Select media responses to the May 2019 GOETHE FILMS series "Past Forward: Directors before Cannes" featuring Berlin Komplizenfilm production house directors Maren Ade, Valeska Grisebach and Ulrich Köhler:
The Cannes Film Festival has a long and fabled history as a launch pad for world cinema’s most remarkable new talents. That certainly was the case for the filmmakers showcased in Past Forward: Directors Before Cannes,
the Goethe-Institut’s new series of lesser seen features made by three German directors just before their bigger breakthroughs. It begins with Everyone Else, a finely nuanced relationship drama that earned some love for Maren Ade before her next feature Toni Erdmann slayed ’em at Cannes three years ago. The series continues with Ulrich Köhler and Valeska Grisebach.
— Jason Anderson, Toronto Star
There appears to be a consensus that
these German auteurs are working at the height of their powers... Their work demonstrates the fundamental tension between where we’re going and what we’ve left behind, and the fact that you’re never the same as when you began. – Michael Sicinski, Mubi.com, on the GOETHE FILMS series "Past Forward: Directors before Cannes"
Ade’s contiguous accomplishment is in rendering the comedy inherent to personal relationships without recourse to didactic sincerity or hamming. – Esmé Hogeveen, Cleo Journal, on Maren Ade's Everyone Else
Everyone Else understands its characters in a way few films do. It makes profound observations through the dialogue, which is often cutting. It also uses repetitive imagery and scenarios to underscore essential truths about the characters. – Aren Bergstom, 3 Brothers Film blog
These directors have managed to break through the clutter and noise of the international film scene, securing the attention they so richly deserve. – Michael Sicinski, Mubi.com, on the GOETHE FILMS series "Past Forward: Directors before Cannes"
