German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

Email our office by 5pm EST on May 10 for your chance to win tickets to any of the 3 films!
(Only the winners will be notified.)

Continuing our conversation about films on Heimat, that untranslatable and highly charged German word that encompasses home, belonging & more, we talked to German author Frank Goosen, who has three films on the screen and more in the works. Frank will be our guest in Toronto for our GOETHE FILMS series "Heimat NOW".


Jutta Brendemühl: Talking about Heimat, you and I are on the same page: We grew up within 10km of each other in the post-industrial West German region called Ruhrgebiet, went to Bochum University at the same time, hung out in the same three, four bars and clubs… Quick, give us 5 words that describe and define your Heimat:

Frank Goosen: Work, beer, soccer, Autobahn, green. Yours?

JB: You’re a down-to-earth guy, Frank, a true “Ruhri”. Mine are solidarity, loyalty, guts, sangfroid, and the neighbourhood of the city of Mühlheim called “Muttererde” – which translates as mother earth as well as top soil.

You have made a career of that feeling, of Heimat, as the most famous Ruhrgebiet writer-performer, who speaks and writes the rough and quick-witted working-class dialect of the region. How do you walk that fine line between flat-lining stereotype and cliché and heart-warming audience engagement? Continue reading "Heimat NOW: Frank Goosen & the sound of..." »

Continue reading "GOETHE FILMS: HeimatNOW (win tix!)" »

Part of an ongoing series of mini profiles on the blog German Film @ Canada on the movers and shakers that make the Berlinale one of the most important events in the international film calendar: the filmmakers, programmers, curators, industry promoters and visitors.

Name & role: Sven Schwarz, Managing Director of the Hamburg International Short Film Festival and member of the Hamburg-based artist group A Wall is a Screen (which will co-produce an event with the Goethe-Institut Toronto later this year).

This is my 11th Berlinale.

Most important meeting I will have in Berlin: Quite a few meetings to plan new cooperations between the Hamburg International Short Film Festival and other international festivals. And of course the annual German Short Film association reception, which gathers some of the nicest people around in a very laid-back atmosphere.

Most exciting industry buzz at Berlinale 2017: Continue reading "#BerlinalePeople: Sven Schwarz, shorts programmer" »

Part of an ongoing series of mini profiles on the blog German Film @ Canada on the movers and shakers that make the Berlinale one of the most important events in the international film calendar: the filmmakers, programmers, curators, industry promoters and visitors.

Name & role: Amee Lê, Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts Toronto.

This is my 1st Berlinale!

Why I am going: I love Berlin as a city for its eccentric mix of histories (it’s the centre of Europe, hallo?!) and contemporary cultures - both mainstream and avant-garde. I fell in love with the city time and again including one summer internship (actually made possible by the Goethe-Institut Toronto, thanks again!) at the Berlin satellite of the Canadian Or Gallery. All this combined with my love for cinema, it is only about time I had my first Berlinale.

What I can’t wait to see: Continue reading "#BerlinalePeople: Amee Lê, programmer" »

Part of a series of mini profiles on the movers and shakers that make the Berlinale one of the most important events in the international film calendar: the filmmakers, programmers, curators, industry promoters and visitors.

Name & role: Oliver Husain, filmmaker. Born in Frankfurt, lives and works in Toronto. His video installation “Isla Santa Maria 3D” is showing in the Berlinale Forum Expanded exhibition February 8-20, 2017 at the Berlin Academy of the Arts.

This is my 1st Berlinale participation.

My favourite Berlinale program(s): Forum and Retrospective.

Why being invited to screen at the Berlinale is special for an international filmmaker:
It’s almost Cannes!
Continue reading "#BerlinalePeople: Oliver Husain, artist" »

TV has carved out its place at most major international festivals and the Berlinale has been at the forefront of the new wave. This year, I can’t wait for Marvin Krens' 4 BLOCKS (German trailer), which takes us into the Berlin-Neukölln district of several Arab clans, starring VICTORIA’S Frederick Lau.

