A film by Jürgen Ellinghaus.

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Following in the foot­s­teps of the Hamburg film direc­tor Hans Schomburgk who tra­vel­led through the German colo­ny of Togo from Lomé to the north with his com­pa­n­ion and actress Meg Gehrts in 1913, Jürgen Ellinghaus screens the foo­ta­ge shot then at its loca­ti­ons in modern-day Togo. Schomburgk’s affir­ma­ti­ve images show slave labour, humi­lia­ti­on and the arro­gan­ce of the colo­ni­al power. The mate­ri­al is con­tras­ted by Gehrts’ roman­ti­cis­ing dia­ry ent­ries and other colo­ni­al reports which often testi­fy to a hor­ri­fy­ing coldness.

The scree­nings of this mate­ri­al, which has never been shown in Togo befo­re, prompt the audi­en­ces to reflect on tra­di­ti­on, ste­reo­ty­pes, the “white gaze.” In the vil­la­ges, the colo­ni­al images con­ju­re up memo­ries of han­ded down sto­ries. In the metro­po­lis of Lomé, young film enthu­si­asts deplo­re that the­se images were kept from them until today and dis­cuss in which con­texts they should be scree­ned. But “Togoland Projections” not only shows how much the­se pain­ful docu­ments and texts are nee­ded in con­tem­po­ra­ry Togo, becau­se they are part of the country’s histo­ry. The film also demons­tra­tes that they are nee­ded in Germany so we can take respon­si­bi­li­ty for our sup­pres­sed histo­ry and face our own racism – past and pre­sent.
Christoph Terhechte

Credits:

DE 2023, 96 Min., div. OmU
Regie: Jürgen Ellinghaus
Kamera: Rémi Jennequin
Schnitt: Nina Khada 

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A film by Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori. In Japanese with German subtitles.

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Japanese night moving com­pa­nies spe­cia­li­se in the art of dis­ap­pearance and help tho­se who need or want to lea­ve their for­mer lives behind. On their night­ly mis­si­ons they dis­crete­ly and effi­ci­ent­ly orchest­ra­te people’s tran­si­ti­on to a new exis­tence. In the pro­cess, they often skirt the boun­da­ries of lega­li­ty due to the diver­se moti­va­tions behind the dis­ap­pearan­ces. Eva Weinmann

Credits:

DE/JP 2024, 86 Min., japan. OmU
Regie: Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori
Kamera: Andreas Hartmann
Schnitt: Kai Eiermann (BFS)

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A film by Min Bahadur Bham. In Tibetian and Nepali with German and English subtitles

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In the heart of the Nepalese Himalayas, the spi­ri­ted Pema embraces a poly­and­rous mar­ria­ge with Tashi and his two youn­ger brot­hers. They initi­al­ly lead a har­mo­nious life, but when Tashi fails to return from a tra­ding trip to Lhasa, the legi­ti­ma­cy of Pema’s unborn child is ques­tio­ned by her com­mu­ni­ty. Determined to pro­ve her love and puri­ty, she embarks on a quest to find Tashi. Accompanied by her brot­her-in-law, her now de fac­to spou­se Karma, she goes into the wil­der­ness. Karma is a monk. After initi­al­ly resis­ting giving up his monastic life, he gra­du­al­ly comes to app­re­cia­te the simp­le exis­tence of a secu­lar life. However, urgent duties call him back to the monas­tery and Pema is left alo­ne. As she navi­ga­tes the harsh Himalayan ter­rain, her quest tran­s­cends the search for her miss­ing hus­band. Pema beco­mes incre­asing­ly immer­sed in a spi­ri­tu­al search for mea­ning in which every step brings her clo­ser to self-dis­co­very and liberation.

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NP/FR/NO/HK/CN/TK/TW/US/QA 2024, 150 Min.,
Tibetisch, Nepali Originalfassung mit deut­schen und eng­li­schen Untertiteln
Regie: Min Bahadur Bham
Kamera: Aziz Zhambakiyev
Schnitt: Liao Ching Sung, Kiran Shrestha
mit: Thinley Lhamo, Sonam Topden, Tenzin Dalha, Karma Wangyal Gurung, Karma Shakya, Loten Namling, Tsering Lhamo Gurung, Janga Bahadur Lama 

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A film by Bruno Dumont. In French with German subtitles.

