German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

1000 cinematic discoveries & follow-ups, "you heard it here first" posts & "In Production" updates, background pieces & in-depth artist interviews... After a decade+, the Goethe-Institut Toronto's film blog German Film @ Canada is migrating its film contextualisation work to audio-visual platforms to continue bringing you fresh & engaging stories from the world of international arthouse film, whether with exciting "coming soon" news or alerts for events and raffles.

Film is at the heart of the work the Goethe-Institut Toronto's cultural initiatives in Canada, with cinema and community screenings, dozens of festival partnerships and artist visits as well as trend scouting and support for emerging as well as established artists .

Follow us on Instagram @goetheinstitut_toronto and on YouTube @goethetoronto for announcements, video interviews & reviews under the banner "The Big Picture", and look for our posts on the new Goethe-Institut web portal Picture Palace.

I will leave you here with a recent quote by Christian Petzold, who we are honouring in collaboration with TIFF with a retrospective in November 2023. Petzold is channeling Godard to remind us of the power of (moving) images and storytelling on screen: Continue reading "Get the Big Picture (on Instagram & YouTube)" »

Please join us for the Canadian premiere of Berlinale winner "Till the End of the Night" by Christoph Hochhäusler on 24 November 2023 and 26 more European dramas, thrillers and comedies. Reserve early, will sell out!

Unfortunate reminder of this film list we posted in 2021...


Last year, after I participated in an online conversation with the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre and the Toronto Jewish Film Festival about WWII and post-war German and Russian anti-fascist films, I posted "An Antifascist Film List" spanning 1940 to today. Continuing that train of thought, here is an expanded but non-exhaustive viewing list of films to accompany our GOETHE FILMS series Radical--Exiting Extremism in which we just showed The Renegades, Wild Heart, and Combat Girls, looking at misguided ideologies, pied pipers, and perpetrators.

Disclaimer: This is a non-exhaustive list of films on and around the subject, not personal recommendations unless otherwise noted; and consider this a general content warning, many of these films are tough viewing/will invoke strong feelings. As always, make up your own mind.

Let's start with a few crucial female-made films, the first gave me the idea for the film cluster "Radical" when I was on the 2018 DOK Leipzig Goethe jury, where we awarded this documentary:

"Exit – Leaving Extremism Behind“ (Norway,Germany, Sweden; 2018) by Karen Winther, herself a former left-wing then right-wing extremist who exited. Through intimate conversations with former violent extremists from Germany, France, Denmark, and the US Winther asks: What was it that made us alter the course of our lives? If you watch one film on (de)radicalization, make it this one.
Dok Leipzig 2018 (Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize // Young Eyes Film Award // Gedanken-Aufschluss Award)
DOC NYC 2018
How to watch: Available on Kanopy (free with most North American library cards)

Most recently, Julia von Heinz tackled the topic and was Oscar long-listed for
"And Tomorrow the Entire World“ (Germany 2020) by Julia von Heinz Continue reading "An Anti-Hate Film List" »

Thank you to everyone who came out for our three music films in our "Definitely Not the Opera" series of GOETHE FILMS. If you missed our opening film Rheingold, you can catch the introduction Fatih Akin sent us:

"A true ensemble film--in front of and behind the camera," raved the jury at Filmfest Munich about Leif in Concert. GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Lightbox presents the Toronto premiere of the indie love letter to the corner pub. And yes, that's Bela B, drummer of Berlin punk rock band Die Ärzte in the film still.


"...overflowing with fantastic actors." -- FAZ

"...simply an incredibly likeable film." -- epd film

"Everything you could hope for from an evening at the local music pub." -- INDIE CINEMA

"...has what it takes to become a cult film." -- TIP Berlin Continue reading "10 Oct: Leif in Concert -- a film by friends..." »

GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Lightbox presents the Toronto premiere of Orphea in Love, a quirky new indie comedy that was shortlisted for Germany's Oscar submission.

