GOETHE FILMS brings the best of German film to Toronto audiences.
Ranging from features to docs, shorts to animation, drama to comedy, the experimental to international festival highlights from Berlin, Leipzig or Oberhausen, the GOETHE FILMS series offers film lovers the opportunity to see a top selection of German contemporary arthouse film in Toronto’s premier cinema.
Programmed and presented by the Goethe-Institut Toronto since 2011, the films are presented in thematic clusters throughout the year at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in downtown Toronto.
Many screenings are enhanced by introductions, Q & A’s as well as discussions with diverse German and Canadian artists, curators and experts, who contextualize what happens on the screen and engage with the audience.
As a reflection of the refugee situation in Europe, the GOETHE FILMS series "Europe between Refuge and Fortress" 2016 presented Oscar-shortlisted "We Are Young. We Are Strong" alongside recent shorts and documentaries examining Europe’s future. Senator Ratna Omidvar, author and journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee and Syrian-Canadian filmmaker Marcelle Aleid hotly debated the role of art in political crises.
Other highlights include "fHEISTy Woman Robbing Banks", featuring female bank robbers from the 1998 classic RUN LOLA RUN to the 2015 one-shot wonder VICTORIA, as well as the series "Copy & Paste" about homages, influences and references between directors, which examined how Murnau & Herzog, Petzold & Farocki and Müller & Girardet remake, remix and reimagine films and film. Thematic retrospectives of Wim Wender’s and Fatih Akin’s oeuvre proved to be particularly attractive. GOETHE FILMS has been called "one of Toronto’s better-kept arthouse secrets" by blogTO.com.
Affan Chowdhry, Marcelle Aleid, Ratna Omidvar & Kamal Al-Solaylee | GOETHE FILMS: A Long Way: Europe between refuge and fortress, 2016 | Photo: Goethe-Institut Toronto"Many excellent German films don’t get Canadian distribution and when they do, their theatrical run here is often limited. This is a great opportunity for Toronto audiences to see some of the best films coming out of Germany right now, films that they would probably otherwise miss," explains Jutta Brendemühl, the Goethe-Institut’s Program Curator, who founded and is programming the series. "GOETHE FILMS is the heart of our extensive film work. Next to our popular film blog, it’s where we get to share our passion for Kino with our loyal Canadian audiences."
curated by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto Program Curator
June 2011
40 YEARS VIDEOART.DE: RECORD AGAIN > Highlights of German Video Art from the 1960s to the present; introduced by artist Oliver Husain
October 2011
CULTURE+ECONOMY: Two programs of international shorts from 1932-2010, *guest curated by Florian Wüst (Berlin)
Winter 2011/2012
EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS: Featuring actors Hannah Herzsprung, Alexander Fehling, August Diehl, Maria Simon > Four Minutes (Kraus); Life Actually (Gsponer) | Goethe! (Stölzl); And Along Come Tourists (Thalheim) | If Not Us, Who? (Veiel); 23 (Schmid) | Distant Lights (Schmid); Nothing But Ghosts (Gypkens)
March 2012
24 HOURS BERLIN People, Stories, Reality > “Real-time” excerpt from the real-time documentary project of a day in the life of the German capital (Heise & Agneskirchner)
May 2012
IN THE FACE OF CRIME: Love, Death, Mafia. > Canadian premiere of Dominik Graf's award-winning 10-episode Berlin thriller
Fall 2012
CULTURE+ECONOMY: Crisis, Greed & Debt > The City Below (Hochhäusler) | Gravity (Erlenwein) | Crash Course (Wangard); introduction by Social Corporate Responsibility Professor Dirk Matten
March 2013
OBERHAUSEN ON TOUR > Highlights of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 2012 | International Competition | German Competition | Music Video Competition; panel with designer-filmmaker Phillip Barker and filmmaker Chris Kennedy
