German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

Nothing seems to stop veteran and newcomer female directors (and actors) from being ready with new projects post-Covid. Here are a few of my most awaited 2021/22 titles.

Emily Atef is about to shoot "More Than Ever" starring Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”), a co-production between France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Norway that the “3 Days in Quiberon” director also co-wrote. The melodrama will revolve around the character of Hélène, a well-off Parisian, who turns her back on a comfortable life and loving husband and heads to a remote Norwegian village when she is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. “A strong female story in which the protagonist’s life has hit a crunch point. It’s a beautiful, powerful tale about a woman striking out on her own and then asking for acceptance,” commented producer Xenia Maingot about Atef’s first French-language production. The female creative team also includes production designer Silke Fischer (“Unorthodox,” “Toni Erdmann,” “3 Days In Quiberon”) and costume designer Dorothée Guiraud (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”).

Vicky Krieps II: Continue reading ""More Than Ever": Upcoming..." »

If you missed our last GOETHE FILMS @ digital TIFF series on Loneliness and the City, you can watch University of Toronto urbanism Prof. Ahmed Allahwala's introduction to the three films --The Mover, A Lonely City, Neubau-- and the series' theme of urban solitude: ​

Our GOETHE FILMS @ digital TIFF Lightbox series "Loneliness and the City" runs Canada-wide May 15-23 and closes with the Canadian premiere of Johannes Maria Schmit's queer drama Neubau:
Continue reading "GOETHE FILMS: Neubau in images" »

Our GOETHE FILMS @ digital TIFF Lightbox series "Loneliness and the City" runs Canada-wide May 15-23, including the international premiere of award-winning director Nicola Graef's latest film. Here is Berlin filmmaker Graef (Ich.Immendorff; Neo Rauch: Comrades and Companions) on her new documentary A Lonely City:

“Poor, but sexy,” -- “Berlin, the world’s coolest party city,” -- “Berlin, the latest trend” … many attributes have made Berlin a magnet for the entire world in recent years. Young people, students, artists and intellectuals, tourists flock to the German capital to experience its laid-back, imperfect flair. But what else does Berlin stand for? What’s it like behind the scenes of party-soaked nights? What happens when the doors close after another trendy art event? Berlin also has an entirely different face. If you live here for a long time, you notice how many people walk the streets talking to themselves; how many people are alone, Continue reading "GOETHE FILMS: A Lonely City - director's statement" »

Our GOETHE FILMS @ digital TIFF Lightbox series "Loneliness and the City" runs Canada-wide May 15-23, including the international premiere of Berlin director Nicola Graef's latest documentary A Lonely City.
Continue reading "GOETHE FILMS: A Lonely City in images" »

Germany has a body that, through independent juries, recommends outstanding films for their cultural and artistic achievements: The FBM or German Film and Media Assessment board. David Narwath's debut feature The Mover, part of our Canada-wide May 15-23 GOETHE FILMS @ digital TIFF Lightbox series "Loneliness and the City," was assigned the rating "highly recommended:"

A strong feature film debut that tells the dramatic story of a man who finds his son by chance after many years and then does all he can to protect him from a criminal real estate clan. 

Walter is a moving man for evictions. As a former weightlifter, he can still lift more heavy furniture than all of his younger colleagues put together. Although even his strength is gradually waning, Walter doesn’t want to quit; his work is all he has. When he discovers one day during a planned eviction that the tenant is his son Jan, Walter decides that he has to find his way back to Jan, whom he left when he was little. Jan, though, has different problems. A real estate clan wants to get him out of his apartment, by force if necessary. Walter wants to do everything possible to help Jan but when he realizes the danger he’s putting himself in, it’s almost too late. Continue reading "Goethe Films: The Mover - "highly..." »

Our GOETHE FILMS @ digital TIFF Lightbox series "Loneliness and the City" runs Canada-wide May 15-23 and opens with David Narwath's critically acclaimed debut feature The Mover: Continue reading "GOETHE FILMS: The Mover in images" »

Scott Miller Berry, lead programmer of Toronto's Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival and a long-time collaborator of Goethe-Instituts from Toronto to Jakarta to Bangalore, attended to Oberhausen 2021 --virtually of course (see his head floating on the right of the Oberhausen Festival Space). We asked him to report back on his best-of-show and critical takeaways.

My first visit to the Oberhausen Short Film Festival, the world's oldest and largest short film extravaganza, was in 2008 if I remember correctly. After the requisite overnight flight with lovely Images Festival colleagues we piled into a shiny new Volkswagen and the festival driver proceeded at a modest 180km/h clip from Düsseldorf north into the Ruhr valley's post-industrial pocket. At that speed I felt like my face was melting off, which became an inspired metaphor for the entire Oberhausen festival experience --face- and all senses-melting over concentrated days stacked with upwards of 7 slots of short film programs followed by very late nights at the festival lounge. As a film festival worker and lover, I've been incredibly inspired by Oberhausen over the years, its mammoth program and their smooth ability to host hundreds and hundreds of guests from festivals, galleries, distributors, broadcasters and artists. Continue reading "Reflections on the 67th Oberhausen Short Film..." »

Hot Docs 2021 is hosting a slew of German documentaries on pressing socio-political issues across the globe, one film a Goethe co-presentation we have a special relationship to: Berlin filmmaker Daniel Kötter, who was our guest in 2011 in our Intermedia Artist Residency Toronto, is celebrating the North American premiere of Rift Finfinnee at North America's largest documentary festival. I spoke to him about returning to Africa as a European filmmaker in the current moment, global urban peripheries, and the human impact of rapid growth, part of our ongoing conversation on cities, communities, and solidarity under the heading "compliCITY":
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Berlin indie filmmaker Malte Wirtz, after finishing his one-shot film City Lights just before Covid hit, first told me about his upcoming 2021 feature Digital Life on Zoom --aptly so, because his latest project is a German-American digital love story developed, performed and shot on Zoom. I teased that he was inventing a new school called Zogma, a Zoom Dogma, and he took up the challenge:
Continue reading "Goethe Film Talk: Malte Wirtz on the new..." »