Author Archives: fsk

Green Border

A film by Agnieszka Holland. In Polish, Arabic, English and French with German subtitles.

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A Syrian fami­ly lea­ves the vio­lence of their coun­try behind. Their goal is to get from Belarus to Poland and final­ly to the safe haven of Sweden. But while tra­vel­ling through the Polish-Belarusian bor­der regi­on, they beco­me a poli­ti­cal play­thing instru­men­ta­li­sed both by the Polish govern­ment and press for their own pur­po­ses. Polish mas­ter direc­tor Agnieszka Holland deli­vers a haun­ting and moving dra­ma. Her com­plex poli­ti­cal por­tra­y­al focu­ses on the inter­play bet­ween offi­ci­als, acti­vists and civi­li­ans. An unspa­ring film that forces our socie­ty not to look away.

Credits:

PL, FR, CZ, BE 2023, 147 Min., pol­nisch, ara­bisch, eng­lisch, fran­zö­si­sche OmU
Regie: Agnieszka Holland
Kamera: Tomek Naumiuk,
Schnitt: Pavel Hrdlička
mit: Jalal Altawil, Maja Ostaszewska, Behi Djanati Atai, Mohamad Al Rashi, Dalia Naous, Tomasz Włosok

Trailer:
GREEN BORDER – Clip
Im Kino mit deut­schen Untertiteln.
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The Royal Hotel

A film by Kitty Green. In English with German subtitles.

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Americans Hanna and Liv are best fri­ends back­pack­ing in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, loo­king for an adven­ture, con­vin­ces Hanna to take a tem­po­ra­ry live-in job behind the bar of a pub cal­led ’The Royal Hotel’ in a remo­te Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a rio­tous intro­duc­tion to Down Under drin­king cul­tu­re but soon Hanna and Liv find them­sel­ves trap­ped in an unner­ving situa­ti­on that grows rapidly out of their control.

Credits:

AU 2023, 91 Min., eng­li­sche OmU
Regie: Kitty Green
Kamera: Michael Latham
Schnitt: Kasra Rassoulzadegan
mit Jessica Henwick, Julia Garner, Hugo Weaving, Bree Bain, Toby Wallace

Trailer:
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Im toten Winkel

A film by Ayşe Polat. In German, Turkish, Kurdish, English with German subtitles.

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A German docu­men­ta­ry film pro­ject in north-eas­tern Turkey. Simone wants to learn more about Hatice, who­se son was abduc­ted a quar­ter of a cen­tu­ry ago. Storytelling to pre­vent for­get­ting, ritu­als to con­test dis­ap­pearance. The lives of the Kurdish peo­p­le – lives lived in a blind spot – are cha­rac­te­ri­sed by vio­lence and resis­tance to an uncer­tain exis­tence. Strange inci­dents soon overs­ha­dow the film­ing as well: tur­ning up along­side inter­pre­ter Leyla and direct­ly in front of the came­ra is the neighbour’s litt­le daugh­ter Melek, with her pret­ty pur­ple dress and a mys­te­rious gaze that goes right through you. What fol­lows is a subt­ly framed, cold­ly bru­tal poli­ti­cal thril­ler told in three chap­ters and from mul­ti­ple per­spec­ti­ves. For it is not only the stra­te­gies of sinis­ter orga­ni­sa­ti­ons and the logic of para­noia that is the focus of this cle­ver and com­plex cine­ma­tic conundrum, but the act of see­ing its­elf – in all its dimen­si­ons, from obser­va­ti­on to pro­phe­cy. The blind spot is in fact trau­ma, of the trans­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal kind. German-Kurdish direc­tor, screen­wri­ter and pro­du­cer Ayşe Polat stages it to perfection.

