German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

Christian Petzold’s feature film BARBARA will, as the official German entry, join the submissions for the 85th Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film. This was decided today by an independent jury in Berlin, which was appointed by German Films to preside over the selection process.

The nine-person independent jury, under the chairmanship of Stefan Schubert, substantiated their decision as follows: “The film BARBARA is convincing in its great formal clarity and strong female figure, who, torn between the contradiction of individual freedom and social responsibility, has to make a personal decision.”

Director Christian Petzold and the film’s producers Florian Koerner von Gustorf and Michael Weber were elated by the jury’s decision: “We are very pleased about the jury’s selection of our film as the German submission for the Oscar®. After the Berlinale and successful releases in Germany and France, this honor comes at a perfect moment for the upcoming releases of BARBARA in the USA, Great Britain, Spain and Italy.” ((and let the blogger add: its TIFF selection and upcoming Canadian run))

The film was released in German cinemas in March 2012 and has since pulled in over 350,000 admissions. At the Berlinale 2012, Christian Petzold was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Direction for BARBARA; the film also received the Silver Lola at the German Film Awards in the category Best Film.


On 15 January 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will announce which five films have been nominated from all of the international entries to go forward in the final lineup to compete for the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film. The official Academy Awards® ceremony will take place on 24 February 2013.

The Goethe-Institut Toronto is happy to present …

Wednesday, September 12, 5-6pm
Director Margarethe von Trotta and co-director Pamela Katz in conversation with journalist Marc Glassman
on the TIFF World Premiere “Hannah Arendt”, starring Barbara Sukowa
“Hannah Arendt is a woman who fits into my personal mold of historically important women that I have portrayed in my films. ‘I want to understand`, was one of her guiding principles. I feel that applies to myself and my films as well.” Margarethe von Trotta in an interview on goethe.de

Margarethe von Trotta is back at TIFF with a Special Presentation --after her Rosenstrasse gala in 2003 and Visions in 2009-- with her much anticipated drama around Hannah Arendt and the famous Jewish thinker's controversial take on the Eichmann trials.


Thursday, September 13, 5-6pm
Director Mark Wiese in conversation with writer and filmmaker Ali Kazimi
on the celebrated doc "Camp 14 - Total Control Zone" that takes a look at North Korea’s prison camps
Camp 14 was one of the best-reviewed films at Locarno this year; the NZZ newspaper had this to say: "Wiese lets Shin Dong Hyuk tell his story and complements it with statements by former camp guards and torturers. There is only little secret footage from the camps to be had, but Ali Soozandeh's animated scenes evoke a place that could be called hell on earth, if this wouldn't belittle what people can do to each other. Marc Wiese has found the right form -- he omits nothing, knowing that some things which aren't shown but created in our imagination will be all the more resounding."


both events
doors open 4:45pm
limited seating, first come first served
at the Goethe-Institut Toronto, 100 University Ave. 2nd floor


Thank you to our friends and partners at German Films and TIFF for their support.


by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto

A good year for German film: The Vancouver International Film Festival (27 September – 12 October 2012) has just announced its German line-up, with two dozen films just as impressive as TIFF's on the other side of the country:



Cinema of our Time
ANNELIE by Antej Farac, Drei Wünsche Filmproduktion (DE/CH)
BARBARA by Christian Petzold, Schramm Film Koerner & Weber
DUST (POLVO) by Julio Hernández Cordón, Autentika Films (GT/ES/CL/DE)
HOME FOR THE WEEKEND (WAS BLEIBT) by Hans-Christian Schmid, 23/5 Filmproduktion
LORE by Cate Shortland, Rohfilm (DE/AU/GB)
PARADISE: LOVE (PARADIES: LIEBE) by Ulrich Seidl, Tatfilm (AT/FR/DE)
TABU by Miguel Gomes, Komplizen Film (PT/DE/BR/FR)

Dragons & Tigers
POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO by Edwin, Pallas Film (IN/DE/HK)

Ecological series on the environmental issues of the day
BAD WEATHER by Giovanni Giommi, ma.ja.de filmproduktion (DE/UK)
HEART OF SKY, HEART OF EARTH (HERZ DES HIMMELS, HERZ DER ERDE) by Eric Black & Frauke Sandig, Umbrella Films
MORE THAN HONEY by Marcus Imhoof, zero one film (CH/DE/AT)
RAISING RESISTANCE by Bettina Borgfeld & David Bernet, Pandora Filmproduktion (DE/CH)

Spotlight on France
HOLY MOTORS by Leos Carax, Pandora Filmproduktion (FR/DE)

