Author Archives: fsk

Ein Schweigen

Ein Schweigen

A film by Joachim Lafosse. In French with German subtitles.

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Astrid, the wife of a renow­ned lawy­er, has been silen­ced for 25 years. Her fami­ly’s equi­li­bri­um sud­den­ly col­lap­ses when her child­ren start loo­king for justice.

Credits:

Un Silence
FR 2023, 99 Min., franz. OmU
Regie: Joachim Lafosse
Kamera: Jean-Francois Hensgens
Schnitt: Damien Keyeux
mit Emmanuelle Devos, Daniel Auteuil, Matthieu Galloux

Trailer:
Ein Schweigen | OmdU
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Sleep With Your Eyes Open

A film by Nele Wohlatz. In Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, English with Geramn subtitles.

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A coas­tal city in Brazil. Kai arri­ves on holi­day from Taiwan with a bro­ken heart. A mal­func­tio­ning air con­di­tio­ner leads her to end up in Fu Ang’s umbrel­la shop. He could beco­me a fri­end, but then the rai­ny sea­son fails to arri­ve and the shop clo­ses. While sear­ching for Fu Ang, Kai comes across Xiao Xin and a group of Chinese workers in a fan­cy high-rise buil­ding. Kai finds hers­elf stran­ge­ly mir­rored in Xiao Xin’s sto­ry.
This quiet come­dy of misun­derstan­dings does not fol­low a tra­di­tio­nal dra­ma­tur­gy. The prot­ago­nists, per­for­med by an ensem­ble of first-time actors and pro­fes­sio­nals, come and go unex­pec­ted­ly. From one unknown city to the next, they fol­low the demands of their work. But over the cour­se of a hot, slow sum­mer, deli­ca­te bonds grow bet­ween them like islands in a sea full of sharks.

Credits:

Dormir de olhos aber­tos
Brazil / Taiwan / Argentina / Germany 2024, 97 Min., Mandarin, Portugiesisch, Spanisch, Englisch OmU
Regie: Nele Wohlatz
Kamera: Roman Kasseroller
Schnitt: Yann-shan Tsai, Ana Godoy
mit Chen Xiao Xin, Wang Shin-Hong, Liao Kai Ro, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Lu Yang Zong

Trailer:
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Typhoon Club

Typhoon Club

A film by Shinji Sōmai. In Japanese with German subtitles.

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Winner of the Grand Prix at the first Tokyo International Film Festival in 1985, Typhoon Club is wide­ly regard­ed as the semi­nal film of direc­tor Shinji Somai’s care­er. A work of raw, ele­men­tal power, it fol­lows an ensem­ble of juni­or high stu­dents in a pro­vin­cial town, beset by a summer‑y malai­se as a typho­on looms in the air. When the storm makes land­fall, the teens hole up in their school unsu­per­vi­sed, while ano­ther class­ma­te (Yuki Kudo) dis­ap­pears alo­ne on a har­ro­wing trek to the big city. Set adrift in a world sud­den­ly unmoo­red, the stu­dents let loo­se their pent-up angst and bur­geo­ning pas­si­ons in a series of pro­pul­si­ve, phan­tas­mic scenes—part apo­ca­lyp­se, part utopia—as the delu­ge rages on into the night.
Observed in dar­ing long takes, direc­tor Somai gives mate­ri­al form to the stu­dents’ tur­bu­lent inner lives. When day breaks and the rains let up, the youngs­ters open their eyes to a world in ruins—or a world rene­wed. The 10th best Japanese film of all time, accor­ding to Japan’s Kinema Junpo poll.

Credits:

JP 1985, 115 Min., japan. OmU
Regie: Shinji Sōmai
Kamera: Akihiro Ito
Schnitt: Isao Tomita
mit: Yuichi Mikami, Yūki Kudō, Tomokazu Miura

Trailer:
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War and Justice

A film by Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile. In English with German subtitles.

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War and Justice is the first and only true-life docu­men­ta­ry about the International Criminal Court (ICC), thanks to unpre­ce­den­ted access to Ben Ferencz, Luis Moreno Ocampo (ICC’s first pro­se­cu­tor), and Karim Khan (its cur­rent pro­se­cu­tor). Film direc­tors Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile fol­low Ocampo around the world as he enlists the sup­port of Academy Award-win­ning Angelina Jolie and as they join Ferencz in the uphill batt­le against wars in the Congo, Libya, Palestine, and Ukraine. In the cour­se of the film, the com­ple­xi­ties of inter­na­tio­nal law are given a face, and the view­er under­stands why tho­se who launch wars of aggres­si­on, the mother of all war cri­mes, can hard­ly be brought to jus­ti­ce while the world’s lar­gest mili­ta­ry powers — China, India, Russia, and the United States — remain unwil­ling to reco­gni­ze the ICC’s jurisdiction.Sadly, just as the film is about to debut, Ferencz dies at the age of 103. But Ocampo and Khan fight on in his honor, more deter­mi­ned than ever to put an end to all wars of aggres­si­on. Because war begets reven­ge; jus­ti­ce does not.

