Volker Schlöndorff (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1939) is an extraordinary Berlin-based director and a professor of film and literature at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. He first studied political science and eco- nomics at the Sorbonne in Paris, continuing at the Cine- ma Studies Institute (IDHEC). Between 1960 and 1965 he worked as an assistant director to several influential French directors, including Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Resnais, and Louis Malle. His first feature film, Young Törless (1966), established his distinctive style and won the Critics’ Prize at Cannes, but he found international acclaim with his 1979 film The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrom- mel), which won both the Academy Award for Best For- eign Language Film and the Palme d’Or at Cannes that year. Schlöndorff is considered, along with R.W. Fass- binder, Werner Herzog, and Margarethe von Trotta, one of the originators of New German Cinema.
Volker Schlöndorff (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1939) is an extraordinary Berlin-based director and a professor of film and literature at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. He first studied political science and eco- nomics at the Sorbonne in Paris, continuing at the Cine- ma Studies Institute (IDHEC). Between 1960 and 1965 he worked as an assistant director to several influential French directors, including Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Resnais, and Louis Malle. His first feature film, Young Törless (1966), established his distinctive style and won the Critics’ Prize at Cannes, but he found international acclaim with his 1979 film The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrom- mel), which won both the Academy Award for Best For- eign Language Film and the Palme d’Or at Cannes that year. Schlöndorff is considered, along with R.W. Fass- binder, Werner Herzog, and Margarethe von Trotta, one of the originators of New German Cinema.
