Message from the Director
Dear friends, film buffs, and cineastes,
We are happy to announce that the German Film Week will enter its next round this 2019! The Goethe-Institut Philippinen and our partners, SM Cinemas and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), are happy to present the fourth edition of the German Film Week in the Philippines.
Firstly, I would like to thank our partners, the FDCP for their magnanimous support and help, and SM Cinemas and our university partners for providing great venues to host our event.
This year’s program features twelve movies of German cinema that reach from classic themes of love, friendship and family, to the important and still contemporary theme of the division of Germany after World War. The movie selection this year offers movies for young and old, for romantics and action fans, and for dreamers and realists. It combines easy-to-watch movies with movies that will make you think - giving the audience an insight into German art, culture and history.
The festival opens this year with the film Balloon (“Ballon”, 2018), which is an enthralling drama full of tension about two families and their plan to escape from East Germany to the West with a homemade hot air balloon. Coming out only last year, this movie will be presented to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Fall of Berlin Wall. Balloon, as well as the other 5 (five) films focusing on the 30 Years of the Fall of Berlin Wall, offer insights into life between East and West Germany during the divide from different perspectives.
We hope you’ll enjoy the German Film Week and we hope that it’ll spark curiosity and interest in German culture amongst the Filipino audience.
See you at the box office!
Dr. Ulrich Nowak
Director