Arts & Letters series on the performing arts
KARAJAN – THE SECOND LIFE (KARAJAN – DAS ZWEITE LEBEN) by Eric Schulz
PARABETON – PIER LUIGI NERVI AND ROMAN CONCRETE (PARABETON – PIER LUIGI NERVI UND RÖMISCHER BETON) by Heinz Emigholz, Filmgalerie 451
PERRET IN FRANCE AND ALGERIA (PERRET IN FRANKREICH UND ALGERIEN) by Heinz Emigholz, Filmgalerie 451

NonFiction Features
THE FLAT (Hadira) by Arnon Goldfinger, zero one film (IL/DE)
THE IRAN JOB by Till Schauder, The Post Republic (USA/DE/IR)
REVISION by Philip Scheffner, Pong
THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA by Marten Persiel, Wildfremd Production
VIRGIN TALES by Mirjam von Arx (CH/DE/FR)

Special Presentations
AMOUR (LIEBE) by Michael Haneke, X Filme Creative Pool (FR/DE/AT)
GRIOT by Volker Goetze (SN/US/FR/DE)
I, ANNA by Barnaby Southcombe, Riva Filmproduktion (GB/DE/FR)


(Don't miss Revision and This Ain't California -- and 2x Heinz Emigholz!)


by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto

Here's a visual teaser to our personal selection from the over two dozen German films and co-productions at this year's TIFF, with a respectable number of films coming from the Berlinale, Locarno and other international festivals as well as exciting premieres.

Christian Petzold and lead actor Ronald Zehrfeld on Barbara (in German) and trailer for Barbara (also only in German). See also my Berlinale review of Barbara from February.


Interestingly, another drama by a (West) German director on life in the GDR in the early 1980s with Stasi references has also been invited to Toronto: Shores of Hope by Student Academy Award winner Toke C. Hebbeln, starring Alexander Fehling, August Diehl --both recently featured at GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Bell Lightbox in our "Shooting Stars" series-- and Ronald Zehrfeld (see Barbara above, as well as our Dominik Graf special In the Face of Crime this spring, in which he was the lead). German Trailer.


For more on the Australian-German Special Presentation of the World War II drama Lore, see my blog entry on German language films.


Okay, I know she is from Toronto --but after a decade or so on the Berlin scene, we can claim a part of the queen of punk, right? The title of Peaches' (Berlin-based) debut is self-explanatory and programmatic: Peaches does herself.
Look behind the scenes of the live "musical" her debut film is based on. Plus Peaches In the making of her performance show at HAU Theatre Berlin.


And here's the reverse case: Tom Tykwer can work in Hollywood -- he remains a Berlin director. You will by now have heard about his literary sci-fi adaptation Cloud Atlas. Released so far are the (3) Directors' Commentary and trailer (and trailer reviews online, if you are really interested).


Over on the arthouse front, under no circumstances will I miss German photography legend Thomas Demand taking his restaging approach to the moving image with Pacific Sun
The film installation is based on dizzying CCTV footage of the Pacific Sun Cruise Liner in heavy seas.


Also at the top of my TIFF schedule, fresh from Locarno, a doc that I am as terrified of watching as I know I must:
Camp 14 - Total Control Zone (trailer)
In German, director Marc Wiese describes the the creation, shoot and background of Camp 14 , with animator Alireza Darvish explaining his role in the film.



Unfortunately no trailer for Margarethe von Trotta’s world premiere of “Hannah Arendt” yet -- but I can tell you that you will be able to see von Trotta live at a Goethe Directors Talk!


by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto

I am torn where to direct my filmic attention on September 5: the electrifying energy on the eve of TIFF 2012 or the grandmaster of New German Cinema, Werner Herzog, turning 70. Let's celebrate him early then (as it is my birthday today and I am about to have cake anyway).

It seems only right to pay homage to his physicality and prowess, going strong into his 8th decade (and his 7th decade of filmmaking). I actually had to do the math several times to believe it: yes, Werner Herzog Stipetić, born in Bavaria in 1942, into the bombing raids at the height of World War II. In 2003, I was lucky enough to do an interview with Herzog for Point of View magazine entitled "Werner Herzog: The Filmmaker as Athlete" on the occasion of the release of Wheel of Time as well as his Outstanding Achievement Award at Hot Docs that year. Here is an excerpt from that interview that still holds true (and reveals his inimitable natural swagger).

How does a self-proclaimed athlete filmmaker translate the essence of spirituality, of the ethereal mandala into film? How does a Western filmmaker, who says of himself that he is never detached, work in a culture where attachment is regarded to be the root of suffering? POV wanted to know the answer to these and a myriad of other questions. Herzog didn’t disappoint us. He proved to be as open and baffling, as contentious and engaging as his reputation has made him out to be.

