German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

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 &..." »

Hello World. Microsoft’s gender-neutral AI “Tay” says they are stoked to meet me. "The more humans share with me the more I learn.” And there’s the rub. Who teaches these new artificial kids? And what do they teach them? Shalini Kantayya's documentary “Coded Bias,” which premiered at Sundance in January and just screened at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival (the largest in North America) is getting a lot of deserved attention as it doesn’t need two minutes to go for the jugular: Shockingly pervasive, all-encompassing image bias built into algorithm-based tech is stealthily governing our day-to-day lives, from Amazon to Alexa. Snapchat filters. Gendered shopping suggestions. Spotify playlists. Credit checks. Resume key wording. AI recruiting. All algorithm-based.

The film, co-produced by Sabine Hoffman, who began her career as an editor in Berlin before moving to the US, is extremely packed and quick on its feet but deftly crafted around a single-minded focus. It successfully walks the fine line between accessibility, digestibility and not losing necessary complexity. “Coded Bias” is a compulsory AI Ethics 101 course by way of a stringently compelling investigation on the road to data authoritarianism and algorithmic oppression (thank you for the helpful little “smart screen“ notes and highlights to keep track of all the hits that keep on coming). Continue reading "#imagesmatter: Coded Bias #review " »

Continue reading "Christoph Terhechte on the Berlinale, the..." »

Toronto's Hot Docs Festival is in full swing, including 19 German documentaries and many visiting directors and producers.

Two months ago, back at the Berlinale, my international "Berlinale Blogger" colleagues and I were asked: Do documentaries become more important in times of crisis, and if so, does it show at the Berlinale? Here are perspectives and answers from Germany, Canada, Brazil, Egypt, Australia, China, Italy, Japan, UK, and Greece.

Toronto is home to North America's biggest film festival each autumn, but the city on Lake Ontario is also a major venue for international documentaries. The 25th edition of Hot Docs, one of the world's leading documentary film festivals, will be held there from 26 April to 6 May 2018. And this year will see a large turnout from Germany, with films garnering prominent slots in the Special Presentations and World Showcase sections.

Together. For a lifetime. Who can manage that? And who still wants to do this? What seems to be strange to us nowadays was the norm for our grandparents' generation. Directors Yasemin and Nesrin Şamdereli – who are known for their internationally awarded feature film ALMANYA - Welcome to Germany – portray five couples from Japan, the USA, India and Germany who have all celebrated their 60th anniversary, in their new documentary. THE NIGHT OF ALL NIGHTS will have its international premiere in Special Presentations and is lighthearted and humorous in the way it reveals the secrets of long-standing partnerships and love.

This year will see European Film Promotion (EFP) joining forces with Hot Docs to present the first edition of the new sidebar The Changing Face of Europe. Continue reading "19 German films and co-productions at Hot Docs..." »

Select media responses to "Ulrike Ottinger in Asia":

“The Goethe-Institut's ULRIKE OTTINGER IN ASIA series is well worth your time” – Norm Wilner (NOW Magazine) on Twitter

"Ottinger is one of the greatest voices of German and world cinema, as well as one of the most important voices of feminist and queer cinemas." – Shahbaz Khayambashi, Wylie Writes

“To a Canadian viewer, Under Snow may bring to mind the historic dramas of the Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk: There's a story being told but there is also, equally importantly, a quest to record an ancient way of life.” – Kate Taylor, Globe & Mail Continue reading "Ulrike Ottinger in Asia: Culture from a Distance" »

If Hot Docs’ German selection of the latest and best European documentary filmmaking and the Goethe-Institut series “Peak: German Docs” is not enough for you, there’s more to look forward to in the documentary year 2017, from personal and family stories to political heavy hitters.

B12 (trailer) picks up the topic of home & belonging that we addressed in March with our series GOETHE FILMS “Heimat NOW”. It is set at a highway restaurant called B12, located on the German Autobahn12 between the Bavarian cities of Passau and Munich. Most people are just passing through, but there are some who found themselves a home on the road. Christian Lerch’s debut documentary shows the everyday life of people living at the edge of society, in transit. Continue reading "Next German Docs" »

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.)

The end of April will see everything in Toronto focusing once again on the documentary genre, with the 36th edition of Hot Docs (27 April – 7 May 2017) just around the corner. Six films and co-productions will be representing documentary filmmaking from Germany at North America's most important festival in this field, including two world premieres and one international premiere.

PRE-CRIME by Matthias Heeder and Monika Hielscher and PLAYING GOD by Karin Jurschick will both have their world premieres in the Special Presentations section, which shows high-profile premieres, award-winning films or works by well-known directors. Both films raise questions about the current seismic changes in our values, beliefs and rights:

The events in PRE-CRIME sound as if they come from a sci-fi novel turned alarming reality when forecasting software, algorithms and databases become predictors of future crimes. Continue reading "German films @ Hot Docs 2017 -- win tix" »

One of the highlights of this year’s 20th anniversary Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival for us at the Goethe-Institut is that two of the seven German co-productions chosen out of thousands of submissions were produced in collaboration with our colleagues around the world.

Dr. Stephan Wackwitz, who runs the Goethe-Institut Georgia, describes the roundabout way THE MACHINE WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING DISAPPEAR --our co-presentation with Hot Docs this year-- came into being:

“Like most artistic achievements, THE MACHINE WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING DISAPPEAR is a misunderstanding that came to something... Continue reading "Hot Docs 2013, from Tbilissi and Shanghai with..." »