A film by Li Ruijun. In Chisese with German subtitles.

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Ma and Guiying lead lives that are simi­lar­ly shel­te­red and dif­fi­cult. He is a reti­cent far­mer, the last of his fami­ly to remain unmar­ried; she is dis­ab­led and infer­ti­le, and long past what is con­side­red to be mar­ry­ing age in rural China. Their arran­ged mar­ria­ge, uniting two peo­p­le who are accus­to­med to iso­la­ti­on and humi­lia­ti­on, would appear to force them into a rela­ti­onship that will make life worse for both of them. But ins­tead, they sei­ze the oppor­tu­ni­ty to rise abo­ve them­sel­ves and dis­co­ver their shared desti­ny. They learn how to beco­me clo­se com­pa­n­ions, how to speak up, how to care for each other and even how to smi­le. All this in spi­te of the hard work requi­red of them by their quint­essen­ti­al bond with the land and the tri­als that await them on their com­mon path. Against a back­drop of topics such as the explo­ita­ti­on of farm workers, forced urba­ni­sa­ti­on, the uproo­ting of tra­di­ti­ons and pover­ty, Li Ruijun – who returns to his birth­place of Gaotai, in the nor­t­hern pro­vin­ce of Gansu – prio­ri­ti­ses the cha­rac­ters’ world­view, with its inher­ent nai­ve­ty and fra­gi­li­ty, through an act of trust and love that infu­ses the film with subt­le ten­der­ness and pro­found humanity.

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CN 2022, 132 Min., chin. OmU
Regie & Schnitt: Li Ruijun
Kamera: Wang Weihua
mit: Wu Renlin, Hai Qing

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A film by Bernhard Sallmann. On January 21st and 22nd at the fsk. No dialogue

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After a four-part cycle based on Theodor Fontane’s Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg („Ramblings through Brandenburg”) (Oderland, Rhinland, Spreeland, Havelland), Bernhard Sallmann turns to urban land­scapes for his latest docu­men­ta­ry BERLIN JWD (G 2022) – more pre­cis­e­ly, he explo­res the area bet­ween the Ringbahn in Berlin and the city limits. At the end of the 19th cen­tu­ry, the area was a desti­na­ti­on „janz weit drau­ßen” (“very far away”) for the „pro­le­ta­ri­an mas­ses”. Now, the­re is natu­re, indus­tri­al zones, con­s­truc­tion sites, his­to­ri­cal buil­dings, newer buil­dings, and many indi­ca­ti­ons of uphe­aval. The viewer’s eyes can take a delightful “stroll” through the obser­va­tions, pho­to­gra­phed pre­cis­e­ly with a fixed came­ra and during the cour­se of the chan­ging sea­sons, while the ears hear the sound of the places. Sometimes peo­p­le appear in the pic­tu­re. Though the­re is no dia­lo­gue, this is not a silent Berlin film. The fact that names such as Spree-Teltow Pyramid, Arkenberge, Dichtervillen descri­be quite ordi­na­ry places is also very much Berlin. (Birgit Kohler)

Credits:

DE 2022, 74 Min, ohne Dialog,
Regie & Kamera: Bernhard Sallmann
Schnitt: Christoph Krüger.

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A Film by Volker Sattel & Francesa Bertin. In itlai­an with German subtitles.

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The Tara is a river on the out­skirts of Taranto who­se waters are belie­ved to have heal­ing pro­per­ties; bathing the­re is a tra­di­ti­on for the inha­bi­tants of the city. Starting from this buco­lic place, Volker Sattel and Francesca Bertin take us on a jour­ney through a ter­ri­to­ry whe­re myths clash with rea­li­ty and whe­re so-cal­led “pro­gress” has taken a hea­vy toll on natu­re and society.

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DE/IT 2022, 86 Min., ital. OmU,
Regie: Volker Sattel & Francesa Bertin
Kamera: Volker Sattel, Thilo Schmidt
Schnitt: Bettina Blickwede

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A film by IAlejandro Loayza Grisi. In Spanish & Quechua with German subtitles.

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In the Bolivian high­lands, an elder­ly Quechua cou­ple has been living the same dai­ly life for years. When an uncom­mon­ly long drought threa­tens their enti­re way of life, Virginio and his wife Sisa face the dilem­ma of resis­ting or being defea­ted by the envi­ron­ment and time itself.

Credits:

BO 2022, 87 Min., Quechua, Spanisch OmU
Regie: Alejandro Loayza Grisi
Kamera: Barbara Alvarez
Schnitt: Fernando Epstein
mit: José Calcina, Luisa Quispe, Santos Choque

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Ein Film von Daniel Geller und Dayna Goldfine. 