Credits:

DE 2023, 118 Min., Deutsch, Türkisch, Kurdisch, Englisch OmU
Regie: Ayşe Polat
Kamera: Patrick Orth
Schnitt: Serhad Mutlu, Jörg Volkmar
mit Katja Bürkle, Ahmet Varlı, Çağla Yurga, Aybi Era, Maximilian Hemmersdorfer, Nihan Okutucu, Tudan Ürper, Mutallip Müjdeci, Rıza Akın, Aziz Çapkurt

Trailer:
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Knochen und Namen

Knochen und Namen

A film by Fabian Stumm. In German and French with German subtitles. 

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Don’t ask me how I feel about some­thing if you don’t want to hear it!” “I do want to hear it, but some­ti­mes it’s just not true.” Actor Boris and wri­ter Jonathan are a cou­ple. But their rela­ti­onship has rea­ched a point whe­re they might as well spend their evenings tog­e­ther sepa­ra­te­ly: one lies in bed rea­ding scripts, while the other works at a desk in the next room. Immersing hims­elf deeper and deeper into rehear­sals for a new film with an ambi­tious direc­tor, Boris beg­ins to con­fu­se real and fic­tion­al cha­rac­ters; mean­while, Jonathan tri­es to rede­fi­ne his voice as a wri­ter. During the­se days spent strugg­ling with emo­tio­nal distance and clo­sen­ess, trust, desi­re and fear of loss, Boris’s litt­le nie­ce Josie flits about like Shakespeare’s Puck, test­ing her boun­da­ries.
Knochen und Namen is actor Fabian Stumm’s direc­to­ri­al and screen­play fea­ture-length debut. Unfolding in humo­rous and ten­der sequen­ces that take place in demar­ca­ted, cha­rac­te­ristic set­tings (bed­room, super­mar­ket and rehear­sal room), his film is an intel­li­gent and enter­tai­ning reflec­tion on relationships.

Credits:

DE 2023, 104 Min., dt., frz. OmU
Regie: Fabian Stumm
Kamera: Michael Bennett
Schnitt: Kaspar Panizza
mit Fabian Stumm, Knut Berger, Marie-Lou Sellem, Susie Meyer, Magnus Mariuson, Doreen Fietz, Alma Meyer-Prescott, Anneke Kim Sarnau, Godehard Giese

Trailer:
KNOCHEN UND NAMEN Trailer Deutsch | German [HD]
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Olfas Töchter

A film by Kaouther Ben Hania. In Arabic with German subtitles. 

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Between light and dark­ness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daugh­ters.
One day, her two older daugh­ters dis­ap­pear. To fill in their absence, the film­ma­ker Kaouther Ben Hania invi­tes pro­fes­sio­nal actres­ses and invents a uni­que cine­ma expe­ri­ence that will lift the veil on Olfa and her daugh­ters’ life sto­ries.
An inti­ma­te jour­ney of hope, rebel­li­on, vio­lence, trans­mis­si­on and sis­ter­hood that will ques­ti­on the very foun­da­ti­ons of our societies.

Credits:

FR, TN, DE SA 2023, 110 Min., arab. OmU
Regie: Kaouther Ben Hania
Kamera: Farouk Laaridh
Schnitt: Jean-Christophe Hym, Qutaiba Barhamji
mit Hend Sabri, Olfa Hamrouni, Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui, Nour Karoui, Ichraq Matar, Ma..

Trailer:
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Joan Baez I Am A Noise

Joan Baez I Am A Noise

A film by Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle. In English with German subtitles. 

