In cooperation with Berlin film production and distribution house Filmgalerie 451, the Goethe-Institut is launching an online streaming program called Goethe on Demand. It contains a small but exquisite selection of 20 films -- free of charge and available worldwide until 30 July 2020. The selection comprises arthouse features and documentaries, many of which are part of the Goethe-Institut's global (physical) film catalogue, like "The Captain" (TIFF17), many of Angela Schanelec's films such as "The Dreamed Path" (TIFF16) and several of Christoph Schlingensief's films we celebrated in our GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Lightbox series "Approach Those You Fear" in 2018. Continue reading "Goethe on Demand: Filmgalerie 451 & Goethe..." »
MUBI has become one of the most intriguing international platforms for rotating, hand-picked global cinema, including a steady stream of German films such as Edgar Reitz' historical family epic "Heimat" or one of my favourite Berlin Wall films, Hans Stoehr's "Berlin is in Germany". On the occasion of MUBI's e-release of 
Take a break from streaming films with some “cinema for your ears” as Goethe-Institut Toronto Program Curator Jutta Brendemühl introduces you to the best & brightest film composers in an ongoing video series called "The Sound Of Filmmusik" (
The Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, TJFF, and the Goethe-Institut Toronto just hosted a screening of Herbert Rappaport & Adolf Minkin’s 1938 Russian antifascist film “Professor Mamlock”, based on the German 1933 play by Friedrich Wolf. It is one of the earliest works dealing with violent Nazi antisemitism and foreshadows the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. In 1961, Friedrich Wolf’s son Konrad Wolf adapted the drama again as a successful DEFA film.
Hello World. Microsoft’s gender-neutral AI “Tay” says they are stoked to meet me. "The more humans share with me the more I learn.” And there’s the rub. Who teaches these new artificial kids? And what do they teach them? Shalini Kantayya's documentary “Coded Bias,” which premiered at Sundance in January and just screened at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival (the largest in North America) is getting a lot of deserved attention as it doesn’t need two minutes to go for the jugular: Shockingly pervasive, all-encompassing image bias built into algorithm-based tech is stealthily governing our day-to-day lives, from Amazon to Alexa. Snapchat filters. Gendered shopping suggestions. Spotify playlists. Credit checks. Resume key wording. AI recruiting. All algorithm-based. 
Here's another hidden arthouse gem, an international production waiting to premiere at global spring festivals and threatened to go under, but now given an opportunity to shine online.
German actor Conrad Veidt is best remembered for playing Nazi Major Strasser in "Casablanca". In reality, he was an ardent anti-fascist who left Nazi Germany for Britain, falsely claiming to be Jewish in solidarity with his Jewish wife. Using clips from Veidt’s films, acclaimed director Mark Rappaport (Rock Hudson’s Home Movies) imagines the actor himself, with his curious German accent, narrating his life and career from the silent era—including his leading roles in "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "The Man Who Laughs" (which inspired the character of "The Joker")—through to his Hollywood years where he often played a Nazi.Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum selected this fascinating film as one of the ten best of 2019. 
"Fassbinder's Women" is the title of Rosa von Praunheim's 2000 documentary. And indeed Fassbinder strived on his relationships with female collaborators, like actress Barbara Sukowa, who recently celebrated her 70th birthday. She is busier than ever, recently appearing in the intense lesbian drama “Two of Us” and the Al Pacino TV series “Hunters," and soon in the German comedy “Granny Nanny.” Sukowa, who was our guest for our 
