Bavaria Studios
Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film.
History
The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the First World War. During their early years, they were known as the Emelka Studios, while Geiselgasteig has also often been used to refer to them. They provided a provincial rival to the emerging dominance of Berlin studios, particularly the UFA conglomerate. Bavaria Film took over the studios, and became the dominant non-Berlin production company.During the Nazi era, Bavaria was one of the four major companies that dominated the German film industry alongside UFA, Terra and Tobis. In 1942, the companies were merged into a single administrative UFI. When the Cold War began in the 1940s, many of the former Berlin studios were now in East Berlin on the other side of the Iron Curtain and the Bavaria Studios assumed major importance in the West German cinema, gradually recovering from the later war years. Although severe restrictions were placed on the former Nazi-era companies by Allied occupation forces, Bavaria Film was ultimately revived. It has produced numerous films at the studio alongside a variety of independent producers. While other German companies of the same vintage have disappeared, Bavaria Film continues to produce both domestic and international productions including various TV series.
Notable films
In 1925, Alfred Hitchcock made his first two films, The [Pleasure Garden (1925 film)|The Pleasure Garden] and The Mountain Eagle, at Emelka. Both films were co-productions for Britain's Gainsborough Pictures.In 1934, Peer Gynt was made there. The studios have been used by many notable directors, including Elia Kazan, Max Ophüls, Stanley Kubrick, Richard Fleischer, John Huston, Robert Siodmak, Billy Wilder, John Sturges, Robert Wise, Orson Welles, Jerzy Skolimowski, Mel Stuart, Bob Fosse, Wim Wenders, Ingmar Bergman, Robert Aldrich, Wolfgang Petersen, Claude Chabrol, and Oliver Stone.
Other German production companies have also produced films in the studios, including Constantin Film with The [NeverEnding Story (film)|The Neverending Story], Downfall and Perfume: [The Story of a Murderer (film)|Perfume: The Story of a Murderer].