With roles in The Baader Meinhof Complex, Elementarteilchen, and Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga, a made for television mini-series about the famous hotel in Berlin and its founding family, you may already be familiar with German actor Tom Schilling.

Schilling has a remarkable number of titles to his name and his star continues to rise rapidly. There is nothing that can stop him. And he isn’t merely an actor. Schilling is also a talented musician who records music with his band Tom Schilling & The Jazz Kids.

In this month’s German-language film feature, I’m highlighting some exciting and interesting films that Schilling has lead roles in — Tod den Hippies!! Es lebe der Punk!, Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter, and Oh Boy!.

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You may already be familiar with Wim Wenders’ work from award-winning documentary films like The Buena Vista Social Club and Pina or English language dramas like Paris, Texas. The longtime filmmaker seems unattached to any single language or particular style. He conveys stories in many different ways.

But that’s not to say all of his films are in English. Far from it. Wenders also released quite a few films in his native German language. Alongside filmmakers like Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog, Wenders is a major part of the New German Cinema movement in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. And he helped shape independent film in the process.

This month’s feature of German-language films for German learners highlights some of Wim Wenders’ most notable German-language films.

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Filmmaker Werner Herzog does it all. He is perhaps best known as a director but he is also a writer, a producer, and, from time to time, an actor. Since directing his first short in the early 60s, he helped shape the New German Cinema movement along with the likes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Wim Wenders, and Volker Schlöndorff. Herzog has been incredibly prolific with both feature films and documentaries on his resume.

How is all of that for a sales pitch? If you’re not already familiar with the films of Werner Herzog, now is a great time to get to do so and practice some German along the way!

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With piercing blue eyes, if you have already seen actor Benno Fürmann in a film, you would probably remember him. And with over 100 acting credits to his name in film and television, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

For this month’s German film recommendations to help you learn German, let’s better get to know Benno Fürmann with three great films: North Wall (Nordwand), Jerichow and The Princess and the Warrior (Der Krieger und die Kaiserin).

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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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