Entries by Goethe-Institut Toronto

The ecological footprint of electronic media goes deep. 88-inch and larger 8K UHD smart TVs, one-third more streaming usage among the under-30s, more and more data centres for digital content: The ecological footprint of electronic media is getting deeper.

Due to their large amounts of data, Netflix, YouTube and the like take a top spot in CO2 emissions. It’s estimated that around 80 percent of global data traffic is from streaming services. 1% of the world’s total electricity consumption is entirely devoted to watching videos. Continue reading "Is streaming & TV harming the climate? " »

Toronto documentarian Stephanie Weimar is writing and directing a four-part documentary series WRITING THE LAND, coinciding with the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair, where Canada is the Guest of Honour. Produced by Primitive Entertainment, it will air on Arte in Europe and on CBC in Canada in 2020. From October 2019 to October 2020, German Film @ Canada will check in with Weimar as she develops and realizes the series and chat about treatments, funding, the beauty and challenges of Canada's vast geography and diverse literature and its intersections and dependencies.

Dear Stephanie, in your treatment for the WRITING THE LAND you say "Canada is in the midst of a cultural revolution." How so and how do you want to reflect a shifting landscape by visiting a diverse group of writers across the country?
This fall we’re heading into a federal election and it seems Canada is more divided than ever. From Newfoundland to the Yukon and BC -- across the country debates about anything from politics to the environment and economic concerns are extremely heated and polarized.

In this explosive atmosphere it seems we could all do with some guidance. I believe literature and storytelling can play a key part in providing some perspective. As one of the writers we have filmed with for this series, Edem Awumey, has aptly put it, “we read literature because we want to feel the soul of a place and its people.” In this spirit, Writing the Land is traveling across the country to visit with the people who have made it their lives’ vocation to observe, think and tell a story. Indigenous people, people of colour and first generation immigrants, who traditionally have not been listened to as much in this country, and whose stories about the land and its people provide a fresh outlook and a new vision.

You have just finished your first cross-country visits with some of Canada's best known authors. What connections between land and writing and dreaming have you learned of?
The crew --director of photography Stephen Chung and sound person Jason Milligan are both invaluable collaborators--and I have just finished our first whirlwind tour across the country. From spending time with Eden Robinson and Madeleine Thien in BC, to Katherena Vermette in Winnipeg, Edem Awumey in Gatineau, Catherine Hernandez in Scarborough and Michael Winter in Newfoundland, it’s been an enormous honour and privilege to visit with these amazing writers. They all have been so incredibly generous and have granted us intimate access to their homes and lives. It’s pretty unreal sitting next to Eden Robinson in her home office in Kitimaat Village where she’s just made pancakes for her teenage nieces and watch her edit and re-write sections of her next book, the last in the Trickster trilogy. All the while chatting away that she couldn’t sleep last night because something about the structure was just not quite right. For a literature nut like me, it doesn’t get any better than this.

What’s more, we’ve been getting an amazing sneak peek into each of these writer’s next work! It’s been such a joy to have the authors share their stories and intense love they feel for “their land,” their home regions. For all of them their homelands and their writing are intrinsically intertwined. And while they all have very different approaches to raising issues close to their heart -- Catherine Hernandez next book is about BIPOC LGBTQ+ folk taking up arms in resistance to a fascist regime in Canada, while Edem Awumey spins a tale involving farmers versus the agricultural industry, and Katherena Vermette is creating a poetry collection based on old family photographs during a turbulent time for Winnipeg’s Metis community -- their voices creating a chorus, a web of interconnectivity spanning the country. We have six more writers to go and I can’t wait to start the edit and actually see their stories interweave!


Continue reading "Introducing Stephanie Weimar & WRITING THE..." »

Can an actor make a life in “crime”? Like a James Gandolfini, can he or she overcome genre type-casting and launch an international career? Let’s take a closer look at the intriguing array of actors, many of them Germans with an immigrant background, in the latest GOETHE FILMS program this October, which features three gangster films: Dealer by Thomas Arslan, Chiko by Özgur Yildirim, and Stronger Than Blood by Oliver Kienle.

