TIFF18 has announced some 11 German films and 18 co-productions (noticably down from 15 and 25 respectively last year), including veterans like von Trotta and Herzog (US production but he will always remain a Bavarian filmmaker), returning directors such as Petzold and Donnersmarck, and
promising surprises like female zombie drama ENDZEIT based on Olivia Vieweg’s graphic novel, directed by Carolina Hellsgård whose previous female-centric feature Wanja we showed you at Goethe Films 2016), as well as the brave choice of including
Sven Taddicken’s rape drama THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE.
You might wonder, though, what other 2018 offerings didn’t make the cut:
Not at TIFF18:
3 TIFF alumni out of the Berlinale competition. Like Thomas Stuber’s quirky, slow-burning character drama IN THE AISLES,
starring Toni Erdmann’s Sandra Hüller and Franz Rogowski (at TIFF18 in Petzold's TRANSIT). Stuber debuted at TIFF15 with
A HEAVY HEART. Lars Kraume's latest, THE SILENT REVOLUTION, about a GDR high school class (inadvertently) resisting the regime. He was at TIFF previously with
THE PEOPLE VS. FRITZ BAUER. And Philip Groening's MY BROTHER'S NAME IS ROBERT AND HE IS AN IDIOT, formally stunning but nearly unwatchable in its incestuous teenage self-harm subject matter. And you thought his domestic violence Drama THE POLICE OFFICER'S WIFE was hard to watch at TIFF13.
Also not at TIFF18:
Sebastian Schipper’s English-language debut ROADS (aka CARAVAN) follows two young men, a refugee and a runaway (Stephane Bak and Fionn Whitehead of DUNKIRK), as they travel across Europe in search of the former’s brother. Supported by Moritz Bleibtreu (RUN LOLA RUN) and Britain’s Ben Chaplin. Schipper was a huge TIFF16 and international hit with his one-shot Berlin wonder VICTORIA.
Not coming in from Locarno or Venice:
Jan Bonny's politically hard-core Locarno Competition film GERMANY. A WINTER'S TALE, in its subject matter hot on the heels of Fatih Akin's right-wing terror drama IN THE FADE last year. Sandra Nettelbeck's Piazza Grande-playing WHAT DOESN'T KILL US (admittedly light festival fare by any standard). Documentary filmmaker Victor Kossakowsky's water exploration AQUARELA that made the Venice list.
Too European for TIFF18?
3 DAYS IN QUIBERON is a b&w exploration of the late Visconti actress Romy Schneider's demons that somewhat controversially came home empty-handed from the Berlinale Competition but went on to win 7 German Film Awards and has just been shortlisted for the European Film Award. By Emily Atef, an increasingly noticed female filmmaker in mid-career. And blatantly overlooked director Andreas Dresen’s GDR drama GUNDERMANN sounds out the social legacy of the East German everyone-spied-on-everyone system, based on a true story; could have been a nice companion to Donnersmarck’s announced (and likely louder) NEVER LOOK AWAY.
Some are clearly too domestic, some perhaps too arthouse, too quiet, too quirky, too transgressive, or not hitting enough popular hashtags. Or perhaps just not that good. At the end of the day, limited Screening slots and tough distributor deals increasingly rule festival programming.
But then again there are enough good German and other titles to look forward to at TIFF18, last but not least the Dev Patel and Armie Hammer-starring HOTEL MUMBAI, which Düsseldorf's Oscar-nominated Volker Bertelmann aka Hauschka scored.
See you at the Lightbox!
by
Jutta Brendemühl
