Volker Schlöndorff

Known for: Directing
Born: March 31, 1939, Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany
Movies: 109

Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker. He won an Oscar as well as the Palme d'or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival for The Tin Drum (1979), the film version of the novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass. In 1991, he was the Head of the Jury at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival. Schlöndorff has adapted many literary works for his movies, including some critically well-received US productions, but he is also engaged in post-war German politics. He served as the chief executive for the UFA studio in Babelsberg. Schlöndorff also teaches film and literature at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where he conducts an Intensive Summer Seminar. He was married to fellow film director Margarethe von Trotta from 1971 to 1991. He is currently married to Angelika Schlöndorff, and the couple has one daughter.

Best-Known Movies

7.0

The Tin Drum

1979

7.1

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

2010

7.4

Le Doulos

1962

6.1

The Handmaid's Tale

1990

7.0

Diplomacy

2014

6.9

Death of a Salesman

1985

7.1

Léon Morin, Priest

1961

6.0

Palmetto

1998

7.0

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

1975

6.6

Young Törless

1966

Filmography

2026	Igor and After
2025	Pan Olbrychski	Self
2024	Peter Lorre : Derrière le masque du maudit	Self
2024	Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg	Self
2023	The Stones and Brian Jones	Self
2022	Merkel	Self
2022	Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer	Self
2022	Alain Resnais, the Audacious	Self
2022	Come with Me to the Cinema – The Gregors	Self
2022	Romy Schneider & Alain Delon: An Enduring Passion	Self
2021	A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner	Self
2020	Volker Schlöndorff: The Beat of the Drum	Self - Filmmaker
2020	Last Year in Dachau	Self - Narrator (voice)
2020	Melville, le dernier samouraï	Self
2019	Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power	Self - Filmmaker
2019	Hollywood's Second World War	Self
2019	Fuck the Message	Self
2018	Sympathisanten - Unser deutscher Herbst	Self
2017	Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder	Self
2017	Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life	Self
2016	Tangerine Dream: Sound from Another World	Self
2015	Arthur Miller: A Man of His Century	Self - Filmmaker
2015	From Caligari to Hitler	Self - Filmmaker
2015	The Poet and the Filmmaker: Volker Schlöndorff on Baal	Interviewer
2015	Fassbinder	Self
2014	Henri Langlois vu par...	Self
2012	Dubai Winter Diary VI: Light and Reflections	Self
2011	Nuits transparentes
2010	Cave of Forgotten Dreams	Narrator (French version) (voice) (uncredited)
2010	Michael Nyman in Progress	Self
2010	Code Name: Melville	Self
2010	Memories of Last Year in Marienbad	Himself - Narrator
2010	Melville Steps Out of the Shadows	Interviewee
2009	Unraveling the Enigma: The Making of Marienbad	Self
2009	Peter Eisenman: Building Germany's Holocaust Memorial	himself
2008	Malle's Fire Within	Self
2007	Strike
2006	Filmmakers in Action	Self
2006	Billy Wilder Speaks	Self - Filmmaker / Interviewer
2005	Knef - Die frühen Jahre	Self
2005	Gottschalk meets Petersen	Himself
2005	Who is Helene Schwarz?	Self
2005	Von Sex bis Simmel	Self
2004	Fritz Lang, le cercle du destin - Les films allemands	Self (Interviewee)
2003	Die Verhoevens	Himself
2002	Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song	Self
2002	Ein Produzent hat Seele oder er hat keine	Self
2001	Volker Schlöndorff Remembers The Tin Drum	Self
2000	Schrott - Die Atzenposse
1995	The Night of the Filmmakers	Self
1992	I Don’t Just Want You to Love Me	Self
1992	Billy, How Did You Do It?	Self
1986	Private Conversations: On the Set of ‘Death of a Salesman’	Self - The Director
1985	Humor ist eine ernste Sache - Der Filmregisseur Kurt Hoffmann	Self
1985	Hands Up!	Self (1981 footage)
1978	Cinématon	N°572
1976	Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema	Self
1975	De qui dépend que l’oppression demeure ?	Self
1971	Mathias Kneißl
1967	Neuer Deutscher Film Report
1964	Chance at Love	German soldier (segment "Chance du guerrier, La") (uncredited)
1962	Le Doulos	Man in Bar (uncredited)
1961	Léon Morin, Priest	German Soldier (uncredited)

Directing, Writing & Producing

2026	Visitation	Writer, Director, Producer
2022	The Forest Maker	Director, Writer, Producer
2017	The Nameless Day	Writer, Director
2017	Return to Montauk	Producer, Director, Screenplay
2014	Henri Langlois vu par...	Director
2014	Diplomacy	Screenplay, Director
2012	Calm at Sea	Director, Writer
2010	Memories of Last Year in Marienbad	Producer
2007	Ulzhan	Director
2007	Strike	Director
2006	Billy Wilder Speaks	Director
2005	Enigma – Eine uneingestandene Liebe	Director
2004	The Ninth Day	Director
2002	Ten Minutes Older: The Cello	Director
2002	The Enlightenment	Director
2002	Ein Produzent hat Seele oder er hat keine	Director
2002	Everyman's Feast	Producer
2000	The Legend of Rita	Screenplay, Director
1998	Palmetto	Director
1996	The Ogre	Director, Screenplay
1992	The Michael Nyman Songbook	Director
1992	Billy, How Did You Do It?	Director
1991	Voyager	Director, Screenplay
1990	The Handmaid's Tale	Director
1987	A Gathering of Old Men	Director
1985	Death of a Salesman	Director
1984	Swann in Love	Director
1982	War and Peace	Writer, Director
1981	Circle of Deceit	Writer, Director
1980	The Candidate	Director, Writer
1979	The Tin Drum	Screenplay, Director
1978	Germany in Autumn	Director, Screenplay
1977	Portrait of Valeska Gert	Writer, Director
1976	Coup de Grâce	Director
1975	Georginas Gründe	Writer, Director
1975	The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum	Screenplay, Director
1974	Stayover in Tirol	Producer, Writer, Director
1972	A Free Woman	Writer, Director, Producer
1972	The Morals of Ruth Halbfass	Director, Screenplay
1971	The Sudden Wealth of the Poor People of Kombach	Writer, Director, Producer
1970	Baal	Director, Producer, Screenplay
1969	Michael Kohlhaas - The Rebel	Director, Writer
1967	Der Paukenspieler	Director, Writer
1967	Degree of Murder	Director, Writer
1966	Young Törless	Director, Writer
1960	Who Cares...	Writer, Director

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