Germany's national film industry has been undergoing a remarkable resurgence since the beginning of the new millennium. German language films have been receiving Oscar nominations, the likes of "Downfall" and "The Lives of Others" have been winning Oscars, and all the main international festivals, from Berlin to Cannes, have been showcasing these films. German language cinema is again attracting attention at home and abroad and "New Directions in German Cinema" explores its developments since 2000. An international group of specialists on German film, society, culture, and politics together provide a wide-ranging study of this remarkable turn of fortunes. They examine just what German language film now has to offer, from the evolution of the so-called 'heritage films' which now dominate the country's mainstream and which examine Germany's problematic pasts - the Nazi, East German and terrorist legacies - to those which focus on the contemporary social reality of the Berlin Republic.