Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run revitalised the German cinema and, arguably, established a "New" New German Cinema in the late 90's.

German film was very popular in 90's, Tykwer along with Wim Wenders' Oscar nomination for Buena Vista Social Club, Caroline Link's Oscar nominations for Beyond Silence and Nowhere in Africa, and numerous other great films from Germany (Aimee and Jaguar, The Harmonists, and many others).

image © tomtykwer.de

Tom Tykwer was born 23 May 1965 in Wuppertal, Germany - famous for its Schwebebahn until then, now as the birth place of Tom Tykwer ;-).

Unlike Fassbinder or Wenders who went to theatres to watch movies, Tykwer worked at a movie theater called Cinema in Wuppertal. He stayed on after hours and watched Blade Runner over and over again.

He got his High School Certificate and worked as a Zivildienstler. He completed his community service in lieu of serving the compulsary military service in Germany and moved to Berlin. There he got a job at the Moviemento in Kreuzberg where he also met his future X-Filme Creative Pools colleagues.

His first short, Because, shown at the Hof Film Festival in 1991, was followed by his first feature Deadly Maria in 1993. Together with Stefan Arndt, he founded X-Filme Creative Pool. They were joined by Wolfgang Becker (Life Is All You Get) and Dani Levy (Silent Night). Tom Tykwer and Wolfgang Becker co-wrote Life Is All You Get (1994). In late 1997, Tykwer's Wintersleepers was released.

Everything changed in 1998: on August 20, Lola rennt / Run Lola Run was released in Germany. At the German Film Awards, Lola won in eight categories. In 2001, The Princess And the Warrior (also starring Franka Potente) was released in the US.

Franka Potente went on to star in major Hollywood productions, like Blow with Johnny Depp and The Bourne Identity with Matt Daemon. The new Marlene Dietrich, Franka Potente is the only post-war German actress who has become a major international star.

Tom Tykwer Site

Official Bio
Biography
Biographie

Bibliography

Tykwer and Potente Interview

Tykwer's Run: Interview

Tykwer (arts and culture)

imdb

Winter Sleepers
Princess and the Warrior Clips
Heaven

(Life is All You Get)

Run, Lola, Run