May 2013
YOUNG & OLD: Intergenerational Encounters > Hanami (Dörrie) | Cloud 9 (Dresen) | Home for the Weekend (Schmid); shorts: A LOST AND FOUND BOX OF HUMAN SENSATION (Wallner & Leuchtenberg) | YOU AND ME (Kraus); with a co-presentation of Berlin Performance Group’s She She Pop & Their Fathers’ “Testament” at the World Stage Festival Harbourfront Centre
Fall 2013
FATIH AKIN @ 40 RETROSPECTIVE > In July | Solino | The Edge of Heaven Head-On | Soul Kitchen | Crossing The Bridge with live music by Brenna MacCrimmon (Crossing the Bridge) & Debashis Sinha
March 2014
LIFE IS A CONSTRUCTION SITE: Berlin on Film > Kuhle Wampe (Brecht & Dudow) | Life Is All You Get (Becker) | Pool of Princesses (Blümner); contextualised by Young Mammals experimental art lab for young people, COC Music Director Johannes Debus, theatre innovator Michael Wheeler, PhD arts student Inga Untiks
May 2014
GERMANY LAUGHS at Politics, Love & Itself > Hotel Lux (Haußmann & Timm) | Lila, Lila (Gsponer) | Absurdistan (Helmer) | short: Sonntag 3 (Kuhn)
Fall 2014
BEFORE THE FALL Berlin Wall / 25 Years > Barbara (Petzold) | Wings of Desire (Wenders) | Silent Country (Dresen); introductions by critic Norm Wilner and OCAD Dean Vlad Spicanovic
March 2015
COPY & PASTE: Reimagining, Remixing & Remaking Film > Nosferatu (Murnau) + Nosferatu the Vampyre (Herzog) | Yella (Petzold) + Nothing Ventured (Farocki) | Home Stories (Müller) + Phoenix Tapes (Müller & Girardet); panel with TIFF programmer Chris Kennedy, filmmaker Isabell Spengler and film professor Stefan Soldovieri
May 2015
CULTURE+ECONOMY: Age of Cannibals > Age of Cannibals (Naber) | Master of the Universe (Bauder) | Houston (Günther); contextualized by a Goethe Film Talk with director Marc Bauder; introduction by critic Robert Bell
Fall 2015
WENDERS IN THE CITIES (70th birthday retrospective) > Alice in the Cities; Wrong Move | The State of Things; Land of Plenty | Tokyo-Ga; Notebook on Cities and Clothes; introduction by critic Adam Nayman; accompanied by an exhibition from the Wenders Archive
March 2016
A LONG WAY: Europe between Refuge and Fortress > Colour of the Ocean (Peren); After Spring Comes Fall (Carsenty) | short: The Jean-Monnet Bridge (Center for Political Beauty Berlin); We Are Young. We Are Strong (Qurbani) | Transit Camp Friedland (Sandig); introduced by critic Jason Anderson; panel with Ratna Omidvar, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Marcelle Aleid, Affan Chowdhry
May 2016
CAN YOU HACK IT? Of Cybercrime & Privacy Rights > Who Am I – No System Is Safe (Bo Odar) | Democracy (Bernet) | Blueprint (Schübel)
Fall 2016
fHEISTy WOMEN ROBBING BANKS > Run Lola Run (Tykwer) | Banklady (Alvart); Wanja (Hellsgård) | Victoria (Schipper); contextualized by artist-filmmaker Daniel Cockburn
March 2017
HEIMAT NOW: New Heimatfilms > Grave Decisions (Rosenmüller) | Holidays (Knoller) | Learning To Lie (Handloegten) | Schultze Gets The Blues (Schorr) | Sound of Heimat (Birkenstock & Tengeler); introduction & reading by author Frank Goosen
May 2017
PEAK German Docs @ DOK Leipzig > Peak (Lang) | Land in Sight (Keil & Kruska) | Forget Me Not (Sieveking); introduced by Alessandro Ruggera, director of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto
October 2017
MARGARETHE & BARBARA > Marianne & Juliane (Margarethe von Trotta) | Rosa Luxemburg | Hannah Arendt; introductions by actor Barbara Sukowa, critic Susan C. Cole; accompanied by the exhibition “Early UFA Film Posters: Projecting Women”
March 2018
ULRIKE OTTINGER IN ASIA > Under Snow (Ottinger) | Urike Ottinger: Nomad from the Lake (Kramer) | Exile Shanghai (Ottinger) | Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia (Ottinger)
May 2018
