German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

German public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk has just distanced itself from the film "Lovemobil". The award-winning cinema documentary by Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss, co-produced by NDR, shows scenes in large sections that are not authentic. This is the result of research by NDR's investigative YouTube youth program "STRG_F." The film is said to be based on many years of research by the author, but central protagonists of the film do not describe their personal experiences, but play a role. Numerous situations are re-enacted or staged. Watch the trailer here. Continue reading "Public broadcaster distances itself from the..." »

72 films from 29 countries (out of 14,200 entries), with nearly half directed by women, makes up this year's largely virtual Sundance Film Festival 2021 that runs 28 January to 3 February 2021. 50 Shorts, 4 Indie Series, 14 New Frontier Projects to Debut on Feature-Rich Digital Platform & Satellite Screens Nationwide complement this year's edition, for which you won't have to pack your skis.

Ronny Trocker's German-Italian-Danish feature HUMAN FACTORS (DER MENSCHLICHE FAKTOR), developed through the Torino Film Lab, is part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Continue reading "German Films @ Sundance 2021" »

Join the International Literary Festival Berlin & @GoetheToronto free
worldwide screening day of Oscar-nominated documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” on December 10, 6pm EST with a Twitter contextualisation by Dr. Vershawn Young.

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends—Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of his death in 1987, Baldwin left behind only thirty completed pages of his manuscript. "I started to read James Baldwin very early on in my life. At a time, as a young adult in the Sixties, when there were not that many authors in whom I could recognize myself, he was an important guide and mentor to me, as he was to many others. He helped me understand who I was and decipher the world around me," says filmmaker Raoul Peck.

Baldwin's discontinued project became the springboard for Peck's film "I Am Not Your Negro," (trailer) discussing Baldwin’s lived experiences in his own words as read by Samuel L. Jackson. On 10 December 2020, Human Rights Day, the Goethe-Institut Toronto is joining the international literary festival Berlin ilb and many other global organisations in a worldwide viewing day. Meet us on Twitter @GoetheToronto at 6pm EST alongside Baldwin expert and professor of African American Studies, Vershawn Young, who will contextualise the film and Baldwin's work and legacy and take your questions. Continue reading "Worldwide screening day: Raoul Peck's "I..." »

I remember reading an interview where an American journalist asked Sophia Loren how she manages to be beautiful. Slightly exasperated, she simply replied that you are beautiful or you are not. I was reminded of that when the CBC’s Matt Galloway asked Werner Herzog for his latest Hot Docs-supported #TIFF20 documentary premiere where the awe inherent in his work comes from and Herzog replied that it’s always been in him. In typical Herzog fashion, he goes on to talk about cataclysms, stardust, extraterrestrials, and atomic bombs.

In Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, filmmaker Herzog and scientist Clive Oppenheimer take us to the farthest corners of the world to trace meteors and comets and their impact on religions and culture. The premise is alluring (if not fully fulfilled), connecting past, present and future over two hours: How can pre-human events shape our thinking and feeling, as a “simulacrum”, an image or representation of something? Continue reading "#TIFF20 review: Fireball by Werner Herzog &..." »

With cinemas and film festivals in Canada, Germany and across the world currently closed or postponing their live programming, we are discovering the virtues of streaming. Among the offerings, one of the best is Kanopy. The platform is an award-winning video streaming service providing access to more than 30,000 independent and documentary films ─ titles of unique social and cultural value from The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Media Education Foundation, and thousands of independent filmmakers.

You can use it for free for example through many public library cards in Canada and elsewhere. Download the Kanopy app, log in with your library account, and a portal of high-quality global content awaits.

To sift through the catalogue, I am curating a little series of personal film recommendations here and on social media‬⁩ #MyKanopyKanon. #Docs #features #shorts #femalefilmmakers #arthouse #mainstream ... Let me know your favourites and film viewing experiences and let's turn social distancing into social connecting.

☆ Vicky Krieps before "Phantom Thread" fame! Frederick Lau fresh off the success of one-shot wonder "Victoria"! Here he is back again as a hapless bank robber. If you missed "Gutland" in the TIFF17 Discovery section, here's your chance to catch up on this surreal Luxemburghish-German rural noir. Official submission of Luxembourg for Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, and you can learn some German & Letzeburgesch too. Continue reading "#MyKanopyKanon streaming tips 7" »

With cinemas and film festivals in Canada, Germany and across the world currently closed or postponing their live programming, we are discovering the virtues of streaming. Among the offerings, one of the best is Kanopy. The platform is an award-winning video streaming service providing access to more than 30,000 independent and documentary films ─ titles of unique social and cultural value from The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Media Education Foundation, and thousands of independent filmmakers.