If you liked DEUTSCHLAND '83, don't miss Oliver Hirschbiegel’s (DOWNFALL) East-West spy drama THE SAME SKY (trailer), where he pitches Tom Schilling (OH BOY) as a Stasi honey trap. The show comes pre-vetted from Cannes’ Mipcom. "In the Berlinale Special we're presenting EIGHT HOURS ARE NOT A DAY by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, proving that TV had strong series to show as early as 1972," Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick contextualised in an FNP interview.

Prominent German actors in international productions include Bruno Ganz Continue reading "#Berlinale17: Open Wound German Film" »

I hate French films. I love Italian cinema. If someone said that to you, you'd have a pretty good idea of what they mean in terms of aesthetics, style, mood. German film? Not so much, at least post-New German Cinema with its heroes Fassbinder, Kluge, von Trotta et al. Of course there is the contemporary (and equally auteur-focused) Berlin School with its Petzolds and Hochhäuslers (which German director Oskar Roehler defined as "slow and depressing"). And recently, Germany has been very strong and internationally successful in children’s films and high-quality animation. But these are vogues or sub-industries rather than a big picture, a brand, a distinct and distinctive brand. Continue reading "What is a German/European Film?" »

Israel. Mexico. France. Turkey. These are just a few of the places the ever far-travelling German filmmakers will take you to this spring. And you can take it all in without leaving Toronto.

Nous sommes très contents de presenter...

“Adieu Paris” (2013)
At Cinéfranco, International Francophone Film Festival Toronto
April 1, 2014, 6pm
The Royal, 608 College Street, Toronto, ON
Patrizia must go to Paris to be at the bedside of her seriously injured lover. All flights are full and she forgot her credit card. People behind her are getting impatient, especially Frank on his way to do a business deal with “Albert Delicatessen”. From then on, Patrizia and Frank will meet on their ways to their diverging destinies, sharing the hardships that await them and that will change their lives.
Directed by Franziska Buch, with Sandrine Bonnaire, Gérard Jugnot, Jessica Schwarz.

Traditionally, in April, the most important documentary film festival in North America opens its doors: Hot Docs in Toronto will take place for the 21st time from 24 April to 4 May 2014. A total of 16 German films and co-productions are screening at the festival, and the Goethe-Institut is proud to co-present:

“Que Caramba es la Vida” (2014) by Doris Dörrie
At Hot Docs Festival TorontoApr 25, 3:30pm, Scotiabank Theatre 7
Apr 27, 7:00pm, ROM TheatreSun
May 2, 7:30pm, Scotiabank Theatre 4 Continue reading "German films @ Toronto festivals" »

Part of a series of mini profiles on the movers and shakers that make the Berlinale one of the most important events in the international film calendar: the filmmakers, programmers, curators, industry promoters and visitors.

Name & role: Joachim Bernauer, head of the Goethe-Institut’s Munich-based department for film, TV and broadcasting (since January 2014)

This is my 5th Berlinale (the 1st in my current Goethe-Institut role, the 5th in my Goethe life from Lisbon to Sao Paulo to Los Angeles).

Most exciting Goethe-Institut collaboration with the Berlinale: Very important are our initiatives to bring young people to Berlin in order to write about film. We’re partnering with Berlinale Talents for this purpose, and we've additionally invited international bloggers and help to disseminate their texts through various major platforms. For me, the most exciting collaboration is the Goethe-Institut Berlinale Breakfast though, which was established some 30 years ago and every February brings together everybody who is interested in German film in the (non-commercial) film world.

How the Berlinale is important for the year-round film initiatives of the Goethe-Institut world-wide: The Berlinale is Germany’s most important film festival and internationally well known for it. The ongoing film initiatives carried out by the worldwide network of the Goethe-Institut often relate to the Berlinale, as several important films are premiered in Berlin each year. Most importantly, the Berlinale is a meeting point for the Goethe-Institut colleagues. Every year, some 70 Goethe staff come to Berlin. They watch and discuss the newest films and take this knowledge back to the countries they work in.

German film I am most looking forward to seeing: “Inbetween Wolrd” by Feo Aladag. I have been a big fan of Feo and Züli Aladag’s films since they were artists-in-residence at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles twelve years ago, when I was the director there.

interview by Jutta Brendemühl, Toronto

image: Joachim Bernauer with Isabel Lopes, opening the KINO Festival Lisbon 2013