically and in terms of staffing and the available site. With training covering direction, cinematography, production, dramaturgy, scenography, acting and film and television studies, the Academy is - with over 250 student places - one of the largest institutions of its kind in Germany and is also the organiser of the "Sehsüchte" International Students Film Festival each April.

Among the "star" graduates of past years are producers Thomas Wilkening (Gripsholm) and Tom Zickler (Knockin' On Heaven's Door) and directors Andreas Dresen (Night Shapes) and Sebastian Peterson (Helden wie wir), while recent graduates include Marc-Andreas Bochert, whose short Kleingeld (Small Change) won the 1999 Foreign Student Film Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts (AMPAS) and was nominated this spring for the Best Short Film Oscar, and directing graduate Uli Gaulke whose Havanna mi amor received the "Young Lion" documentary award at the 20th International Festival of the Film Schools and the Support Prize of the German Camera Award in Cologne. Other students from Babelsberg who have attracted attention this past year include Eduard Schreiber with his documentary Zone M and Axel Kalhorn with Wotenick, while the animation films by Ingo Panke (Trompe l'«il) and Felix Gönnert (Bsss) were among eight works "made in Babelsberg" showing in a special sidebar at this year`s Cannes Film Festival.

Indeed, as the Academy's statistics for 1999 show, the students of "Konrad Wolf" are making a valuable contribution to promoting the profile of new German cinema abroad: last year, there were 400 screenings of HFF films at almost 200 festivals in 35 countries - ranging from Bochert's Kleingeld through Susanne Buddenberg and Lorenz Trees' Handle With Care to Nicolai Rohde's Schlafmann.

And if you can't wait for the next Babelsberg film to come your way, you can view extracts from some of the most successful student films from 1995-1998 on the website www.hff-potsdam.de/clips/

Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg - Centre of excellence for animation

Changes have also been afoot at the Filmkademie Baden-Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg Film Academy) in Ludwigsburg in the south-west corner of Germany, although they have not been of a geographical nature like the schools in Berlin and Potsdam: this year has seen the announcement that former Studio Babelsberg Independents chief Dr. Arthur Hofer is taking over the reins as artistic director at the Film Academy from founding director Albrecht Ade. In less than a decade, Ludwigs-burg has become a key factor in the German film and TV industry, both as a meeting point for intellectual exchange through special events with professionals and as a talent factory geared to the demands of a multimedia environment.

Launched in November 1991 with 80 students, the Academy's intention has been to provide training for all areas of current and future film needs: features, documentaries, industrial and advertising films, animation, special effects and production, and, where-ever possible, applicants should have already gained knowledge and experience in other fields such as the visual arts, photography, journalism, graphics, music or theatre.

Given director Ade's own professional background in animation - he has also been the leading light in the staging of the International Animation Film Festival in Stuttgart every other year - it is not surprising that Ludwigsburg has swiftly become one of the leading breeding grounds internationally for the next generation of animation artists using classical means or with the latest computer-assisted technology. Among the most interesting works of the past years are Heiko Lueg's Sandland, Silke Parzich's Frühling, Daniel Nocke's Der Peitschenmeister, Andreas Hykade's Wir leben im Gras and Ring Of Fire, Chris Stenner's Mann im Mond, Andy Kaiser's Harara and Matthias Wittmann's Letters.

Apart from four full-time professors, the Academy has a pool of around sixty guest lecturers from all fields of the film and television industry, ranging from screenwriters Frank Göhre and Peter Märthesheimer through directors Peter Sehr and Nina Grosse to DoPs Sophie Maintignieux and Benedict Neuenfels as well as commercial supremo Roman Kuhn and animators Phil Hunt, Joanna Quinn and Thomas Stellmach. In addition, that all-important link to the industry has been underpinned by the sponsor-ship by UFA-Bertelsmann, broadcasters ProSieben, SWR, RTL and the regional film fund MFG Baden-Württemberg, among others, of professor-ships for Creative Producing, Virtual Design, and TV/Film Design Producing.

Moreover, this autumn has seen the launching of two new departments: Film Acting and Production Design. With a tutor lineup including director Michael Verhoeven and actors Hannelore Hoger and Kai Wiesinger, the twenty-day Film Acting course is designed to give stage actors the wherewithal to make the transition to acting in film and TV productions, while the Production Design course will last two years and is aimed at applicants from such fields as stage design, painting, sculpture, architecture and interior design.

Among those who have already made an impact in the industry since leaving the hallowed walls of the Film Academy are FX wizard Volker Engel, who with his team of fellow students from Ludwigsburg won the Oscar for Special Effects on Roland Emmerich's Independence Day in 1997; Thorsten Schmidt (Snow on New Year's Eve) who received the Student Academy Award for his short Rochade in 1998; directors Christine Balthasar (Call Boys) and Dominik Wessely (Die Blume der Hausfrau); and producer Michael Jungfleisch (Gambit Film).