Writer-director Oliver Kienle gathered a cast of Germany’s most promising young talents for his 2009 drama Stronger Than Blood (trailer): Award-winning lead Jacob Matschenz was most recently part of the Oscar-nominated film Never Look Away, which had its North American premiere at TIFF in 2018. Continue reading "Acting in Kienle's STRONGER THAN BLOOD" »

Can an actor make a life in “crime”? Like a James Gandolfini, can he or she overcome genre type-casting and launch an international career? Let’s take a closer look at the intriguing array of actors, many of them Germans with an immigrant background, in the latest GOETHE FILMS program this October, which features three gangster films: Dealer by Thomas Arslan, Chiko by Özgur Yildirim, and Stronger Than Blood by Oliver Kienle.

Chiko’s titular lead character is played by Dennis Moschitto, who is of Italian and Turkish extraction. Already a well-known face on German TV, the film (trailer) pushed Moschitto’s career to the next level. Fatih Akin, who produced Chiko, seems to be a constant in Moschitto's acting career. Continue reading "Acting in Yildirim's CHIKO" »

What goes into “the making of” a film, from the idea to the screen? How do you frame and pitch your idea and convince partners to come onboard? What does the collaborative process of filmmaking look like, the interplay between writers, producers, cinematographers, composers? How do you stay true to your characters, whether real or fictional or fictionalized? How does an editor shape the final film, how does a composer support the director’s vision?

Over the next 12 months, we will give you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at two very different projects, alternating bi-monthly and starting with an international feature film uncovering the true story of a 1980s German hockey club —featuring expensive Canadian NHL players– that dreamt of making it big … with the help of a dictator’s money.

Meet Berlin’s Konstantin Bock, who edited Oscar nominee Capernaum and is in development for his directorial feature debut THE ICE KING with his writing partner Stefanie Schmitz (Back for Good; The Pilot’s Wife). Continue reading "Introducing Konstantin Bock & THE ICE KING" »

Email us by noon EST Monday, Sept 30, for your chance to win 1 pair of tickets to any of the 3 screenings in the series. Only the winners will be notified.

Can an actor make a life in “crime”? Like a James Gandolfini, can he or she overcome genre type-casting and launch an international career? Let’s take a closer look at the intriguing array of actors, many of them Germans with an immigrant background, in the latest GOETHE FILMS program this October, which features three gangster films: Dealer by Thomas Arslan, Chiko by Özgur Yildirim, and Stronger Than Blood by Oliver Kienle.

In Dealer, the main character Can unsuccessfully tries to escape his life as a drug dealer in the German capital. Actor Tamer Yiğit was born and raised in Berlin, his parents emigrated from Turkey. Continue reading "Acting in Arslan's DEALER" »

☆ PSA! Our friends at #TIFF are releasing tickets to our @GoetheToronto followers before general public sales begin! Happy festival, with 29 German films & co-productions and another 300 movies to choose from!

☆ All good to go for @GoetheToronto for #TIFF19 @TIFF_Industry centre @hyattonking for next week, thanks to your awesome staff.

☆ Wondering who #TIFF’s new co-head is? Had an easygoing chat with Joana Vicente when she started @tiff_net in January, as the former film producer was packing to go to @berlinale Continue reading "#TIFF19 recap" »

German Films, the Goethe-Institut Toronto, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung celebrated the German participants at the 44th Toronto International Film Festival.

THE AUDITION director Ina Weisse with Nina Hoss, German Consul General Thomas Schultze, Uwe Rau and Jutta Brendemühl of the Goethe-Institut Toronto


Jutta Brendemühl of the Goethe-Institut, TIFF Coordinator Philipp Gilly, Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian of the Berlinale Continue reading "German Reception @ TIFF19" »