Screening Nostalgia : 100 Years of German Heimat Film

The Heimat film genre, assumed to be outdated by so many, is very much alive. Who would have thought that this genre-which had been almost unanimously denounced within academic circles, but which seemed to resonate so deeply with the general public-would experience a renaissance in the twenty-first century? The genre's recent resurgence is perhaps less due to an obsession with generic storylines and stereotyped figures than to an anthropological need for grounding that has resulted in a passionate debate about issues of past and present. This book traces the history of the Heimat film from the early mountain films to Fatih Akin's take on Heimat.