German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

The current situation caused by the coronavirus presents us all with challenges. Filmmakers, too, have to ask themselves how they can develop new formats in contactless times. "Curfew Calls" and "Vdates", two new projects by Munich film academy HFF students, tackle this task by presenting series formats that require no physical contact but instead, as so many others, resort to video calls and Instagram. Continue reading "Web series respond to social distancing" »

A year ago I dug deep here in two parts into TV’s obsession with fictionalized history and left you with German reunification. Time for a check-in with upcoming productions from the Nibelungs to today. The Germans, famous for "coming to terms with the past", have recently taken their Vergangenheitsbewältigung to a whole new level (or just medium), doggedly working their way through the centuries in new high-quality TV productions:

Let’s start with mythical beginnings with the greatest (anti-)hero of German legend: “Hagen von Tronje” will be directed by David Wnendt ("Look Who's Back") and likely hit TV screens in 2021. Continue reading "A TIMELINE OF TV'S OBSESSION WITH HISTORY (3)" »

What the 19th century is to British TV (Austens 1, 2, 3... & Dickens adaptations) or the 21st century is to American TV (HOUSE OF CARDS; MADAME SECRETARY), 20th European history is to German TV -- a cornucopia of stories of huge migratory movements & discrimination, social strife & warfare, extremism & political change, division & unification, innovation, liberation & emancipation. In other words the perfect foil for our present. Here is part 2 of a timeline of series, with settings from 1956 to the 90s (1888 to 1942 here), and their historical context, unravelling German TV's obsession with (real) things past:

1956
KU'DAMM 56 by Anette Hess (ZDF 2016) Continue reading "A timeline of TV's obsession with history (2/2)" »

The Germans, famous for "coming to terms with the past", have recently taken their Vergangenheitsbewältigung to a whole new level (or just medium), doggedly working their way through the 20th century in new high-quality TV productions. "Today, remembering the past is ever more important," as a producer says below. Here's a timeline of series, with settings from 1888 to the present, between history and fiction, between romantic drama and mystery thriller, unravelling German TV's obsession with (real) things past:



1888
CHARITÉ by Sönke Wortmann & Dorothee Schön (ARD public broadcster 2017-)
The medical drama stars Justus von Dohnányi (THE SUNLIT NIGHT at Sundance 2019), Emilia Schüle (BERLIN STATION) and others, set in Berlin's famous CHARITÉ hospital, founded in 1710 as a poor hospital (anticipating the plague hitting the city, which didn't happen). Continue reading "A timeline of TV's obsession with history (1/2)" »

Iconoclast, enfant terrible, agent provocateur. While many would call German filmmaker-performer-activist Christoph Schlingensief (1960-2010) fearless, he himself said shortly before his untimely death that to make good work, “I have to approach those I fear”. On May 10+15+17, GOETHE FILMS features core Schlingensief projects that tackle the ghosts of Europe's past, present and future – fascism, capitalism, division and reunification – in his signature no-holds-barred splatter style.

Here Christoph Schlingensief is in conversation with the media on the occasion of the release of his film THE 120 DAYS OF BOTTROP in November 1997:

Mr. Schlingensief, you can be seen and heard everywhere at the moment. First you put on "48 hours Survival for Germany" at documenta in Kassel, and while doing it, you were arrested. Then you made headines with your talk show on German TV RTL, and after your "Railway Mission" at Hamburg Theatre now comes the premiere of your new film. Why this ecstasy of production?

Continue reading "Christoph Schlingensief: Bottrop, Fassbinder..." »

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" »