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Neulich beim Aqua-Fitness gab es zur Unterstützung des Takthaltens eine beson­ders scheuß­li­che Disko-Techno-Version, ges­tern auf der Strandpromenade an der Ostsee eine ver­hal­te­ne mit Solo-Trompete: HALLELUJA ist über­all. Kaum eine Hochzeit, Beerdigung, Casting-Show, Straßenmusikerin kommt mehr ohne eine – text­lich ger­ne ent­schärf­te – Version aus, und Musikerinnen, die was auf sich hal­ten, rei­chern ihre Auftritte damit an, eben­so myria­den TV-Sendungen, Serien, Shows und Filme. Was ist mit die­sem Song, der offen­sicht­lich die meis­ten Menschen rund um den Globus zu rüh­ren ver­mag? Der Film erzählt die Geschichte des Liedes, das Leonard Cohen beim Schreiben über Jahre auf meta­phy­si­scher Suche Strophe auf Strophe, die genaue Anzahl bleibt im Dunkeln, ver­län­ger­te. Die Annäherung an den Poeten und Sänger über ein ein­zi­ges Lied, viel­leicht sein, so legt der Film nahe, wich­tigs­tes, ist hier sehr schlüs­sig, aber nicht das ein­zig Interessante. Von Menschen, die dem Musiker nahe stan­den und mit der Entstehung oder dem Song all­ge­mein zu tun hat­ten, hören wir von der unglaub­li­chen Veröffentlichungsgeschichte, wie der Song trotz­dem in die Welt kam und von wem. Dazu gibt es eini­ge klu­ge Kommentare und Überlegungen zum Musikgeschäft all­ge­mein und dar­über hin­aus. Meine Lieblings-Interpretation von HALLELUJA ist übri­gens nach wie vor die von John Cale von 1991, trotz eini­ger hüb­scher unter den Aufnahmen, die im Netz zu fin­den sind.

„Kann man das Genie eines so viel­sei­ti­gen Dichters, über des­sen Leben es knapp 20 Filme gibt, auf einen Song kon­zen­trie­ren? Die erstaun­li­che Antwort gibt die­ser Film, der es schafft, die wich­tigs­ten bio­gra­fi­schen Wendepunkte zu erwäh­nen und doch im Kern nur die Geschichte von »Hallelujah« zu erzäh­len. Dabei ist es erstaun­lich, …, wie wech­sel­voll Cohens Beziehung zu sei­nem eige­nen Lied war und wie er sich am Ende damit ret­te­te.“ epd-film

Credits:

USA 2021 116 MIn., engl. OmU
Regie & Buch: Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine
Kamera: Dan Geller
Schnitt: Dayna Goldfine, Bill Weber, Dan Geller

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A film by Idan Haguel. In Hebrew with German subtitles.

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Ben plants a tree on the street in front of his house in Neve Sha’anan, a migrant neigh­bour­hood in the south of Tel Aviv. The dis­trict is on the up, and Ben has bought and upgraded a flat here tog­e­ther with his part­ner Raz. This gay cou­ple now enjoys a sett­led exis­tence, their days are struc­tu­red by a well-estab­lished rou­ti­ne and ever­y­thing is in its pro­per place. Time then, to tack­le their desi­re to have child­ren. And so, assi­duous­ly and con­sci­en­tious­ly, they set about sear­ching for a sui­ta­ble egg donor and sur­ro­ga­te mother. One day, when a neigh­bour­ly con­flict escala­tes over the tree he has plan­ted, Ben beco­mes wit­ness to bru­tal poli­ce vio­lence against an Eritrean. The inci­dent upsets his self-image and his plans for a life tog­e­ther with Raz.
Idan Haguel por­trays a gay midd­le-class cou­ple who­se desi­re for self-rea­li­sa­ti­on beg­ins to nar­row their world­view, brin­ging deep-sea­ted pre­ju­di­ces to light. A deft­ly told para­ble about the mecha­nisms of gen­tri­fi­ca­ti­on which, with a hint of sati­re, rai­ses an uncom­for­ta­ble ques­ti­on, name­ly: exact­ly how tole­rant are we?

Credits:

IL 2022, 82 Min., hebäi­sche OmU
Regie, Buch: Idan Haguel
Kamera: Guy Sahaf
Schnitt: Shauly Melamed
mit: Shlomi Bertonov, Ariel Wolf

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A film by Kirill Serebrennikov. In Russian with German subtitles.

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A dead­pan, hal­lu­ci­n­a­to­ry romp through post-Soviet Russia. With the city in the throes of a flu epi­de­mic, the Petrov fami­ly strug­gles through yet ano­ther day in a coun­try whe­re the past is never past, the pre­sent is a boo­ze-fue­led, icy fever dream of vio­lence and ten­der­ness, and whe­re – beneath lay­ers of the ordi­na­ry – things turn out to be quite extra­or­di­na­ry. Based on the novel „The Petrovs In and Around the Flu” by Alexey Salnikov.

