Film

At the 66th edition of DOK Leipzig, a host of new films was presented. As in previous years, the festival focused on Central and Eastern European film. Goethe-Institut’s Documentary Film Prize was also awarded at the event.
 

Open for Maintenance / Wegen Umbau geöffnet is the title of the German Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. The pavilion is dedicated to exploring matters of repair, maintenance, accessibility, and inclusion. But what does accessibility mean in a city made up of roughly 120 islands and 359 heritage-protected bridges and whose transport runs mostly on canals? And how inclusive is the Biennale itself?

For Brazilian playwright, actor, and director, Aldri Anunciação, Black cultures of the world come together because of identity. This is evident, for example, in literature, theater, or cinema.

Traveling and discovering new places is an adventure that is both exciting and enriching. Traveling as a film tourist adds another layer of fun to the experience, revealing a hidden side to seemingly banal sites.

The 48th TIFF boasted 14 German films—or 20+, depending on how you define ‘German Film’.

The films of the GDR’s state film production company, DEFA, always bore the stigma of being permeated by propaganda. That, however, is only part of the truth. When it comes to feature and animation films, fairy tales and documentaries there is a valuable artistic film legacy to be found. The DEFA Foundation wants to make them more easily available digitally.

The audience is back, Steven Spielberg does a dance, and the Golden Bear goes to a French documentary film. What else has been happening at the Berlinale?

A German picture picked up four gold statuettes at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. And with that, Edward Berger’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Im Westen nichts Neues) has made film history.

Many films and documentaries explore environmental issues or call for a more sustainable lifestyle. Is the industry living up to its own values though, and just how green is German film?

Abuse at castings, unannounced rape scenes during filming: the film industry is by no means free of sexualised violence. The new movie directed by Alison Kuhn shows what that does to the parties involved: in “The Case You”, five women who suffered abuse of this nature relate their experiences.
 

Monika Treut is considered to be one of the pioneers of Queer Cinema. In this interview the film director and producer talks about positive developments in western societies, repressive trends and things that aren’t quite running as they should. 

Who are they and how do they live? The advertising and media world has discovered a new target group: Generation Z, fully digitalized since birth, is coming of age. But on screen they are (still) representing the lives of Millennials.

The political turmoil of the 1960s brought his creative work as a filmmaker to an abrupt end. But by then Günter Peter Straschek had already produced one of the seminal works of the student revolts and would ultimately accomplish his life achievement as a film historian.
 

To grasp all of Tucké Royale’s artistic work, take a deep breath. Sascha Ehlert gives it a try.

It is hard to confine Hito Steyerl to just one artistic genre: She is a filmmaker, visual artist and author who has made an international name for herself with her socially critical pieces.

In January 2022, German painter and filmmaker Herbert Achternbusch died. Andreas Ströhl knew Achternbusch well and remembers him as a great artist and a close friend. In this interview, Ströhl reminisces about the trips he took with Achternbusch and the countless beers they shared over the years.

Novels have been made into films ever since cinema came into existence. Three very different literary adaptations celebrated their premiere shortly before the Corona crisis – “Deutschstunde” (The German Lesson), “Narcissus und Goldmund” (Narcissus and Goldmund) and “Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl” (When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit).