<P>Knight explores the context from which the films made by Fassbinder, Wenders, Herzog, von Trotta and others emerged during the late 1960s through to the mid-1980s. It examines the American dominance of the German market place, the development of a film subsidy system, the notion and politics of an Autorenkino, the framework of European art cinema, and distribution and exhibition initiatives that helped shape a new national cinema.</P>