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Since her debut at the age of 18, musi­ci­an, civil rights cam­pai­gner and acti­vist Joan Baez has been on stage for over 60 years. For the now 82-year-old, the per­so­nal has always been poli­ti­cal, and her fri­end­ship with Martin Luther King and her paci­fism have shaped her com­mit­ment. In this bio­gra­phy that opens with her fare­well tour, Baez takes stock in an unspa­ring fashion and con­fronts some­ti­mes pain­ful memo­ries. She not only shares her suc­ces­ses but also speaks open­ly about long-stan­ding psy­cho­lo­gi­cal pro­blems and the­ra­pies, about fami­ly, drugs, age­ing and ques­ti­ons of guilt and for­gi­ve­ness. She makes it clear that, during her rela­ti­onship with the very young Bob Dylan, she used her cele­bri­ty to launch his care­er. Her dis­ap­point­ment at her later estran­ge­ment from him beco­mes pal­pa­ble.
Thanks to a long-term fri­end­ship with one of the film’s direc­tors, Karen O’Connor, Baez gran­ted the direc­ting trio access to the “inner demons” that have plagued her sin­ce youth. Their film inter­wea­ves dia­ry ent­ries and a wealth of part­ly pre­vious­ly unseen archi­ve mate­ri­al with exten­si­ve con­ver­sa­ti­ons with Baez, as well as back­stage moments from the tour. An inti­ma­te por­trait that will not only be of inte­rest to her fans.

Credits:

US 2023, 113 Min., engl. OmU
Regie: Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle
Kamera: Wolfgang Held, Ben McCoy, Tim Grucza
Schnitt: Maeve O’Boyle
mit Joan Baez, Mimi Farina, Bob Dylan, David Harris

Trailer:
JOAN BAEZ I AM NOISE – Trailer OmdU German | Deutsch
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Rückkehr nach Korsika

A film by Catherine Corsini. In French with German subtitles.

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Jessica and Farrah spend the sum­mer with their mother on Corsica, whe­re both sis­ters were born. The two ado­le­s­cents go swim­ming, have par­ties and make their first sexu­al expe­ri­en­ces. But the loca­ti­on also brings an old fami­ly trau­ma back to the sur­face – the three of them left the island 15 years ago under tra­gic cir­cum­s­tances. Director Catherine Corsini and her won­derful stars imbue the gen­re of the sum­mer movie with an unu­su­al depth – wit­hout for­get­ting about the holi­day feeling.

Credits:

FR 2023, 106 Min., franz. OmU
Regie: Catherine Corsini
Kamera: Jeanne Lapoirie
Schnitt: Frédéric Baillehaiche
mit: Aïssatou Diallo Sagna, Esther Gohourou, Suzy Bemba, Lomane de Dietrich, Cédric Appietto, Marie-Ange Géronimi, Harold Orsoni, Virginie Ledoyen, Denis Podalydès

Trailer:
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Little Fugitive

A film by Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin. In English with German subtitles. 

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Seven-year-old Joey lives in Brooklyn. When his mother goes to visit his sick grand­mo­ther, older brot­her Lennie is left to watch Joey. Babysitting ruins the 12-year-old’s plans for the day, so he enlists his fri­ends to play a prank on Joey. They give him a (toy) gun to play with and when it goes off, Lennie plays dead. Thinking he’ll be arres­ted as a mur­de­rer, Joey takes off. With six dol­lars in his pocket, he heads for Coney Island, whe­re he wan­ders the beach and goes on the rides … Using a 35mm came­ra strap­ped to his body, pho­to­grapher Morris Engel docu­ments the amu­se­ment park from the per­spec­ti­ve of his young hero. As Joey rides the carou­sel, throws a base­ball, eats cot­ton can­dy, and coll­ects depo­sit bot­t­les, the film­ma­kers use the oppor­tu­ni­ty to prof­fer up cine­ma­tic sket­ches of Americans at lei­su­re – strol­ling, flir­ting, swim­ming, and sun­bathing. As if cap­tu­red with the won­de­ring eyes of a seven-year-old, Little Fugitive casts an amu­sed and anthro­po­lo­gi­cal eye over the peo­p­le in the crowd in a mas­ter­pie­ce of black-and-white cinematography.

For the 2023 Retrospective, inter­na­tio­nal­ly renow­ned direc­tors, actors, and screen­wri­ters were asked to sel­ect their per­so­nal coming-of-age favourites.

I think Ruth Orkin’s own words and pho­to­graphs pro­vi­de an elo­quent intro­duc­tion to the won­derful film she made with Morris Engel and Raymond Abrashkin [aka Ray Ashley] back in 1953.

