Burhan Qurbani's "Berlin Alexanderplatz" had its world premiere at the Berlinale in February. The latest film adaptation of the Alfred Döblin novel by German-Afghan filmmaker Burhan Qurbani was to be released in the cinemas soon after, but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Born in 1980 in Germany to Afghan parents who were refugees, Qurbani has already directed two films, including "Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark" (We Are Young. We Are Strong), a powerful story of young neo-Nazis in the former East Germany. Social politics are central to his latest film that recasts the "Story of Franz Biberkop" as the story of Francis (Welket Bungué) from Guinea-Bissau.

"Berlin Alexanderplatz" by Alfred Döblin (pictured) is a great early modernist novel. Sometimes compared to James Joyce's "Ulysses," it gave a daring depiction of diverse urban milieus in a new kind of montage form. Grounded in the working class districts and criminal underworlds of inner Berlin, this first modern city novel was also a portent of the Weimar Republic's tragic end.

Döblin's masterwork was long novel with a complex structure, but a huge success nonetheless. Selling well, it was translated into countless languages and adapted for the stage and the screen. Döblin, who was Jewish, fled from the Nazis in 1933, and his books were long banned in Germany. In 1936 he became a French citizen.

In 1931, only two years after the novel was published in Germany, came the first film adaptation release. Director Phil Jutzi created a grandiose character study with Heinrich George shining in the role of Franz Biberkopf. But some critics felt that the film lacked socio-critical sharpness and political relevance.

Half a century later, one of the leaders of the New German Cinema renaissance, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, was at his peak when he decided to adapt "Berlin Alexanderplatz," a book he is said to have read numerous times. Together with lead actors Günter Lamprecht and Hanna Schygulla, he replicated the sprawling dimensions of Döblin's novel, creating a 15-hour epic that premiered in Venice.

Fassbinder's version of the novel was controversial at the time. After its premiere at the Venice Lido, it had several cinema releases but only attracted a mass audience when screened on TV as a 14-part miniseries, including in the US where it developed a cult following. Many years later, the film was restored, released on DVD and recognized as a cinematic total work of art.

As the "Hollwood Reporter" stated regarding Burhan Qurbani's 2020 remake: "It's a brave young director who has the gumption to revisit Alfred Doblin’s 1929 Weimar Republic classic." From left to right, Portugese-Guinean actor Welket Bungué, the director, and actors Jella Haase and Albrecht Schuch pose shortly before the premiere in Berlin. The reviews were mostly positive.

Fassbinder is one of the most important film directors of Germany's post-WWII era. He died in 1982 at age 37, yet in his short life span he made 44 movies. While influenced by his predecessors, his films were unique, earning him a place in international cinematic history and influencing a subsequent generation of directors around the world.

Fassbinder's most important role model was director Detlef Sierck, who was born in Germany in 1897. In 1937 Sierck released "To New Shores" and "La Habanera," featuring star actress Zarah Leander. He was forced to flee Nazi Germany the same year, as his wife was Jewish. After settling in Hollywood, he took on the name Douglas Sirk and made melodramas such as "Magnificent Obsession" (photo, 1954).

In the winter of 1970-71, Fassbinder visited his role model in Ascona, southern Switzerland, where Sirk was living at the time. Fassbinder once said in an interview that Sirk's melodramas, such as "All that Heaven Allows" (1955), made him believe that Sirk loved people and never caricatured them. Fassbinder also once said Sirk made films "that were just as I would have made them myself."

Just as Fassbinder incorporated elements from Sirk's work into his own, European directors, such as Pedro Almodovar, later drew on Fassbinder's style. The Spaniard discovered Fassbinder's films as a young adult in Madrid and was fascinated by them, particularly by how the characters defied typecasting. Above, a scene from Almodovar's "Labyrinth of Passion" (1982).

Almodovar's early films particularly recall Fassbinder's. Strong and hyperactive women, men trapped between masculine expectations and hidden sensitivity — this can be found in both directors' work. Homosexuality and tension between the sexes are also reoccurring themes. They are often portrayed in an exaggerated and loud manner, but also always with humanity. Shown above: "Kika," from 1993.

Fassbinder's biggest fan in the French-speaking world was Francois Ozon. Particularly the French director's early work contained visual and thematic parallels. Works such as "Sitcom" (1998) and "Water Drops on Burning Rocks" (2000; above), which is based on a play by Fassbinder, recalled the German director's films through its use of aesthetics and character selection.

Ozon's 2002 film, "8 Women," also took inspiration from Fassbinder in its female protagonists; they are strong, energetic women who make diva-like appearances and display capricious behavior. All the characters are different, but one thing unites them: pure emotion, sometimes showed openly and other times hidden behind mask-like demeanor.

In the US, film students quickly became familiar with Fassbinder's work, thanks to its early presence in arthouse cinemas. When looking for traces of his influence, director Todd Haynes stands out. He is yet another a fan of the German director, and his female characters often recall Fassbinder's. Above, a scene from the melodrama "Carol" (2015), starring Rooney Mara (l) and Cate Blanchett (r).