Credits:

RU 2021, 145 Min., russ. OmU,
Regie & Buch: Kirill Serebrennikov
nach dem gleich­na­mi­gen Roman von Alexey Salnikov
Kamera: Vladislav Opelyants
Schnitt: Yuriy Karikh
mit: Semyon Serzin, Chulpan Khamatovar

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A film by Davy Chou.

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What does hap­pi­ness look like? The ques­ti­on throbs under the sen­suous sur­faces and emo­tio­nal­ly fraught dia­lo­gues of Davy Chou’s reso­nant third fea­ture RETURN TO SEOUL. Frederique, or Freddie, a young French woman born of South Korean par­ents revi­sits Seoul: what starts out as a see­mingly casu­al trip to con­nect with her cul­tu­ral past soon ripens into a jour­ney of angu­is­hed self-dis­co­very, as Freddie visits an adop­ti­on agen­cy and tri­es to make cont­act with her bio­lo­gi­cal par­ents. Expanding the nar­ra­ti­ve to move briskly through packed days befo­re sud­den­ly lea­ping years, Chou gives his edgy heroi­ne a leng­thy, yet rich­ly nuan­ced script to work with. In the film, fami­li­al love lies in wait, punc­tua­ted by new fri­end­ships and sexu­al expe­ri­men­ta­ti­on, and the need for mate­r­nal accep­tance, though ago­ni­zin­gly essen­ti­al, slow­ly ripens into only a broa­der search for self-awa­re­ness. But how does one beco­me ful­ly self-awa­re while not under­stan­ding one’s ori­g­ins? Thomas Favel’s quiet­ly atten­ti­ve cine­ma­to­gra­phy sus­ta­ins the exis­ten­ti­al eeri­ne­ss of Freddie’s quest. Newcomer Park Jin-Min in the title role deli­vers an exhi­la­ra­ting per­for­mance as a rebel­lious young woman who refu­ses to be wre­cked by the immensi­ty of her lon­ging, yet must learn to ack­now­ledge, and then embrace, her vul­nerabi­li­ty. (Ela Bittencourt)

Credits:

BE/DE/FR/QT 2022, 119 Min., frz, kore­an., engl. OmU,
Regie: Davy Chou
Kamera: Thomas Favel
Schnitt: Dounia Sichov
mit: Ji-Min Park, Oh Kwang-rok, Guka Han, Yoann Zimmer

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A film by Lukas Dhont.

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The inten­se fri­end­ship bet­ween two thir­teen-year old boys Leo and Remi sud­den­ly gets dis­rupt­ed. Struggling to under­stand what has hap­pen­ed, Leo approa­ches Sophie, Remi’s mother. Close is a film about fri­end­ship and responsibility.

Credits:

BE/FR/NL 2022, 105 Min., frz. OmU
Regie: Lukas Dhont
Kamera: Frank van den Eeden
Schnitt: Alain Dessauvage
mit: Eden Dambrine
Gustav De Waele
Emilie Dequenne
Léa Drucker

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A film by Mia Hansen-Løve. In French with German subtitles.

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Mia Hansen-Løve’s simp­lest, most focu­sed film in some time – and sure­ly her most matu­re yet – returns to a recur­rent the­me of hers, the way that the dif­fe­rent strands of a life inter­sect and inter­fe­re with each other. Here prot­ago­nist Sandra is deal­ing with the rebirth of love, while con­tem­pla­ting the end of a life – her father’s. She is a trans­la­tor and mother to an eight-year-old daugh­ter, Linn; her father is Georg, a distin­gu­is­hed pro­fes­sor of phi­lo­so­phy who­se eye­sight and his mind are fai­ling him irrever­si­bly. While she tends to both daugh­ter and father, Sandra encoun­ters an old fri­end, Clément. His sci­en­ti­fic spe­cia­lism as a cos­mo­che­mist leads him to fathom the infi­ni­te, while Sandra’s dai­ly con­cerns seem to strand her on a strict­ly earth­ly pla­ne – but there’s always the pro­mi­se of love.
After the self-refle­xi­ve playful­ness of BERGMAN ISLAND, Hansen-Løve offers a rigo­rous but ten­der stu­dy of life’s com­ple­xi­ties seen through a lens of prag­ma­tic rea­lism. Léa Seydoux, excel­ling in the most unvar­nis­hed of her recent roles, shi­nes along­side Pascal Greggory, who­se sta­tus as a French cine­ma vete­ran enters a rich new pha­se in his por­tra­y­al of an intellec­tu­al facing his twi­light. (Jonathan Romney)

Credits:

Un beau matin
FR/DE 2022, 112 Min., frz OmU
Regie: Mia Hansen-Løve
Kamera: Denis Lenoir
Schnitt: Marion Monnier
mit: Léa Seydoux, Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud, Nicole Garcia, Kester Lovelace

Trailer:

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