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The Opal Coast, nor­t­hern France. In a quiet and pic­tures­que fishing vil­la­ge, some­thing final­ly hap­pens: a spe­cial baby is born. A child so uni­que and pecu­li­ar that it unleas­hes a secret war bet­ween extra­ter­restri­al forces of good and evil.

Ausgezeichnet mit dem Silbernen Bären — Preis der Jury auf der Berlinale 2024

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L’Empire
FR/ DE/ IT/ BE/ PT 2024, 110 Min. fran­zö­si­sche OmU
Regie: Bruno Dumont
Kamera: David Chambille
Schnitt: Desideria Rayner, Bruno Dumont
mit: Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, Fabrice Luchini, Anamaria Vartolomei, Bernard Pruvost

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A film by Karim Aïnouz. In Portugese with German subtitles.

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The neon-hued Motel Destino is a roadsi­de sex hotel under the bur­ning blue ski­es of the coast of Northern Brazil, run by the boo­rish Elias and his frus­tra­ted, beau­tiful wife Dayana. When 21 year-old Heraldo finds hims­elf at the motel, after mes­sing up a hit and going on the run from both the poli­ce and the gang he let down, Dayana finds hers­elf intrigued and lets him stay. As the two navi­ga­te a dance of power, desi­re and libe­ra­ti­on, a dan­ge­rous plan for free­dom emer­ges. In this tro­pi­cal noir, loyal­ties and desi­res intert­wi­ne, reve­al­ing that desti­ny has its own enig­ma­tic design.

Credits:

BR/DE/FR 2024, 115 Min., Portugiesisch OmU
Regie: Karim Aïnouz
Kamera: Hélène Louvart
Schnitt: Nelly Quettier
mit: Fábio Assunção, Nataly Rocha, Iago Xavier

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A film by Kazuhiro Soda. In Japanese with German subtitles.

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Steep steps lead up to the Gokogu Shinto shri­ne in Ushimado. The local child­ren play on them and the older resi­dents attend to their upkeep, even plan­ting mint on eit­her side. Kazuhiro Soda pres­ents the­se steps as a site of tran­si­ti­on that also forms a key ele­ment of this tiny set-up. For this ele­va­ted shri­ne isn’t just some­whe­re to visit for spi­ri­tu­al pur­po­ses – Ushimado’s feline com­mu­ni­ty has also set up home here, an occa­sio­nal­ly dyna­mic coll­ec­ti­ve con­sis­ting of cats aban­do­ned by their owners and their sub­se­quent off­spring. They need to be cared for, even as their popu­la­ti­on must be kept in check. Kazuhiro Soda’s docu­men­ta­ries – many of them which have alre­a­dy scree­ned at the Forum – always fol­low his own set of rules and show the see­mingly inno­cuous, yet still weigh­ty requi­re­ments of co-exis­tence. Slowly, yet per­sis­t­ent­ly, The Cats of Gokogu Shrine expands his gaze; the focus on details, ever­y­day ten­der­nes­ses and disci­pli­ne gives this chro­nic­le of a year a dimen­si­on that is at once down-to-earth and uni­ver­sal. And the pre­sence of Kazuhiro Soda hims­elf, who has lived in Ushimado for seve­ral years, can also be expe­ri­en­ced first-hand in a res­trai­ned, honest manner.

Credits:

Gokogu no Neko
JP 2024, 119 Min., japa­ni­sche OmU
Regie, Kamera, Schnitt: Kazuhiro Soda 

Trailer:

Im Kino mit deut­schen Untertiteln

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A film by Pedro Almodóvar. In English with German subtitles.

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Ingrid and Martha were clo­se fri­ends in their youth, when they work­ed tog­e­ther at the same maga­zi­ne. Ingrid went on to beco­me an auto­fic­tion nove­list while Martha beca­me a war repor­ter. Eventually, they were sepa­ra­ted by the cir­cum­s­tances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extre­me but stran­ge­ly sweet situation.

