Germany

In the trilogy’s second chapter, Jo (Jeanette Hain), a big-city police psychologist, arrives in Dreileben to aid in the ongoing investigation, whereupon she finds herself greeted cooly by the local authorities but welcomed with open arms by Vera (Susanne Wolff), a college friend who lives nearby with her husband, a pretentious author. As the girlfriends reminisce about bygone days and discover they were both once in love with the same man, director Dominik Graf deftly juxtaposes their personal drama against the search for a killer, a police corruption scandal, and a possible case of interspecies transmutation—all underlining the trilogy’s recurring themes of false appearances and deeply hidden truths.Read More »

A nightclub performer whose act incorporates bizarre sadomasochistic elements begins to lose her grip on reality, and is plunged into a nightmarish mental landscape.Read More »

TOP GIRL is the second part of the women and work trilogy by the writer-director Tatjana Turanskyj. Helena, 29, a single mother with an 11-year-old daughter, is a moderately successful actress who earns a living as an escort in the sex industry. Her relationship with her own mother, a singing teacher, is tense, and she is also increasingly annoyed with her job. Snapshots from the brittle contemporary biography of a working woman, part 2: Helena at work, decked out in latex, batting her eyelashes and brandishing sex toys. Helena finally comes up with a new sexual service: when the hunt is over, the women have been brought down and the men crow in triumph, there she stands, beautiful, severe and implacable. Like an absolute ruler.Read More »

A short silent documentary by Gerhard Lamprecht in which the director documented the most beautiful moments of his four week vacation to Sicily, Italy.Read More »

Quote:
Oberhausen Manifesto 1962:
28.2.1962

The collapse of conventional German film has finally removed the economic basis for a mentality that we reject. This gives the new kind of film the chance to come to life.
German short films by young filmmakers, directors and producers have in recent years received a large number of prizes at international festivals and gained the recognition of international critics. These works and their successes show that the future of German film lies with those who have proven that they speak a new film language.Read More »

A young farmer can no longer cope with the strong competition of the big agricultural organisations. When he has to declare his bankruptcy, his girlfriend leaves him and his best friend commits suicide. Then, when a meteorite batters his barn, he can’t stand the situation anymore. He loads his last pig and his shotgun into the sidecar of his motorcycle and travels as an idealistic rebel across the country.Read More »

Documentary which take as subject the Oberhausen Group and New German Cinema. An ironic look back at the Oberhausen Manifesto and its impact.
With Ferdinand Khittl, Haro Senft, Franz-Josef Spieker, Vlado Kristl, Peter Schamoni, Enno Patalas, Ulrich Gregor, Uwe Nettelbeck, Rudolf Noelte, Hilmar Hoffmann, Artur Brauner, Peter Bamberger, Rudolf Thome, Klaus Lemke, Max ZihlmannRead More »

Synopsis:
‘Two old school friends, both in their late twenties. One lives on his parent’s rural estate and does nothing; the other half-heartedly pursues work as a journalist in Düsseldorf. While he allows himself to be lulled by the stifling petty bourgeoisie of his mother-in-law to be, he also enjoys the baronial hunting parties in the country. With their indifferent attitude, the two make cynical and blasé comments about prevailing conventions – the ones they’ll never break away from… Precisely located in place via documentary images, and in time with a reference to “the new Godard” (Une femme mariée), Schonzeit für Füchse is a milieu study that recaps the end of the Adenauer era for the petty and grand bourgeoisie in the lower Rhine region. Read More »

Quote:
This black and white documentary film reports on a brigade of women, they are the “stars” of a Berlin light bulb factory. What is striking is the cordiality and good cooperation within the women’s group, despite their monotonous work in the control area in the production of tungsten wires, also called filaments. Original tones are inserted to convey the joys, the cheerfulness and quick-wittedness that they have despite their burden of family and work. A problem of the wrong way of counting the female workers is openly addressed by the brigade leader and in a countercut Inge introduces her baby to her colleagues in the company. Everything seems like one big family and nobody can really imagine being without this work.Read More »