Wes Anderson on his sel­ec­tion: “Usually when peo­p­le in Hollywood direct their first movie it’s becau­se they’ve had expe­ri­ence in other parts of movie-making; script­wri­ting, acting, cine­ma­to­gra­phy, editing, assistant direc­tor or the thea­ter. And when they sit in the director’s chair for the first time they have a who­le expe­ri­en­ced crew to back them up. We had only our inex­pe­ri­en­ced sel­ves.
We couldn’t have made the movies if we hadn’t been pho­to­graph­ers first”.

Credits:

US 1953, 75 Min., engl. OmU
Regie: Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin
Kamera: Morris Engel
Schnitt: Ruth Orkin, Lester Troob
mit: Richard Brewster, Winnifred Cushing, Jay Williams, Will Lee, Charley Moss, Tommy DeCanio, Richie Andrusco

Trailer:
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Perfect Days

Perfect Days

A film by Wim Wenders. In Japanses with German subtitles.

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Wim Wenders’ first films were cha­rac­te­ri­sed by the the­me of move­ment, and so it is no coin­ci­dence that the German filmmaker’s latest fic­tion fea­ture is remi­nis­cent of that lumi­nous peri­od in his fil­mo­gra­phy. The life of the mys­te­rious man who cle­ans public toi­lets in Tokyo (play­ed by Yakusho Koji) is defi­ned by quo­ti­di­an move­ment and obser­va­ti­on. The pro­di­gious secret of PERFECT DAYS lies in how it heigh­tens our per­cep­ti­on of all the tran­si­tio­nal acts that deter­mi­ne his working rou­ti­ne; dis­trac­tion is for­bidden here. Everything indi­ca­tes that clea­ning toi­lets and uri­nals is an unde­si­ra­ble task, but in Japan this task appears like an appro­pria­te pro­ce­du­re for a veri­ta­ble sci­ence of cle­an­li­ne­ss. And while it seems theo­re­ti­cal­ly implau­si­ble that a man with such a job reads Faulkner at night, is a music lover and pays atten­ti­on to the trees in order to pho­to­graph them with the sharp­ness of a pro­fes­sio­nal, such qua­li­ties and pas­si­ons can be seen as legi­ti­ma­te based on the other cha­rac­ters that appear in the film who duly reve­al some­thing of his past. Beauty and won­der are in equi­li­bri­um in all the sequen­ces, and sub­li­me­ly so when the dreams of this man who cle­ans bath­rooms are depic­ted. (Roger Koza)

Credits:

JP 2023, 124 Min., japan. OmU
Regie: Wim Wenders
Kamera: Franz Lustig
Schnitt: Toni Froschhammer
mit: Koji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano, Aoi Yamada, Yumi Aso, Sayuri Ishikawa, Tomokazu Miura as Tomoyama

Trailer:
PERFECT DAYS | TRAILER (OmdU)
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Wie wilde Tiere

A film by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. In French and Spanish with German subtitles.

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The French cou­ple Vincent and Olga sett­led in a small vil­la­ge in the inte­ri­or of Galicia and lead a tran­quil exis­tence as far­mers. Despite their fri­end­li­ne­ss, the local far­mers tre­at the two stran­gers with sus­pi­ci­on and dis­da­in. When Vincent and Olga refu­se to agree to the buil­ding of a wind farm, the mood chan­ges com­ple­te­ly and the situa­ti­on in the vil­la­ge escala­tes. In the beau­tiful set­ting of the Galician coun­try­si­de, Oscar-nomi­na­ted direc­tor Rodrigo Sorogoyen stages a high-ten­si­on thril­ler that is as ori­gi­nal as it is grip­ping – a real blast!

Credits:

As Bestas
ES/FR 2022, 137 Min., frz, span. OmU
Regie: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Kamera: Alejandro de Pablo
Schnitt: Alberto del Campo
mit: Denis Menochet, Marina Foïs, Luis Zahera

Trailer:
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