Credits:

DE 2023, 90 Min., engl. OmU
Regie: Pedro Almodóvar
Kamera: Eduard Grau
Schnitt: Teresa Font
mit: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto 

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A film by Bertrand Bonello. In English and French with German subtitles.

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The Beast, Bertrand Bonello’s asto­nis­hing sci-fi dra­ma, is a thril­ling jour­ney of the mind staged with visio­na­ry élan. Loosely adap­ting the Henry James novel­la The Beast in the Jungle (1903), Bonello tells the ill-fated sto­ry of Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) and Louis (George MacKay), which is recon­fi­gu­red over three points in time and space: Paris in 2044, in Los Angeles in 2014 and Paris once again in 1910. A dark cloud looms over the heroine’s trou­bled soul from the out­set. In a near-future world domi­na­ted by AI whe­re pro­duc­ti­vi­ty is ever­y­thing, she is rest­less, emo­tio­nal and thus sub-opti­mal. Cleansing her “DNA” offers an appa­rent solu­ti­on, wher­eby she is trans­por­ted through a time por­tal whe­re she expe­ri­en­ces frag­ments of her past lives, which are dele­ted from her mind in the pro­cess. Gabrielle first meets Louis in 1910, who cap­tures her heart and spi­rit, as a powerful bond is for­ged, full of melan­cho­ly and eter­nal lon­ging. A poignant quest for deeper con­nec­tion, LA BÊTE fol­lows two lovers who will never live out their mutu­al attrac­tion. As we move with them from one epoch to the next, like in a hall of bro­ken mir­rors whe­re memo­ry and fee­lings mer­ge into exci­ting but pain­ful expe­ri­en­ces, we rea­li­ze that ever­y­thing human is doo­med to vanish. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)

Credits:

FR/CA 2023, 146 Min., engl./frz. OmU
Regie: Bertrand Bonello
Kamera: Josée Deshaies
Schnitt: Anita Roth
mit: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Elina Löwensohn

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A film by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor. In Arabic, Hebrew and English with German subtitles.

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Basel Adra, a young Palestinian acti­vist from Masafer Yatta on the West Bank, has been fight­ing the mass expul­si­on of his com­mu­ni­ty by Israel’s occu­pa­ti­on sin­ce child­hood. He docu­ments the slow-moti­on era­di­ca­ti­on of the vil­la­ges in his home regi­on whe­re sol­diers deploy­ed by the Israeli govern­ment are gra­du­al­ly demo­li­shing hou­ses and dri­ving out their resi­dents. At some point, he meets Yuval, an Israeli jour­na­list, who sup­ports him in his efforts. An unli­kely alli­ance deve­lo­ps. But the rela­ti­onship bet­ween the two is strai­ned by the enorm­ous ine­qua­li­ty bet­ween them: Basel lives under mili­ta­ry occu­pa­ti­on while Yuval lives free­ly and wit­hout rest­ric­tions.
This film by a Palestinian-Israeli coll­ec­ti­ve of four young acti­vists has been made as an act of crea­ti­ve resis­tance on the path to grea­ter justice.

Credits:

PS/NO 2024, 95 Min., Arabisch, Hebräisch, Englisch OmU
Regie & Schnitt: Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Kamera: Rachel Szor 

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A film by Małgorzata Szumowska & Michał Englert. In Polish with German subtitles.

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Set against the land­scape of the Polish trans­for­ma­ti­on from com­mu­nism to capi­ta­lism, Kobieta z… spans 45 years of the life of Aniela Wesoły and her jour­ney to find per­so­nal liber­ty as a trans woman. She faces hard­ships in fami­ly life and com­pli­ca­ted atti­tu­des in her envi­ron­ment. What choices will Aniela have to make to beco­me who she tru­ly is?

Credits:

Kobieta Z…
PL/SE 2023, 132 Min., poln. OmU
Regie: Małgorzata Szumowska & Michał Englert
Kamera: Michał Englert
Schnitt: Jarosław Kamiński
mit: Małgorzata Hajewska, Joanna Kulig, Mateusz Więcławek, Bogumiła Bajor

Trailer:

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