Heimatfilm

Heimatfilm (ger. "homeland-film") is the name given to a film genre that was popular in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in the 1950s. They were usually shot in the Alps, and always involved the out-of-doors. Heimatfilms were noted for their rural settings, sentimental tone and simplistic morality, and centered around love, friendship, family and non-urban life. The typical plot structure involved both a "good" and "bad" guy wanting a girl, conflict ensuing, and the "good" guy ultimately triumphing to win the girl to the happiness of everyone and the children.

Heimat is a German word that can be translated as home, homeland, home soil or motherland (each having a different emphasis and connotation).

English-language features that could qualify as "Heimatfilme" include "Lassie Come Home", "Spencer's Mountain", and "Where the Red Fern Grows."

The genre originally came into life following the devastation of Germany in World War II, suggesting a whole, romantic world untouched by the hazards of real life (i.e. war damage and subsequent rebuilding); this remained popular from the mid-1940s to the 1960s.

The trilogy of films called "Heimat" by the German director Edgar Reitz (1984, 1992, and 2004) are partly an ironic reference to this type of sentimental film.