Beyond the Oder

What lurks in the heart of the German society? During this year’s German Film Week at ARS Cinema, we’ll discover that the country’s cinematography continues to surprise with its diversity by revealing current trends and real problems faced by real people.

The review opens with Return to Montauk, the latest film by Volker Schlöndorff – director of productions including The Tin Drum and Strike – starring the outstanding Stellan Skarsgård and the star of German cinema Nina Hoss. “It is a beautiful portrait of a grown-up man who is emotionally confused”, raved Owen Gleiberman in “Variety”, calling the film one of the most important premieres of this year’s International Film Festival in Berlin. We will also see Adrian Goiginger’s The Best of All Worlds, based on his own experience and awarded in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. The next feature is Western, awarded the main prize during this year’s T-Mobile New Horizons Festival and the FIPRESCI prize. The story is set in Bulgarian countryside, close to the Greek border; the film’s director Valeska Grisebach portrays the clash between Bulgarian locals and German casual workers. According to the jury of the Main Competition of New Horizons, the film is “Tender, powerful and polished. (…) By talking about history using cinematic language (…) it covers a broad spectrum of relationships.”

Wolfgang Becker’s Me and Kaminski is an unmissable, dazzling tragicomedy. Based on a novel by Daniel Kehlmann, it presents a complicated relationship between an inexperienced yet ambitious journalist and an elderly artist whose biography he is writing. The film stars Daniel Brühl – known for his previous collaboration with the director on the cult Good Bye, Lenin! – and veteran Danish actor Jesper Christensen. The production earned five nominations for the German Film Awards.

How about a comedy about refugees? Sound controversial? Perhaps it does, yet Simon Verhoeven’s Welcome to Germany was highly acclaimed in the West, smashing popularity records and earning close to $20 million. The film is a slightly awkward attempt at tackling issues which divide German society by telling the story of a Nigerian refugee named Diallo who moves in with an affluent family in Munich. How will the new arrival change the Hartmanns’ comfortable life?

We will also see Andres Veiel’s documentary Beuys. The film is an in-depth portrayal of the German artist, art theorist, pedagogue and activist. It is a cinematic mosaic in which the images speak for themselves. It features recordings of Joseph Beuys’ most famous performances, excerpts from TV interviews, relations from his travels, and photos from student protests during the 1970s and his service in Luftwaffe.

The next documentary is dedicated to Edgar Froese, frontman of Tangerine Dream. In Revolution of Sound. Tangerine Dream, Margarete Kreuzer reveals previously unseen archival materials from the artist’s career spanning 48 years: stills and film taken behind the scenes and during concert tours, excerpts from interviews and private holiday snaps.

There is no choice – you simply have to see everything! (Barbara Zając, Karnet magazine)