Germany

Synopsis
Angela Schanelec’s first feature since 2010 is the much-anticipated Der traumhafte Weg, a serious work that is deliberately constructed image upon image and allows the viewer to read a seemingly realistic, yet artificially created world as it is being experienced, yet ultimately works against any simple narrative comprehension. The best way to tackle Der traumhafte Weg is to proceed, scene by scene, with a description of the shots, of how within the shots the characters are framed, how the characters gaze, how they hold their bodies… In other words, it is an Angela Schanelec film, where attention is required and rewarded, and the characters are at the mercy of the elements of chance.Read More »

“München – Geheimnisse einer Stadt” ist ein Essay über das Leben in Städten, ein Mosaik aus Geschichten, Sehnsüchten und Träumen und eine Liebeserklärung an München – und alle anderen Städte.Read More »

Plot:
Bavarian comedian Gerhard Polt caricatures a German family on their vacation in Italy. The beer-bellied father and his wife, their spoilt son and the old couple in the adjoining deck-chairs; they spend each day on the same spot on the same beach, day-dreaming, leaving their junk in the sand and making racist comments about Italians. After all Italy would be a perfect place without the Italians… Written by Lutz van HasseltRead More »

As she enters retirement, a mother leaves behind her solitary life in rural Germany and memories of a once perfect family life and travels to protest-ridden Hong Kong, a place that has kept her son away from her for many years.

Quote:
“Clocking in at a lean 80 minutes, Wood and Water is one of those films that gets so much right for so long that it’s actually a bit nerve-wracking. Is the filmmaker going to make a misstep? First-time feature director Jonas Bak doesn’t err, exactly. His film is a stately, poetic examination of self-discovery, the pull of family, and the backdrop of history that tinges our relationships even when we aren’t aware of it. But for the first 45 minutes or so, Wood and Water is really something bold and new. It sets up a connection between its subject and its viewer, one that asks us to consider alienation as something more than just a common festival-film trope.”
– Michael SicinskiRead More »

Quote:
In this “film essay,” director Alexander Kluge handles two different stories with both fictional and documentary aspects. In one story, a foster parent cares for a traumatized young girl who is now an orphan after witnessing a car crash that killed both her parents. After the foster-parent does the right thing and takes the girl to her aunt — her court-appointed guardian — she is shocked to see that neither the wealthy aunt nor her servants are very interested in the girl. An unusual decision follows. In the other story, a director goes blind in the middle of a film project but has to be kept on because of his contract. This situation leads to some philosophizing on the nature of film and art in the modern world. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie GuideRead More »

Four female cons who have formed a band in prison get a chance to play at a police ball outside the walls. They take the chance to escape. Being on the run from the law they even make it to sell their music and become famous outlaws.

The film stars Katja Riemann, Jasmin Tabatabai, Nicolette Krebitz and Jutta Hoffmann. Both the film and soundtrack album were commercially successful in Germany, but Bandits grossed less than $25,000 in the United States. Much of the soundtrack was written and performed by the actresses themselves. The soundtrack reached number one in the German album charts.Read More »

Quote:
Peter Nestler’s poetic documentary Verteidigung der Zeit is not only an hommage to Jean-Marie Straub’s and Danièle Huillet’s film Quei loro incontri (2005), but also to their access to cinema itself. In various encounters and conversations Nestler offers an insight into their life and work, including passages from Italian poet Cesare Pavese.Read More »

Film Synopsis:
France 1944: American pilot Philip Sturgess is shot down but found by a resistance group. In the neighborhood Sturgess meets another American and shortly thereafter the British Major Barton, called “Reiher”. He claims to have fled a German prison camp. Shortly before leaving for Spain to escape the Nazis, Sturgess discovers that Barton has written a letter to Germany. This confirms the suspicion that he could be a German spy…Read More »

The setting is Paris under the reign of Louis XIV, the Roi Soleil. Cardillac, a goldsmith, is rightly regarded as a master of his craft. His pieces of jewellery are first-class works of art and so he has great difficulty parting from them, especially because he knows that one precious piece is only the price the beaux and gallants at the royal court have to pay for one amorous night with an aristocratic Lady. Whenever the goldsmith fails to talk a customer out of buying a piece, he waylays him in the dark of night… Cardillac is a merciless killer. The hopes of the lovers dashing off to their rendezvous are thoroughly disappointed: Instead of finding their way into their sweetheart’s arms, they end up stabbed to death by a goldsmith pathologically hankering after his own jewellery. Read More »