Martina Gedeck is an acclaimed actress who is well respected and has dozens of awards to her name. Gedeck’s trademark is not being pigeonholed: she’s appeared in comedies, dramas, and everywhere in between. And she is known for major roles in German films including The Lives of Others and The Baader Meinhof Complex. If you are not already familiar with Martina Gedeck, now is most definitely the time to become familiar with this talented actress.

This month’s German film recommendations for practicing your German skills are Jew Suss: Rise and Fall (Jud Süss – Film ohne Gewissen), The Elementary Particles (Elementarteilchen) and Mostly Martha (Bella Martha).

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For nearly forty years, actor Ulrich Tukur has been appearing in television and films. And in that time, he has not allowed himself to be pigeonholed. He has starred in dramatic films retelling important moments of history, clever comedies, and everywhere in between. So this month, let’s get to know the award-winning actor Ulrich Tukur and learn German with film!

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If you’re a fan of German cinema or the art house scene of the 1970s, then you’re likely already familiar with Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The German director, writer, and actor is considered to be an important figure in the New German Cinema movement that took place from the 1960s until the 1980s.

The Criterion Collection has honored a number of his films. The works are typically low budget, filmed quickly, and full of gritty realism along with commentary on society. Although Fassbinder died in 1982 at the age of 37, he made an astonishing 40 full-length films.

This month, let’s better get to know Rainer Werner Fassbinder and practice the German language at the same time.

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You may not know it, but you probably are already familiar with German actor Daniel Brühl. He has been quietly but consistently working and gaining experience with stellar role after stellar role in film and television projects.

Most recently he’s made a bit of a cross-over into the English language Hollywood market.

Perhaps you know him as Fredrick Zoller, the Nazi war hero, in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds or as Austrian F1 race car driver Niki Lauda in Ron Howard’s Rush — for which he earned himself an Oscar nomination — or as Julian Assange’s business partner Daniel Domscheit-Berg in The Fifth Estate.

Daniel Brühl has made some enjoyable and thought-provoking films in German that are definitely worth seeing!

So this month, let’s get to know this talented actor for three of his many German-language roles. Practice your German skills with Daniel Brühl and the films Good Bye, Lenin!, Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei, and Der ganz große Traum!

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Whether he is gracing the big screen or your television screen, Stipe Erceg can be difficult to miss. With his gaunt and chiseled features surrounding deep-set eyes, the actor is memorable before he has even spoken a word. You may already know Erceg for his roles in English language thrillers such as Unknown, starring Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger, or The Fourth State, starring Moritz Bleibtreu.

But Stipe Erceg made his mark on (and in!) German cinema with roles in such films as The Edukators, Baader Meinhof Complex and Hell. This month, I am featuring actor Stipe Erceg as the German language film recommendations for German language learners.

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Stuttgart-born actress Nina Hoss could easily be filed under German actors you didn’t know you already know. Fans of the hit political television drama Homeland may recognize her as Astrid. Hoss has appeared in several episodes of the show as a German embassy worker and Peter Quinn’s former flame.

Or perhaps you may know her from the big screen in A Most Wanted Man where she worked alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, and fellow German Daniel Brühl. But her talents are not merely limited to acting. Hoss collaborated in 2014 with the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers on their track “Europa geht durch mich” off their album Futurology.

But this month we’re getting to know Nina Hoss for her remarkable acting. Hoss has starring roles in some films that are interesting, intruiging, and great for learning German. I’m highlighting three of Hoss’ films: A Girl Called Rosemarie (Das Mädchen Rosemarie), The Elementary Particles (Elementarteilchen), and Jerichow!

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If Elyas M’Barek looks familiar or you think you’ve heard his name before that’s very likely possible. This is especially true if you have been following the German Films series that I’ve been posting about. M’Barek has shared the big screen with Til Schweiger, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Tschirner, Tom Schilling, Karoline Herfurth, and Moritz Bleibtreu, to name a few.

Or perhaps you may have spotted him in English language films such as The Physician, with Ben Kingsley, and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones with Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower. M’Barek is not sticking to a single style.

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Romanian-German actress Alexandra Maria Lara is a familiar face both inside and outside of the German film industry. Born in Bucharest, Lara and her family fled Communist Romania in the early 1980s. The family eventually found refuge in West Germany. Today, she is a notable actress in the world of cinema. But not just in German films. You may have seen her in big Hollywood English-language films such as The Reader, the Ron Howard directed Rush, the Francis Ford Coppola directed Youth Without Youth, or the Anton Corbijn directed Control. Lara clearly is making her mark on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Lara has appeared in major German language films like Der Untergang and the recent Amazon original series You Are Wanted. Practice your German language skills with these three film and television recommendations featuring actress Alexandra Maria Lara.

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Austrian actor Tobias Moretti is truly a jack of all trades. He began his career as an actor on the stage but he has mastered performing on both the big and small screens (that is, cinema and television). He can portray “the bad guy” impressively, sending chills down your spine. But Moretti can also bring a smile to your face in a clever comedy. So this month, let’s learn German with the film and television roles of Tobias Moretti!

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