"Edgar Reitz has created unforgettably poetic figures and images, especially with his Heimat films. They radiate far beyond themselves and their microcosm," said Ulrich Matthes, president of the German Film Academy, on the decision to award Reitz with this year's lifetime achievement prize.

Reitz, who was born in 1932, undoubtedly deserves the honor. His most famous works, the 31 film episodes in his Heimat series, chronicle life in a small German village beginning in 1919, stretching through most of the 20th century. The films have lost none of their topicality: "He has shown that the emotionally-charged word 'Heimat' (homeland) is too complex to be left to far-right nationalists," said Matthes.

Read more: German identity rediscovered: Nora Krug's graphic novel 'Heimat'

Reitz struggled with the success of Heimat

At times, Reitz had a very ambivalent attitude toward his global success. A few years ago, in an interview with DW, the director complained that it had become fashionable to use the term "Heimat" to refer to all kinds of conferences and events. "It's unbelievable who throws the word around: industrial associations, church institutions, companies that do regional advertising, regional tourism associations, but also ambitious literary institutions," he said.

When Reitz realized this in 2009, his multi-series film epic Heimat was already a quarter of a century old. By then, the director had become a much sought-after interview partner. "Everyone wanted me to speak on the matter; they all invited me as if I were the major expert on Heimat. But it's actually only the title of my film. The films were not made to illustrate this concept," he noted. It seemed as if the success that engulfed Reitz after the premiere of Heimat in 1984 had also become a curse.

A premiere triumph at the Venice Film Festival

Taking a look back, in 1984, the Venice Film Festival organizers invited German director Edgar Reitz to bring the world premiere of his recently completed film series Heimat to the venue. That in itself was unusual, since Heimat was originally produced for television. Venice had probably realized that the individual films were much more than just a well-done TV series about German history — that the epic stretching over many hours was actually suitable for the big screen.

The premiere in Venice was a triumph, both for the director, but also for German cinema as a whole. After all, Reitz, who was born in the Hunsrück region where the series is set, had signed on to the famous "Oberhausen Manifest," which initiated a revolution in German cinema in 1962. Still, at that time, Reitz had no luck with his films in the 1960s and 1970s. For the most part, they failed at the box office; artistically, Reitz also stood in the shadow of his successful colleagues Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog.

Unlucky with his first films

Nobody expected Reitz to become the silent star of German cinema in 1984. His early films were considered too unwieldy and too intellectual: his dark debut Mahlzeiten (Lust for Love), or his films on German postwar history, Reise nach Wien (Trip to Vienna) and Stunde Null (Zero Hour). The ambitious and expensive project Der Schneider von Ulm (The Tailor from Ulm) had also been a major flop at the box office in 1978 and had plunged the director into an emotional crisis.

With Heimat, the director reinvented himself a few years later. Heimat became much more than just a major movie event. The 11 parts of the first Heimat season (Heimat 1) triggered a broad social debate in which many intellectuals participated. It led to a new definition of the term "Heimat" in Germany.

Reitz later summed it up as such: "The word 'Heimat' is innocent in itself. The fact that reactionary people or the Nazis used this word should not deter us. On the contrary: Why should we let them have it?" One can't simply dismiss the term as ideological, Reitz said. "This word denotes a reality, a real experience. It is different in every human life; some people are very far away or have to take detours, but without a relationship to a homeland, they cannot find an identity."

A different depiction of history

In Reitz' work, history has not degenerated into a mere depiction of supposed historical and social highlights. On the contrary: the focus has been on the depiction of the reality of life of completely normal people.

This difference in aesthetics becomes particularly clear when looking at more contemporary German films: History is generally reduced to being an event. Film producers such as Bernd Eichinger or his TV colleague Nico Hofmann have shot many of these sorts of "event" movies. Most of them are characterized by a superficial melodrama — historical cinema and television, easily digestible, superficial and hardly getting to the heart of the matter.

Reitz set other priorities in his approach. With his films, he has written history in the truest sense of the word: film history, but also German cultural history. This is what the German Film Academy's honorary award celebrates.