New Objectivity (a translation of the German Neue Sachlichkeit,^[1] alternatively translated as "New Sobriety" or "New matter-of-factness") was an art movement that emerged in Germany in the early 1920s as a counter to expressionism.^[2] The term applies to a number of artistic forms, including film.

In film, New Objectivity reached its high point around 1929.^[3] It translated into realistic cinematic settings, straightforward camerawork and editing, a tendency to examine inanimate objects as a way to interpret characters and events, a lack of overt emotionalism, and social themes.

The director most associated with the movement is Georg Wilhelm Pabst.^[4] Pabst's films of the 1920s concentrate on subjects such as abortion, prostitution, labor disputes, homosexuality, and addiction. His cool and critical 1925 Joyless Street is a landmark of the objective style.^[5] Pabst's 1930 pacifist sound film Westfront 1918 views the World War I experience in a bleak, matter-of-fact way.^[6][7] With its clear denunciation of war, it was soon banned as unsuitable for public viewing.

Other directors in the style included Ernő Metzner, Berthold Viertel,^[8] and Gerhard Lamprecht.

The movement ended essentially in 1933 with the fall of the Weimar Republic.^[9]

Films with New Objectivity themes and visual style include:

• Joyless Street, 1925^[10]
• Secrets of a Soul, 1926
• Uneasy Money, 1926
• The Love of Jeanne Ney, 1927
• Police Report: Hold-Up, short subject, 1928
• Pandora's Box, 1929^[11]
• People on Sunday, 1930
• Westfront 1918, 1930 ^[12][13]