Jutta Brendemühl: A lot of your work seems infused by the mythical, transcendental. Do you have some sort of metaphysical set of beliefs that comes to work in your films?

Werner Herzog: No.

JB: Are you detached from these questions, even in a film like “Wheel of Time”?

WH: No, I’m physical, not really metaphysical. I’m an athlete, or I used to be an athlete.

JB: …thus also the fascination with the mountains… Related to that I wanted to ask you about the cross-cultural experience. You were ((in Tibet)) as a Western filmmaker and you approach these people that, in a way, live in a different universe. Where are you between closeness and detachment when you do these kinds of projects with very different cultures?

WH: I’m never detached, I’m always --and this is a very good example-- very, very close, and I’m physically curious and you see how the camera immerses itself in the mayhem of crowds of pilgrims struggling over some consecrated dumplings. Anyone else would have shot it from a tripod, from some distance with a long lens. Whenever there was mayhem and piling up of scrambling pilgrims and broken bones (there were literally severely injured people on the ground), the camera always sticks right into it, physically. And it only does so because I’m so curious and I’m not detached. I’m not distant. I want to go to the very centre of the mayhem.

JB: In one shot, there's the cameraman’s thumb in the picture…

WH: That’s the cinematographer's. Yes, I left it in because some fragment of one of these dumplings flew right at the lens and you see the thumb of the cinematographer, clearing the lens. But he keeps on filming. There’s a certain bravado (laughs). ...

Many happy returns, lieber Werner Herzog! Looking forward to the next film, which he is of course already working on, as he told me at his last Berlinale premiere earlier this year. I will entitle our next interview "Werner Herzog: At the Centre of Mayhem".

To have you celebrate along with Herzog, we will raffle 7 DVDs by/with/about Werner Herzog for 7 lucky winners (1 DVD each). To enter, please email us at arts@toronto.goethe.org until 7 September and tell us how you heard about this blog! Only the winners will be notified (by the end of September). Viel Glück!


by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto

• We are happy to continue working with TIFF as they keep presenting cutting-edge German films. Join us at our Directors Talks at the Goethe-Institut this September, where we engage German directors and actors in conversation. Watch this blog for announcements over the next few days & weeks!

• The Goethe-Institut’s own film program brings the best of German film to Canadian audiences. GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Bell Lightbox is “one of the better-kept secrets in the Toronto art house sphere” (blogTO.com). This season: a continuation of our exploration of the interplay of Culture & Economy.

• This November and December TIFF Bell Lightbox, in association with the Munich Film Museum & the Goethe-Institut, will present the most comprehensive retrospective of influential German film, theatre, and opera director Werner Schroeter (1945–2010) ever assembled in Canada.

• For the 8th time, two dozen European countries are coming together to present the European Union Film Festival. Enjoy the best of European cinema from November 15-24. And thank you Toronto for our 2011 Audience Award!

• To celebrate our 50th anniversary in Canada, we have commissioned German artists fettFilm to light up our windows at King & University this fall with the video installation “Late Night @ Goethe”, a Virtual Anniversary Celebration.

• Don’t forget that you can borrow the latest German films on DVD from our Goethe-Institut Library.


50 years of Canadian-German film encounters -- Thank you to all our partners & audiences!



Program & Media Contact:
Jutta Brendemühl
Program Coordinator
Goethe-Institut Toronto
100 University Ave, North Tower,
Suite 201, mailbox 136
Toronto, ON M5J 1V6
Canada
Tel. +1 416 5935257-205
arts@toronto.goethe.org

www.goethe.de/toronto
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German Culture Now

It's never too early for Oscar speculations. German Films today released the list of films considered for Germany's Academy Awards 2013 entry (three of which you can catch at TIFF next month):


Nine films were submitted to German Films by German producers for consideration as the German entry for the 85th Oscar® competition in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. The screenings of the submitted films for the independent expert jury will be held in Berlin on 29 and 30 August, 2012. The title to be sent into the running for Germany will be announced on 30 August.






FAREWELL TO THE FROGS (ABSCHIED VON DEN FRÖSCHEN) by Ulrike Schamoni

BARBARA by Christian Petzold

REMEMBRANCE (DIE VERLORENE ZEIT) by Anna Justice

HANNAH ARENDT by Margarethe von Trotta

HOTEL LUX by Leander Haußmann

COMBAT GIRLS (KRIEGERIN) by David Wnendt

GUARDIANS (SCHUTZENGEL) by Til Schweiger

THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA by Marten Persiel

WIR WOLLTEN AUFS MEER by Toke Constantin Hebbeln