Archive

German Gems 2011

January 14-16, 2011 at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco
January 22, 2011 in Point Arena, Mendocino County

All films are in German with English subtitles.

KEEP SURFING

FILMS AT THE CASTRO Friday 14 January 2011

OPENING NIGHT FILM (Party at the Castro follows the screening)

Friday 7 pm MAHLER ON THE COUCH Mahler auf der Couch (Austria, Germany 2010, 35mm, 97 min. In German with English subtitles)

DIR Percy & Felix Adlon CAST Johannes Silberschneider, Karl Markovics, Barbara Romaner, Eva Mattes

In 1910, Gustav Mahler met Sigmund Freud. Paralyzed by despair over his cheating wife, the maestro sought the help of the father of psychoanalysis. Their famous four-hour encounter at a Dutch seaside resort is the framing device for this delightful, witty and artistically rigorous collaboration by the father and son team Percy (BAGDAD CAFÉ, SALMONBERRIES) and Felix Adlon. The film ties together Mahler’s musical genius and his doomed love for his vivacious, young and creative wife Alma. With flashbacks and documentary-like interviews with Alma’s mother (Eva Mattes) and other pivotal personalities of Vienna’s art scene, the film explores the source of Gustav’s great joy and sorrow, while suggesting that Alma is in every note of music he wrote during their marriage. With brilliant performances by Johannes Silberschneider (Mahler) and Barbara Romaner (Alma), the film offers a hypnotic portrait of Alma nee Schindler – as attractive, young Bohemian, as a frustrated wife, and as megawatt presence in the era’s intellectual demimonde who would become a tireless lover of notable artistes. The Adlons use a film score entirely derived from Mahler’s music, recorded by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Q&A with Donato Cabrera (assistant conductor of SF Symphony) & Peter Esmonde (filmmaker) 

FILMS AT THE CASTRO Saturday 15 January 2011
Saturday 2 pm KEEP SURFING keep surfing (Germany 2009, 35mm, 91 min. In English & German with English subtitles)
DIR Björn Richie Lob PRINT SOURCE Beta Films FESTIVALS Munich, Tribecca, Hawaii

Björn Richie Lob’s exhilarating film debut took 10 years to complete. An avid river-surfer himself, he spent years convincing his friends to be on camera. The result is a kinetic and fast-paced documentary that will put you right on the Eisbach in the heart of Munich, the river-surfing mecca of the world. The film is a portrait of six surfers, among them river-surfing pioneer Dieter “The Eater,” who still rides the waves every day with his two grown daughters, and Walter, “The Janitor of the Eisbach,” a working-class philosopher who actually figured out how to keep the waves surging for 24 hours a day.
Stunningly shot on various formats, including 16mm and 35mm, KEEP SURFING displays an ode to going against the wave, to individual freedom, and to the people who have achieved happiness on a river wave. With cameos by surfing legends like Nick Carroll and Kelly Slater.

Q&A with Björn Richie Lob (director)

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Saturday 4:30 pm INTERN FOR LIFE Ein Praktikant fürs Leben (Germany 2010, digital, 90 min. In German with English subtitles)
DIR Ingo Rasper CAST Roman Knizka, Anna Brüggemann, August Zirner, Franziska Walser

Ben Kremer has been an intern for 3 years at the same company and hopes it will eventually lead to a paid position with them. So far he has heard nothing but empty promises. To make ends meet, he works as a bartender at night where he meets Jana, the receptionist of another big company. They hit it off and when he applies for a job at her company he again ends up as an intern. By accident though, Ben meets the boss of the company who offers him a job as his personal assistant, a promotion but also a step in the wrong direction. Now Ben has to pour drinks at parties, take care of his boss’ tipsy wife and even of the young woman his boss is dating secretly. That woman turns out to be Jana…
Ingo Rasper (FASHION VICTIMS) returns to the Castro with another delightful comedy, perhaps inspired by his own internship at the Goethe-Institut in San Francisco.

