Goethe-Institut San Francisco
Happy Birthday!

Now, in 2017, we look back upon half a century of promoting and encouraging German language and culture in the Bay Area and beyond.

We are an integral part of San Francisco’s cultural scene and cooperate closely with various American and European partner institutions. We promote multilingualism and offer internationally renowned language courses and exams.

Our certainly most famous event is the Berlin & Beyond film festival which attracts around 10.000 visitors yearly to the iconic Castro Theater, and has been for 21 years now. It is one of the most important festivals of German cinema abroad. Famous filmmakers and actors were our guests: Moritz Bleibtreu, Hannelore Elsner, Fatih Akin, Bruno Ganz, Mario Adorf, Doris Dörrie, Julia Jentsch, just to mention a few. Also, other well-known names will be remembered: Nina Hagen and Nena performed here, Heinrich Böll, Werner Herzog and – for the soccer fans out there – Jürgen Klinsmann, who supported our youth project Transatlantic Soccer Bridge as patron.

Several of our friends and partners have sent us their birthday wishes. Have fun reading, listening and watching, and join us at our events!