German Punk

On these shores we tend to think of the punk movement as one that, in its heyday, was predominantly an American and British phenomenon. But punk music, punk culture, and its ethos spread quickly and widely in the late 1970s and 80s to (among many other places) Australia, Japan, Brazil, and the countries of the Eastern bloc in Europe. This series focuses specifically on the impact and development of punk culture in Germany—both East and West—in the 1970s-90s.

The series gathers a wide variety of films—all of them shot between 1979-99 and most of them very rarely screened in the U.S.—that document not only the bands that proliferated throughout Germany at the time, but the social and economic factors that influenced their emergence, and the response of German society at large. Taking place in West Berlin, East Berlin, the industrial Ruhr region, and elsewhere—both before and after the fall of the Wall—these films represent a fascinating and vibrant snapshot of an era and feature invaluable contemporaneous glimpses of bands and musicians including Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Tödliche Doris, Die Kanzlers, Das Freie Orchester, and Nina Hagen.

Co-presented with Anthology Film Archives and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office as part of Alle gegen Alles. Punk@50, a multi-city initiative marking the fiftieth anniversary of punk.
 

Film Program

Wolfgang Büld
Bored Teenagers
November 4 at 6:45pm
November 10 at 9:00pm

Thomas Schmitt
Riots and Love
November 4 at 9:00pm
November 7 at 7:15pm

No Future + Allet United – Punk im Pott
November 5 at 6:45pm

Bulky Trash + The Free Orchestra
November 5 at 8:45pm
November 9 at 6:30pm

Girls Bite Back + Road Movie
November 6 at 6:30pm with Gudrun Gut in person!

Johanna Schenkel & Klaus Maeck
Einstürzende Neubauten: Liebeslieder
November 6 at 9:00pm with Gudrun Gut in person!
November 11 at 8:15pm

Bernd Sahling
It’ll Be OK
November 7 at 5:15pm
November 9 at 8:45pm

Dieter Schumann
whisper & SHOUT
November 7 at 9:15pm
November 10 at 6:30pm

Juliet Bashore
The Battle of Tuntenhaus
November 8 at 3:30pm
November 11 at 6:45pm

Berlin Super 80: Films from the West German Underground
November 8 at 5:00pm

Peter Sempel
Nina Hagen = Punk + Glory
November 8 at 7:45pm