Q&A with Ingo Rasper (director)

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Saturday 7 pm THE ARCHITECT Der Architekt (Germany 2008, 35mm, 93 min. In German with English subtitles)
DIR Ina Weisse CAST Josef Bierbichler, Hilde van Mieghem, Sandra Hüller, Matthias Schweighöfer, Sophie Rois

At an award ceremony, architect Georg Winter explains that an architect has the good fortune of walking through his ideas, a completed building can be measured by the original idea. Soon Georg himself is forced to take stock of the achievements and mistakes he has made in his personal life. THE ARCHITECT is an intense drama, in which the four members of the family travel to a mountain village to bury Georg’s mother. Stranded in a snowstorm, the unexpected isolation throws new light on the past and present life of the parents and the two almost-adult children. Gripping performances by a stellar cast in this intense feature debut by Ina Weisse.

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Saturday 9 pm SHE DESERVED IT Sie hat es verdient (Germany 2010, digital, 89 min. In German with English subtitles)
DIR Thomas Stiller CAST Veronika Ferres, Jule Ronstedt. Martin Feiffel, Oliver Mommsen, Liv Lisa Fries

“She deserved it,” says 17-year-old Linda after she viciously killed one of her classmates. Thomas Stiller’s film about young adults who, for no obvious reasons, turn into cold-blooded killers, is based on a true story. Susanne, protected, spoiled and loved by her parents, has a crush on one of her classmates who, however, “belongs” to Linda, the big-mouthed bully, who can’t stand Susanne. Jealous and furious, Linda thinks up a plan of cold revenge.
A very topical subject, the film contains graphic violence.

Q & A with Peter Sholley (marriage and family therapist)

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FILMS AT THE CASTRO Friday 14 January 2011

Sunday 2 pm CELEBRATION OF FLIGHT celebration of flight (Germany 2009, digibeta, 78 min. In English and German with English subtitles)
DIR Lara Juliette Sanders CAST Daniel Rundström FESTIVALS Dijon International

The film touchingly profiles Daniel Rundström, a pilot who flew sheiks and kings like Haille Selassie and the king of Yemen. At the age of 78, Rundström dreams of building his own plane on an island paradise in the Caribbean. He develops a unique friendship with a 16-year-old native boy from the Caribbean who shares his sacrifice of everything in order to develop and build their very own aircraft for a designer air show in Florida.
An exciting mix of new and found footage from Daniel’s days of flying for the kings of Jordan and Ethiopia, the film ends in Berlin where Daniel reunites after ten years with his only son.

Q&A with Lara Juliette Sanders (director) & Daniel Rundström (cast)

Co-sponsored by The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation

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Sunday 4 pm DAVID WANTS TO FLY david wants to fly (Austria, Germany, Switzerland 2010, digital, 95 min. In German, English, and Hindi with English subtitles)
DIR David Sieveking CAST David Lynch PRINT SOURCE Autlook Films FESTIVALS Berlinale, Palm Springs

To meet his favorite director David Lynch, aspiring filmmaker David Sieveking flies to the United States to hear Lynch speak about his passion for Transcendental Meditation. Sieveking is granted an interview with Lynch, who encourages him to try meditation for himself. It seems to work: he gets the funding for his film, but then his girlfriend moves away to New York. And as Sieveking delves deeper into TM’s organization after the death of the Maharishi, he witnesses an ugly power struggle. Sieveking, director and protagonist, mixes personal discovery with investigative journalism and comes up with an odd, fully-engaging and wonderfully entertaining quest.

Q&A with David Sieveking (director)

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Sunday 6:30 pm MOUNTAIN BLOOD Bergblut (Germany 2010, 35mm, 122 min. In German with English subtitles)
DIR Philipp J. Pamer CAST Ina Birkenfeld, Wolfgang Menardi, Aton Algrang, Verena Plangger FESTIVALS Munich (Audience Award)

In the tradition of German mountain films Philipp Pamer’s drama tells the story of love and war, loyalty and betrayal, suspicion and jealousy. The year is 1809. Following her husband from Augsburg to Tyrol, Katharina has to adjust to a harsh life on a small farm where she is not only an outsider, but an outcast. Her husband came back to fight with Andreas Hofer for South Tyrol’s independence against France and Bavaria, Katharina’s homeland.
Shot on location in South Tyrol, MOUNTAIN BLOOD is Philipp Pamer’s impressive graduation film.