The cameraman Michael Ballhaus (left) worked for Fassbinder for years and became renowned for his innovative cinematography. Then he went to the United States and became Martin Scorsese's director of photography. And so in a way, Fassbinder is also present in some Scorsese films.

In Asia, it is the Shanghai-born director Wong Kar-wai whose work most resembles Fassbinder's. Known for his beautiful shots (above, "In the Mood for Love," 2000), Wong once said that he most admired how Fassbinder directed his female actors: "They are strong women, and he constantly wrapped them in melodramatic events. "

Bong Joon-ho, the Korean filmmaker best known for his Golden Palm and Oscar-winning film "Parasite," told German newspaper "SZ" that he too was an admirer of the German director. "Lack, lust and greed influence people and families," he said, adding that Fassbinder had mastered the art of portraying these human traits.

And in Fassbinder's home country directors were also influenced by his work. For example, Fatih Akin cast Hannah Schygulla in the lead role of his film "The Edge of Heaven" (2007); the actress had starred in several Fassbinder films. At the film's premiere, she said that Akin "reminded me of the young Fassbinder" and that she had been impressed by "this wildness, this naivete."

Powerful, full of wild emotions: Fassbinder and Akin's films have much in common. They also share certain themes. Akin, who was born in Hamburg to Turkish parents, often places cultural conflict at the center of his films, such as in "In the Fade" (2017, picture). Fassbinder's 1974 movie "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" was one of the first films to address cultural tensions.

However, many experts consider a different German director to most reflect Fassbinder: Oskar Roehler. His films bubble over with emotion, sometimes even to an extreme. Characters and dramatic arcs are sometimes overexaggerated or affected. And yet the films present emotional universes that span Germany, as was also the case in Fassbinder's work.

Fassbinder's favorite accessory was the leather jacket. But that's not the young director above; it's the actor Frederick Lau in Roehler's film "Punk Berlin 1982" (2015). The characters in Roehler's films can be imagined as part of Fassbinder's subcultural scene. The movie exudes raw artistry and Fassbinder-esque charm.

It's no coincidence that Oskar Roehler has made a film based on episodes from Fassbinder's life, released in Germany in May 2020. The film, "Enfant Terrible," stars Oliver Masucci as the German director and focuses on Fassbinder's early years.

Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof's anthology film brings together four short stories dealing with individual freedom and the death penalty. Acts of resistance in the film reflect Rasoulof's own decision to defy Iran's authorities, who've banned him from filmmaking, confiscated his passport and sentenced him to prison. The powerful work is crowned with the Berlinale's top award, the Golden Bear.

Eliza Hittman directed a brilliant portrait of two teens from rural Pennsylvania who travel to New York City to seek out medical help to end an unplanned pregnancy. In the role of Autumn, Sidney Flanigan (photo) displays a range of understated emotions. The hard-hitting abortion drama wins the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

Alongside Bong Joon-ho of "Parasite" fame, Hong Sangsoo is one of the most revered filmmakers of South Korea. In the director's minimalist style characterized by lots of dialogue and zooms, "The Woman Who Ran" is a sensitive and humorous study of a woman's journey of self-discovery as she encounters three friends.

According to a German myth that's influenced countless works, Undine is a mesmerizing water spirit. This translates into wondrous aquatic scenes in Christian Petzold's film. Portrayed by Paula Beer, the title character is the most informative museum guide in Berlin, but also a dangerous woman to fall in love with... Beer's ghostly performance is definitely worthy of a Silver Bear.

Italian painter Antonio Ligabue was one the most important naive artists of the 20th century. The film "Hidden Away" portrays the man's difficult life affected by mental illness. Elio Germano is completely transformed in this very physical role, earning him the Silver Bear for best actor.

Recognized with a Silver Bear for their screenplay, brothers Fabio and Damiano D'Innocenzo were also the directors of this dark and unnerving fairy tale set in a sterile residential estate in the suburbs of Rome. Incidentally, actor Elio Germano also stars in this other prize-worthy film from Italy.

The controversial production of Ilya Khrzhanovsky's "DAU. Natasha" has made many headlines. German cinematographer Jürgen Jürges, legendary for his work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, also had to deal with his own set of challenges for the epic project, filming in a semi-documentary style with a single camera as the film's participants "lived their lives." The jury recognized his exceptional work.

Many films competing at the Berlin film fest were dark, but this satire by French directors Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern was absolutely hilarious. Portraying three friends who decide to fight against tech giants, "Delete History" comments on the absurdities of the digital age. The film was recognized with a special Silver Bear for the 70th anniversary of the Berlinale.

The Berlinale Documentary Award goes to Cambodian documentary film director Rithy Panh, whose work "Irradiated" was featured in the competition section. The meditative essay against historical forgetting mainly features a montage of archival footage of war in the 20th century.