German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

We asked renowned Berlin author Tanja Dückers, who in her writing deals a lot with intergenerational questions, to give us her perspective on the big German hit comedy-drama "Oh Boy", which we are showing at the EU Film Festival Toronto on November 15:

"'Oh Boy', by Jan-Ole Gerster, presents a single day in the life of Niko Fischer, a charming and melancholic university drop-out and daydreamer, superbly portrayed by Tom Schilling. Initially, "Oh Boy“ was meant to be called "A Day in the Life“ after the eponymous song by The Beatles on their 1967 "Sgt. Pepper“ album. But ultimately, the movie only used the "Oh Boy“ lament that ends one of the song's lines. So quite literally, the film is an invocation of youth, starting with its very title. As a study of different generations and the way they clash and interact, "Oh Boy“ is a movie very much worth your time. As a Berlin-born and -based literary writer of the younger generation, I recognized many of my hometown's characteristic bohemian lifestyles and, more universally, reflections of my own hedonistic generation. Continue reading "Tanja Dückers on "Oh Boy": Invoking..." »

Brilliant news courtesy of our friends at German Films regarding our EUFF Toronto film selection screening this Friday: OH BOY by Jan Ole Gerster has been nominated in the category of European Film 2013 for the European Film Awards. Lead actor Tom Schilling received a nomination as European Actor 2013. And Barbara Sukowa is nominated as European Actress 2013 for HANNAH ARENDT by Margarethe von Trotta . This was announced by the European Film Academy at the European Film Festival in Seville at the weekend.

OH BOY, the portrait of a young man and the city where he is living – Berlin, is competing with five other films for the title of European Film 2013. In total, the debut by Jan Ole Gerster is nominated four times for the European Film Awards. The film also has chances of winning the prize for the best debut as the European Discovery - Prix FIPRESCI as well as the Audience Award. OH BOY took home six prizes at the 2013 German Film Awards, including for Best Film and Tom Schilling as Best Lead Actor, and it was very successful at a large number of international festivals.

Furthermore, the German co-production LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED by Susanne Bier was nominated in the category for European Comedy 2013. It was previously announced that THE CONGRESS by Ari Folman (IL/DE/PL/LU/FR/BE), another German co-production, was nominated in the section for European Film Academy Animated Feature Film. The German films CUT by Christoph Girardet and Matthias Müller and SUNDAY 3 (SONNTAG 3) by Jochen Kuhn are among the nominations for European Short Film. Together with Erik Mischijew, Matz Müller will receive the award as European Sound Designer for his work on PARADISE: FAITH (PARADIES: GLAUBE) by Ulrich Seidl.

The 2,900-plus members of the European Film Academy will now vote on the winners of the 26th European Film Awards. The awards will be presented in Berlin on 7 December 2013.

”You dropped out of law school? What have you done in the last two years?” - “I was thinking”. Niko is a loveable slacker from Berlin. While searching for plain drip coffee, which seems incredibly hard to find considering the overwhelming choice of brands, astronomical prices and broken coffee machines, Niko is wandering through the city and has quaint conversations with the people he meets along the way. But one day everything changes: His relationship ends, his father cuts off his allowance and a psychiatrist confirms his "emotional imbalance". Niko has to face the consequences of his inaction. Meanwhile, a peculiar beauty from his past confronts him with the emotional wounds he inflicted, but all Niko actually wants is a decent cup of coffee.

Going on two dozen awards and a dozen international film festival presentations, we are happy to bring you the Toronto premiere of the most successful German film of the year: Continue reading "European Union Film Fest Toronto: "Oh..." »

One of our long-standing film partnerships in Canada is with Toronto's Planet in Focus Film Festival, with whom we share an interest in pressing environmental issues. Their new programmer Marc Glassman this year has chosen a German film, co-presented with the Goethe-Institut, that received rave reviews at the Berlin Film Festival. Here is Marc's personal take on Sebastian Mez's Metamorphosen (trailer) and why you should see it at Planet in Focus on November 22.

"Sebastian Mez’s rigorous and gorgeously shot film Metamorphosen premiered at this year’s Berlinale and will have its Toronto debut this month at the Planet in Focus Environmental film festival, which takes place from Nov. 21-24.

Mez’ film is a tragic, intensely evocative piece about contamination, environmental destruction and the appalling consequences of tyranny. Its title evokes the controversial composition by Richard Strauss, a memoriam to the devastation of Munich—including its Opera House—during the final stages of the Second World War. The film’s other cultural antecedent is Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, in which a simple man is transformed into a bug.

Continue reading "Metamorphosen: Beauty in Bleakness" »