Anthology Film Archives

Film Screenings / Programs / Series

GERMAN PUNK

November 4 – November 11

November 4-11, 2026

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 to 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.

The series has been guest-programmed by Sukhdev Sandhu, Sara Stevenson, and Zach Feldman.

Co-presented with the German Film Office, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut and German Films, and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office, as part of a multi-city initiative of the Goethe-Institut marking the 50th anniversary of the punk movement.

Special thanks to Sukhdev Sandhu; Sara Stevenson & Zach Feldman (German Film Office); Stefan Liebich (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office); Hiltrud Schultz & Ruben Schwaben (DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst); Bret Berg & Tiernan O’Rourke (AGFA); Wolfgang Büld; Britta Ditges (WDR); Rebecca Dobbs (Maya Vision International); Mareike Vensler (Kinescope Film); and Christiane Schaefer Winkelmann.

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