You can use it for free for example through the Toronto and many other public library cards. Download the Kanopy app, log in with your library account, and a portal of high-quality global content awaits.

To sift through the catalogue, I am curating a little series of my personal film recommendations here and on social media‬⁩ #MyKanopyKanon. #Docs #features #shorts #femalefilmmakers #arthouse #mainstream ... Let me know your favourites and film viewing experiences and let's turn social distancing into social connecting.

☆ Here comes Angela Merkel's favourite film: The East German film production house DEFA has many of their gems on Kanopy, and one classic is "The Legend of Paul and Paula" by Heiner Carow, who also did queer classic "Coming Out," which we have shown recently. "Paul and Paula" was meant to be shot by female DEFA director Ingrid Reschke but she was killed in a car crash before she could realize the film. Carow took over, and you'll see his dedication to her in the credits. The two super star actors who beautifully portray this bittersweet love story --Angelica Domröse and Winfried Glatzeder, now 74 and on TV hit show "Dark"-- both fled the GDR a few years later and fell from grace with the regime, but continued great careers in the west. Continue reading "#MyKanopyKanon streaming tips 6" »

In October, we introduced you to Toronto filmmaker Stephanie Weimar and her new project WRITING THE LAND (produced by Primitive Entertainment for CBC Arts and Arte/ZDF) in our series "The Making of" that follows two German-Canadian film projects in tandem. Half way through the creation of WRITING THE LAND, filmmaker Stephanie Weimar and her team are ready to edit:

None of us knew our next check-in would involve a world of restricted travel, social distancing, isolation and delayed media production plans. What does the Covid-19 situation mean for your project right now? Continue reading "THE MAKING OF: Ready to edit "WRITING THE..." »

With cinemas and film festivals in Canada, Germany and across the world currently closed or postponing their live programming, we are discovering the virtues of streaming. Among the offerings, one of the best is Kanopy. The platform is an award-winning video streaming service providing access to more than 30,000 independent and documentary films ─ titles of unique social and cultural value from The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Media Education Foundation, and thousands of independent filmmakers.

You can use it for free for example through the Toronto Public Library. Download the Kanopy app, log in with your library account, and a portal of high-quality global content awaits.

To sift through the catalogue, I am curating a little series of my personal film recommendations here and on social media‬⁩ #MyKanopyKanon. #Docs #features #shorts #femalefilmmakers #arthouse #mainstream ... Let me know your favourites and film viewing experiences and let's turn social distancing into social connecting.

☆ Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” is an example of the rarer & here beautifully illustrated screen-to-book adaptation of his fantasy film by German YA star author Cornelia Funke: Watch the film & read & marvel at this exquisite book.



Continue reading "#MyKanopyKanon streaming tips 5" »

Congratulations to filmmaker Marc Wiese, who just won the FACT:AWARD at CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, with this new documentary "We Hold the Line", which had its world premiere at the prestigious Danish festival.

"We Hold the Line" follows a group of Filipino journalists and their fight for democracy and human rights in a country where president Duterte has waged a 'war on drugs', killing thousands of people.

The jury stated: “The CPH:DOX F:act Award goes to the film depicting dark, troubling events in a skilful yet measured way, smartly focusing on just the right situations while employing a precise cinematic language. Continue reading "Marc Wiese wins at Copenhagen Doc Fest" »

With cinemas and film festivals in Canada, Germany and across the world currently closed or postponing their live programming, we are discovering the virtues of streaming. Among the offerings, one of the best is Kanopy. The platform is an award-winning video streaming service providing access to more than 30,000 independent and documentary films ─ titles of unique social and cultural value from The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Media Education Foundation, and thousands of independent filmmakers.

You can use it for free for example through the Toronto Public Library. Download the Kanopy app, log in with your (also free) library account, and a portal of high-quality global content awaits.

To sift through the catalogue, I will curate a little series of my personal film recommendations here and on social media‬⁩ #MyKanopyKanon. #Docs #features #shorts #femalefilmmakers #arthouse #mainstream ... Let me know your favourites and film viewing experiences and let's turn social distancing into social connecting.

☆ #Thinking of my family under #lockdown in #Spain (+ never too late to revisit #Bauhaus100): Just before Europe crumbled, architect Mies van der Rohe Continue reading "#MyKanopyKanon streaming tips 2" »