Academy of Media Arts Cologne - An audiovisual laboratory

A year before Ludwigsburg, teaching began in mid-October 1990 at the Kunsthoch-schule für Medien (Academy of Media Arts KHM) in Cologne, which was devised as a kind of laboratory allowing a coexistence of market-oriented application with free experimentation together with the desire to preserve and further develop the heterogeneous wealth of possibilities in the audio-visual field.

The first academy in Germany devoted to all areas of audiovisual media, the KHM's four key areas of teaching and research at the Academy are: Film and Television, Media Design, Media Art and Art and Media Studies. Skills necessary for specific professions are taught, i.e. training as a director, writer or producer in the department of television/film, and communication and television design, video design or desktop publishing in the department of media design.

High priority is given to experimental work accompanied by the acquisition of technical competence. Thus, the curriculum centres mainly around studio and lab work in conjunction with specialised seminars aimed at translating practical skills into a media-related and artistic form. As projects, students produce, either individually or in groups, films, videos, installations, television programmes, photographic and holographic works as well as other forms of expression.

In addition, a series of basic seminars and lectures - ranging in subject from Film History to Computers, Art and Creativity - provide an integrated study of the historical and theoretical foundations of audiovisual media.

Close links have been established with the HFF Babelsberg as well as institutions in Cuba, the UK, Russia and Japan, and the KHM is behind the organisation of the Digitale festival which provides a forum for filmmakers to discuss the relationship of the digital world of the computer with the moving image and the link between art and economy.

The KHM can also boast a roster of film and TV professionals who give the students a unique insight into their particular area of work, whether it is producer Helga Bähr, TV presenter Alfred Biolek, multimedia artist Valie Export, director Jeanine Meerapfel or experimental filmmaker Zbigniew Rybczynski. KHM graduates have so far included Susanne Ofteringer, director of the award-winning music documentary Nico Icon, Raimund Boy, winner of the Student Oscar for An Ordinary Mission (Ein einfacher Auftrag) in 1997, and Züli Aladag whose documentary Zoran has won awards at numerous film festivals.

Filmstudio Hamburg - Preperation for the "real world"

Finally, the tour of the so-called "big six" takes us up to the city of Hamburg and the University's Postgraduate Film Studies Department.

Set up on the initiative of the film director Hark Bohm (Yasemin) and the university president Prof. Dr. Peter Fischer-Appelt as part of the University of Hamburg's Institute for Theatre, Musical Theatre and Film (Institut für Theater, Musiktheater und Film), the postgraduate department started operations in 1992 with courses in Direction and Screenwriting and was followed in 1996 by courses in Cinematography and Production Management.

The course of study is limited to two years in length and is aimed at exceptional talents who have already worked for some time in the film and TV industry. Moreover, the teaching concept developed by Bohm is borrowed from existing models in Great Britain, Eastern Europe and, above all, the USA so that students passing through the department easily make the transition into the "real world" and become successful in their chosen field. An additional international flair is guaranteed through the fact that a large proportion of the teaching staff come from the UK and the USA, meaning that English is in fact the second teaching language in the department.

Until March 2000, the four course strands were administered by Hark Bohm (Direction), Michael Ballhaus (Cinemato- graphy), Peter Gerlach (Production Management) and Kurt Rittig (Screenplay), but the latter three positions have now been handed over to Independence Day DoP Karl Walter Lindenlaub, Bavaria Film chief Thilo Kleine and Hamburg-based author Dr. Rainer Berg.

Only part of the picture

As the accompanying address checklist shows, the "big six" are only part of the picture - for example, the Kassel College of Art produced the likes of Gordian Maugg (Hans Warns - My 20th Century) and Oscar-winning Thomas Stellmach and Tyrone Montgomery (Quest), as well as the Lauenstein brothers' Balance (Short Film Academy Award For Balance in 1989; Lars Becker (Kanak Attack) graduated from Hamburg's Academy of Arts; and Edward Berger (Frau 2 sucht Happy End) studied at Brunswick's Academy of Fine Arts before completing his studies at the Film Institute of the Tisch School of Arts in New York.

In fact, the film schools landscape in Germany is constantly evolving: in Karlsruhe, for example, the European Film Institute (EIKK), founded in 1995 by Heimat director Edgar Reitz, has been behind a Film Student Placement programme which, "besides familiarising (students) with the problems and hazards of film making, also helps them to pass from the sheltered school environment to the rough-and-ready of commercial film", and in Cologne, the newly established International Film School (IFS), which has incorporated the existing training programmes of the Schreibschule Köln and the Filmschule NRW, plans to introduce new courses for production for film and TV, sound design, editing and animation, as well as three-year studies in Direction, Camera and International Production Management and Screenplay.

Addresses Checklist (A Selection)


Martin Blaney