Credits:

DE 2023 96 Min., engl. OmU
Regie +Schnitt: Marcus Vetter und Michele Gentile

Kamera: Christian Haardt, Marcus Vetter, Michele Gentile

Trailer:
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Landshaft

A film by Daniel Kötter. In Armenian with German subtitles.

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Landshaft sket­ches the psy­cho­geo­gra­phy of a geo­po­li­ti­cal­ly char­ged land­scape and its inha­bi­tants bet­ween extra­c­ti­vism, war and dis­pla­ce­ment. In the form of a jour­ney in eas­tern Armenia, the film fol­lows human and non-human actors as they make their way through the land­scape, from Lake Sevan to the Sotk gold mine, occu­p­ied by Azerbaijan sin­ce the Karabakh War in 2020.

Credits:

DE 2023 96 Min., arme­nisch mit deut­schen und eng­li­schen Untertiteln,
Regie, Buch, Kamera, Schnitt: Daniel Kötter 

Trailer:
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May December

A film by Todd Haynes. In English with German subtitles.

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20 years ago, the love affair of Gracie Atherton-Yu (Julianne Moore) and her hus­band Joe (Charles Melton), 23 years her juni­or, was the talk of the nati­on. Today, the two actors are still mar­ried and their twins are about to gra­dua­te from high school. When Hollywood wants to make a film of her life, Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) arri­ves to rese­arch her role as Gracie. But soon the fami­ly idyll threa­tens to fall apart: Joe has never real­ly dealt with the scan­dal and the gos­sip – and the lon­ger Elizabeth and Gracie stu­dy each other, the more the simi­la­ri­ties and dif­fe­ren­ces bet­ween the two women begin to blur.

Credits:

US 2023, 113 Min., engl. OmU
Regie: Todd Haynes
Kamera: Christopher Blauvelt
Schnitt: Affonso Gonçalves
mit Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Piper Curda, Elizabeth Yu, Gabriel Chung

Trailer:
MAY DECEMBER – Trailer OmU German | Deutsch
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Alle die Du bist

A film by Michael Fetter Nathansky. In German with English subtitles.

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Single mother Nadine lea­ves her home in Brandenburg at the age of 24 to take a job near Cologne in a fac­to­ry ser­ving the coal indus­try. There, she meets the impul­si­ve Paul who­se per­so­na­li­ty seems so mul­ti­face­ted to her that she lite­ral­ly sees him in many dif­fe­rent gui­ses. After a long time, she final­ly feels like hers­elf again. The two beco­me a cou­ple and a deep love deve­lo­ps bet­ween them. But, seven years later, her life is dif­fe­rent. Nadine’s job is threa­ten­ed by struc­tu­ral chan­ges in the indus­try and her view of Paul has also alte­red. She now only sees him in his “own” exter­nal form which is beco­ming incre­asing­ly ali­en to her. Although Paul is a devo­ted fami­ly man, Nadine’s love for him beg­ins to dis­in­te­gra­te. She deci­des to fight this fee­ling and to relo­ca­te the dif­fe­rent lay­ers of his being that she was once able to see. Set against the back­drop of one of the lar­gest open-cast mining are­as in Europe, Alle die Du bist is a social-rea­list and, at the same time, magi­cal love film. Aenne Schwarz and Carlo Ljubek vivid­ly embo­dy the cou­ple at the cent­re of this pas­sio­na­te, playful plea for the loving gaze.

Credits:

DE/ES 2024, 108 Min., Deutsch mit eng­li­schen UT
Regie: Michael Fetter Nathansky
Kamera: Jan Mayntz
Schnitt: Andrea Mertens
mit Aenne Schwarz, Carlo Ljubek, Youness Aabbaz, Sara Fazilat, Naila Schuberth

Trailer:
ALLE DIE DU BIST (Trailer) | Ab 30. Mai im Kino
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Showing up

A film by Kelly Reichardt.In English with German subtitles.

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Films about artists and the art life rare­ly grapp­le with the ever­y­day busi­ness of what artists do – or, in their pro­cras­ti­na­ti­on, don’t do. That’s why Kelly Reichardt’s SHOWING UP is such a reve­la­ti­on – and, as a wry depar­tu­re in this writer-director’s care­er, such an out­right plea­su­re.
Reichardt’s films have often been touch­ed with humour, but here she has made an out-and-out come­dy – alt­hough cha­rac­te­risti­cal­ly, a phi­lo­so­phi­cal, laid­back, melan­cho­lic one. It’s set in Portland, Oregon – an endu­ring bas­ti­on of US coun­ter­cul­tu­re – whe­re strugg­ling sculp­tor Lizzy (Michelle Williams) is plan­ning her own show. Committed though she is, she is easi­ly dis­trac­ted by life’s incon­ve­ni­en­ces: her trou­bled brot­her (John Magaro); her cran­ky father (Judd Hirsch) and his freel­oa­ding house guests (a deli­cious comic turn by Amanda Plummer and Matt Malloy); an ego­tis­ti­cal, negli­gent land­la­dy and fel­low artist (Hong Chau); and a pige­on which enters Lizzy’s life at the worst pos­si­ble moment. As taci­turn, tight-wound Lizzy, Reichardt regu­lar Williams shows a who­le new dead­pan comic side to her talent, as the director’s focus on the ordi­na­ry and the uneventful opens up a rich vein of comic nuan­ce and even, at times, joy­ous far­ce. (Jonathan Romney)