A young call centre agent (Estonian opera singer Mirjam Mesak) falls in love with a petty criminal street dancer. She is Orpheus. He is Eurydice. Her means of expression is singing, he articulates himself through his dance. For her great love she descends into the underworld, faces her old demons and learns to trust again. An operatic pastiche between Puccini, Handel and German pop.

"The great, comprehensive vocal triumph of Mirjam Mesak. Wonderful." -- Süddeutsche Zeitung

"Ranisch neither shies away from great emotions nor from comedy or self- and insider irony." -- Crescendo

"Possibly the birth of a new format for opera houses. Beyond that, an exciting film." -- IOCO

Here's a visual sneak peek: Continue reading "5 Oct: Orphea in Love" »

"Fatih Akin Hits Jackpot With Gangster-Rapper Pic 'Rhinegold'" went the Variety heading when Fatih Akin's impressive film, based on the autobiographical memoirs of rapper Xatar. GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Lightbox presents the Canadian premiere of Akin's latest film Rheingold -- one night only, with an e-intro by Akin!

The German Film Assessment Board labelled it "of particular value" because it tells a story from Germany today with great force: Direct, authentic and straightforward. They commented:

In the 1980s, Giwar Hajabi comes to Bonn as a young boy with his family. His mother cleans houses, his father works hard to be recognized as a composer in Germany. Giwar grows up in a neighborhood where he has to learn to assert himself. Through petty criminal jobs, he finds his way into the rap scene and from that moment on gives himself the name that will soon make him a celebrity: Xatar. But the criminal jobs he does become more and more dangerous. And Xatar and his friends become more and more careless. The new film directed by Fatih Akin (who also wrote the screenplay) is based on the autobiographical memoirs of rapper Xatar and takes the artistic liberty of dramatically exaggerating the plot lines at some points. Continue reading "3 Oct: Why Fatih Akin's Rheingold is..." »

Toronto loves (Dusseldorf composer) Volker Bertelmann and Bertelmann loves Toronto (and will be back soon). We talked to him when he was presenting his latest film One Life starring Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham Carter at TIFF23. Next up for Bertelmann: Reuniting with London-based German director Edward Berger after their collaboration on All Quiet On The Western Front with the thriller Conclave, already in post-production. The Robert Harris adaptation stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow.

Very pleased to open our GOETHE FILMS@ TIFF Lightbox fall 2023 series with the Canadian premiere of Fatih Akin's latest film Rheingold -- one night only, with an e-intro by Akin!

GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Lightbox
3+5+10 October 2023

The genre of music films is as diverse and inventive as music itself, from culture-defining docs (Buena Vista Social Club) and cult musicals (The Sound of Music) to biopics and concert films. GOETHE FILMS spins three recent fiction films that take us on wild sonic rides, driven by characters engrossed in their aural worlds. Based on real events, Fatih Akin’s latest drama Rheingold pours the musical (and treasure hunting) exploits of German-Syrian gangster rapper Xatar into a hard-hitting international political thriller on a Wagnerian scale. The indie hit Orphea in Love flips gender on the Orpheus saga by following talented young opera singer Nele as her new love and musical dreams are threatened by her past. Leif in Concert mixes tunes and togetherness in a neighbourhood bar into a joyful reflection of life. From jazz to rap to an opera-of-sorts, the series Definitely Not the Opera invites viewers to immerse themselves in new sounds, with charismatic protagonists for whom music is passion and calling, lifeline and salvation. Continue reading "GOETHE FILMS launches with Akin's Rheingold Oct..." »

The highlight of our year is hosting Canadian, German and international filmmakers, talent, producers and programmers at our Goethe Film Brunch during TIFF. Thank you everyone for coming, see you next September!
Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, at TIFF23 with the premiere of his latest film Seven Veils, in conversation
Continue reading "#TIFF23 GOETHE FILM BRUNCH" »