SCHLINGENSIEF: APPROACH THOSE YOU FEAR > The 120 Days of Bottrop (Schlingensief) | Foreigners Out! Schlingensief’s Container (Poet) | German Chainsaw Massacre: The First Hour of Reunification (Schlingensief) | The Holding of Skulls Is Not My Thing! (Schlingensief & Kluge); introduction by filmmaker-actor Bruce LaBruce
October 2018
CULTURE+ECONOMY: BAD BANKS > exclusive Canadian premiere of the TV mini series banking thriller
March 2019
ONE FINE DAY: AFRICA NOW > Supa Modo (Wainaina) | Kati Kati (Masya) | Soul Boy (Essuman) | Nairobi Half Life (Gitonga) | Something Necessary (Kibinge) | Veve (Mukali)
May 2019
PAST FORWARD: DIRECTORS BEFORE CANNES > Everyone Else (Ade) | Be My Star (Grisebach) | Bungalow (Köhler) > celebrating Berlin production house Komplizenfilm (Locarno Best Independent Producer Award 2020)
Oct 2019
STRONGER THAN BLOOD > Dealer (Arslan) | Chiko (Yildirim) | Stronger than Blood (Kienle) > series on migration & masculinity
March 2020
THE END OF TRUTH: 100 YEARS OF SPY THRILLERS > Spies (Lang) | For Eyes Only (Veiczi) | Blame Game (Leinemann) > introductions, talk-backs, online articles by cyber espionage expert Prof. Ron Deibert, East German cinema expert Prof. Gabriele Müller, film critic Adam Nayman
October 2020
LOSE MYSELF — A PORTRAIT OF SANDRA HUELLER > Requiem (Schmid) | Above Us Only Sky (Schomburg) | Amour Fou (Hausner) | Finsterworld (Finsterwalder) | Exile (Morina) - Canadian premiere | In the Aisles (Stuber) > women in film
March 2021
EXITING EXTREMISM > The Renegrade – A Long Way Home (Noori & Hagen) – North American premiere | Wild Heart (Hübner & Schultz) – Canadian premiere | Combat Girls (Wnendt) – Canadian premiere > with filmmaker and expert introductions and a further watch list to shine a light on the dangers of violent intolerance and the dangers of turning a blind eye.
May 2021
LONELINESS IN THE CITY > The Mover (Nawrath) | A Lonely City (Graef) – International premiere | Neubau (Schmidt) – Canadian premiere > with filmmaker introductions and commentary by urbanism professor Ahmed Allahwala.
October 2021
HISTORY NOW: PAST AS PROLOGUE > Berlin Alexanderplatz (Qurbani) Canadian premiere | Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Graf) – North American premiere | Transit (Petzold) > with contextualization and commentary by Tim Cook, the Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum.
May 2022
THE ART OF THE CON > The Chase After Millions (Obal) North American premiere | Operation Curveball (Naber) Toronto premiere | Confessions of Felix Krull (Buck) Canadian premiere > with introductions by film restorer Oliver Hanley and live musical score by Toronto turntablist SlowPitchSound.
March 2023
I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU: 5 young love films across genders, geography, communities, conflict > No Hard Feelings (Shariat) co-presented with Inside Out | Zuhur’s Daughters (Genske & Humboldt) – co-presented with Inside Out, Toronto Arab Film & Hot Docs | Toubab (Dietrich) Canadian premiere | Le Prince (Bierwirth) Canadian premiere, with video introduction by actor Àlex Brendemühl | Nico (Gehring) Canadian premiere co-presented with Inside Out.
October 2023
DEFINITELY NOT THE OPERA: music films > Rheingold (Akin) Canadian premiere | Orphea in Love (Rahnisch) Toronto premiere | Leif in Concert (Klandt) Toronto premiere.
Affan Chowdhry, Marcelle Aleid, Ratna Omidvar & Kamal Al-Solaylee | GOETHE FILMS: A Long Way: Europe between refuge and fortress, 2016 | Photo: Goethe-Institut Toronto
"Many excellent German films don’t get Canadian distribution and when they do, their theatrical run here is often limited. This is a great opportunity for Toronto audiences to see some of the best films coming out of Germany right now, films that they would probably otherwise miss," explains Jutta Brendemühl, the Goethe-Institut’s Program Curator, who founded and is programming the series. "GOETHE FILMS is the heart of our extensive film work. Next to our popular film blog, it’s where we get to share our passion for Kino with our loyal Canadian audiences."