Credits:

US 2022 | 108 Min., engl. OmU
Regie & Schnitt: Kelly Reichardt
Kamera: Christopher Blauvelt
mit: Michelle Williams, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, André Benjamin, Heather Lawless, Amanda Plummer

Trailer:
Showing Up | Official Trailer HDA24
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Das leere Grab

A film by Agnes Lisa Wegner & Cece Mlay. In Swahili, German and English with German subtitles.

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Songea, Tanzania. John Mbano is on a mis­si­on to find the human remains of his gre­at-grand­fa­ther, Songea Mbano, who was exe­cu­ted by the German colo­ni­al army. The family’s mour­ning has been pas­sed down through the gene­ra­ti­ons at Songea’s gra­ve in which his head never found a res­t­ing place. Instead, it was ship­ped to Germany for racist rese­arch. John and his wife Cesilia embark on a life-chan­ging jour­ney. Buoyed by their resi­li­ence as they rese­arch, they final­ly deci­de to tra­vel to Berlin to find the remains of John’s ances­tor. There, they encoun­ter acti­vists who­se voices are fight­ing Germany’s cul­tu­re of deni­al. Along with them, the Mbanos con­front tho­se in power with their need to bring their ances­tor home. What fol­lows is a rol­ler­co­as­ter ride of new hopes and fami­li­ar dis­ap­point­ments. Even the his­to­ric visit of the German Federal President to John’s home­town fails to bring the bel­oved ances­tor back home. The family’s search con­ti­nues.
Das lee­re Grab offers a per­so­nal per­spec­ti­ve: behind the glo­bal deba­te about the return of ances­tral remains, we find real peo­p­le. People vio­la­ted by a colo­ni­al past and its after­math to this day. Their strugg­le paves a way to a future disen­tan­gled from a pain­ful past.

Credits:

DE/TZ 2023, 97 Min., Suaheli, Deutsch und Englisch OmU
Regie: Agnes Lisa Wegner, Cece Mlay
Kamera: Marcus Winterbauer
Schnitt: Donni Schoenemond

Trailer:
DAS LEERE GRAB Trailer [HD]
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Ein Traum von Revolution

A film by Petra Hoffmann. Film with QnA on Tuesday April 23rd 17:30 in Spanish with German subtitles.

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On July 19, 1979, the Sandinista People’s Revolution in Nicaragua over­th­rew the bru­tal dic­ta­tor Somoza and made the world dream.

The con­s­truc­tion of a new, more social and just socie­ty “bet­ween the blocks” see­med pos­si­ble. Tens of thou­sands from all over the world tra­vel to the small Central American coun­try to sup­port the young govern­ment and rebuild the plun­de­red country.

From what was then West Germany alo­ne, over 15,000 sup­port­ers made their way to the small Central American coun­try. In inter­na­tio­nal bri­ga­des, they har­ve­s­ted cof­fee and cot­ton, built schools, kin­der­gar­tens and health cen­ters to rebuild the maltrea­ted coun­try. The purcha­se of “Nica cof­fee” beco­mes a sym­bol of inter­na­tio­nal soli­da­ri­ty with the country.

The Contra, which is sup­port­ed by Somoza sup­port­ers and the USA, attempts to over­throw the revo­lu­ti­on and res­to­re the old balan­ce of power.

The civil war cos­ts the lives of 50,000 Nicarguans and German “recon­s­truc­tion hel­pers” are also kid­nap­ped and kil­led by the Contra in the 1980s.

And then the unbe­lie­va­ble hap­pens: in April 2018, stu­dents pro­tes­ted against the for­mer revo­lu­tio­na­ry hero and cur­rent pre­si­dent Daniel Ortega. Over 400 peo­p­le were shot dead by para­mi­li­ta­ries. The coun­try sinks into a blood­bath. Ortega’s inter­na­tio­nal sup­port­ers are also incre­asing­ly being tar­ge­ted. They have been coll­ec­ting money for pro­jects in Nicaragua for 45 years. Today, they fear for their lives and are fle­e­ing the coun­try. Those who remain no lon­ger dare to rai­se their voices against the for­mer revo­lu­tio­na­ry hero.

Credits:

DE 2024, 95 Min., spa­ni­sche OmeU
Regie & Schnitt: Petra Hoffmann
Kamera: Börres Weiffenbach, Patrick Waldmann
Schnitt: Rafael Maier, BFS

Trailer:
Ein Traum von Revolution (Teaser HD)
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