German Culture through Film is part of a two book series, along with Arbeitsbuch zu German Culture through Cinema. This text covers thirty-one films with emphasis on German language skills. The series is designed to appeal to professors who teach courses in general education, liberal arts, cinema, or who conduct a course in German film exclusively in English, or for where students share the same class (and films) with those studying the German language.
Each chapter includes:
- Portions of the screen play, generally 2 or 3 scenes each running a page or two
- A division of the film into 5 or 6 parts with each part having a listing of that section’s scenes and a brief summary of the scene. Each brief summary is followed by 4-6 questions
- Vocabulary exercises that require students to match words and expressions in one list with those of another. (A few chapters have grammar exercises)
- Information boxes that give background on the film as well as history and culture needed to understand the movie
- A brief summary (120 words) which recycles vocabulary and asks students to fill in 5-7 mixing vocabulary word
Robert C. Reimer (PhD. Kansas) is Professor of German and Director of the Minor in Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. He teaches language and film courses, including German, European, and American cinema. He has written and published extensively on German films, especially of the Nazi period.
Reinhard Zachau (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) is Professor of German at the University of the South. His research includes the literature of Weimar Germany, exile literature, East German literature, and on post-1945 West German culture and literature. For the Consortium of German in the Southeast, he organizes and frequently directs "Summer in Sewanee,"for high school teachers and advanced undergraduates at the University of the South.
Margit M. Sinka (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is Professor of German and Head of the German Section at Clemson University. She publishes on medieval German epics, medieval mysticism, 19th century literature, genre studies), pedagogy, and other topics. She has been the post-secondary Southeast Representative on the Executive Council of the American Association of German Teachers.