Tom Tykwer's most outstanding films

Tom Tykwer made his debut as a filmmaker in 1993 when "Deadly Maria" was shown by German public broadcaster ZDF, starring Nina Petri, Joachim Król and Peter Franke. The movie tells the story of 40-year-old Maria, her dreams, worries and fears. Click through the gallery for 10 of Tykwer's most outstanding films.

The 1998 thriller "Run Lola Run," starring Franka Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu, became Tykwer's breakthrough moment. At the Sundance Festival, it was awarded best foreign film. More than 2.2 million viewers watched the movie in Germany, which later came to serve as a source of inspiration for The Simpsons' episode "Trilogy of Error," as well as Bon Jovi's music video "It's My Life."

Tom Tykwer's first international work was a romantic psycho-thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi in 2002. The German-American production "Heaven" opened the Berlinale film festival that year. Its screenplay was written by the late Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski.

The film adaptation of the successful novel by Patrick Süskind was one of the most expensive German film productions ever, making more than 135 million euros at the box office worldwide. In Germany, 5.6 million people watched the epic movie, ranking it among the 20 most successful German films in Germany ever.

This political thriller starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts hit movie theaters in 2009. "The International" is based on the BCCI-scandal (Bank of Credit and Commerce International), which had shocked the financial world in the 1980s and early 90s.

Tom Tykwer produced "Soul Boy" and "Nairobi Half Life," both of which are set in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The objective of the project, supported by the DW Academy and the Goethe-Institut, was to promote modern African film production - a cause that is important to Tykwer.

"Deutschland 09" is an episodic film series initiated by Tom Tykwer, consisting of 13 films on the "current state of the nation" in Germany. It is seen as a successor to the 1977 film project "Germany in the Fall," and was called a "mega-project of the German directors' elite." It was directed not only by Tom Tykwer, but also Fatih Akin, Wolfgang Becker and Sylke Enders.

Together with the Wachowski Brothers, Tom Tykwer wrote the screenplay and directed this ambnitious film based on the novel by David Mitchell. With a star-studded cast, production costs amounted to $100 million, making "Cloud Atlas" the most expensive German film made to date, as well as one of the most expensive independent films ever.

Tom Tykwer's latest film is about the culture clash between the West and the Arab World. Tom Hanks plays a desperate salesman, who is out to sell software to the king of Saudi Arabia. The film's plot is based on the novel with the same title by Dave Eggers, whose work focused more on the dramatic aspects of the story, whereas Tykwer rather concentrated on its comical moments.