Q&A with Sami Hammi (composer)

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ACHTUNG BERLIN presents

Sunday 9 pm DISENCHANTMENTS Entzauberungen (Germany 2010, 35mm, 100 min. In German with English subtitles)

DIR Andreas Pieper CAST Lavinia Wilson, Barnaby Metschurat, Anna Brüggemann FESTIVALS Munich, Pusan

Aleks participates in an experiment about civil war in former Yugoslavia. Sarah tries to escape loneliness by investigating a murder. Bastian can not accept his father’s decision to die. Anna teaches German to a foreigner who only wants to dance with her. Shot in black and white, the four stories of Andreas Pieper’s graduation film deal with questions of truth and honesty, power and change.

Preceded by ACHTUNG BERLIN’s Short Feature Award 2010

GÖMBÖC gömböc (Germany 2010, digibeta, 20 min. In German with English subtitles)
DIR Ulrike Vahl CAST Knut Berger, Leonard Proxauf, Milena Dreißig

A hot summer day in the countryside in East Germany. Life is slow, people are doing their daily routine, for us a captivating look into their lives.

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FILMS IN POINT ARENA Saturday 22 January 2011
2 pm INTERN FOR LIFE Ein Praktikant furs Leben

4 pm KEEP SURFING — Q&A with Björn Richie Lob (director)

7:30 pm MAHLER ON THE COUCH Mahler auf der Couch
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German Gems 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010 at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco
Saturday, March 6, 2010 in Point Arena, Mendocino County

The inaugural GERMAN GEMS film event presents a full day of German cinema—four new movies from Germany and one from Austria—at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco’s citadel of cinema, Sunday, February 28. A subset of the program will also be shown Saturday, March 6 in Point Arena in Mendocino County. Ingrid Eggers, the founder of the Berlin & Beyond film festival and its guiding spirit until now, returns with a program of five new German-language discoveries.

All films are in German with English subtitles.


Sunday, February 28, 2010 at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco

NOON: TENDER PARASITES Zarte Parasiten (Germany 2009, 87 min.)
Dir. Christian Becker and Oliver Schwabe, with Robert Stadlober, Sylvester Groth, Maja Schöne
In German with English subtitles

TENDER PARASITES tells the story of Manu and Jakob, two young people who have developed some idiosyncratic survival strategies. Homeless and jobless, they choose to live in a rustic camp in the woods and for cash, they provide human contact and care for old and lonely people. They strive to fill their employer’s desires, anticipating their needs or wants. Jakob befriends a married couple and slowly becomes a surrogate for their deceased son. As this new “relationship” grows, a void begins to grow between him and Manu, and their lives begin to derail.

A touching love story that establishes the filmmakers as a sensitive new voice in the world of cinema. TENDER PARASITES premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival and has since been invited to numerous international festivals.

Producer Juliane Thevissen will attend the screening.


2 PM: MISS STINNES Fräulein Stinnes fährt um die Welt (Germany 2009, 90 min.)
Dir. Erica von Moeller, with Sandra Hüller, Bjarne Henriksen
In German with English subtitles

MISS STINNES is the dramatic telling of one of the most unusual adventure stories of the 20th century. Clärenore Stinnes, daughter of a wealthy industrialist, conjures up an ambitious dream to circumnavigate the world by car and and has the means to do it. Starting the journey in Berlin in 1927 in an Adler with two mechanics and a Swedish cameraman, Miss Stinnes survived the two-year-long journey and so did the Adler, the cameraman, and all of the footage documenting the insane adventure, which became the basis of this docu-drama.

Director Erica von Moeller will attend the screening.


Kinofest Lünen presents: Production Award Winner 2009
4:15 PM: BEING MR KOTSCHIE Mensch Kotschie (Germany 2009, 96 min.)

Dir. Norbert Baumgarten, with Stefan Kurt, Claudia Michelsen, Ulrike Krumbiegel
In German with English subtitles

As his 50th birthday approaches, Jürgen Kotschie seems to have everything a man can ask for: a house, a beautiful wife, a son, success, money, and admiring colleagues. But with his mid-century pressing upon him, he lies awake tormented with sleepless contemplation and confusion about the circumstances of his life. It all begins to unhinge and the banalities of every-day-life become surreal, complete with fantastic images set to a capella Baroque music. A fantastic treat.

Baumgarten’s LIBERATED ZONE was shown at Berlin & Beyond in 2004.

Director Norbert Baumgarten will attend the screening

6 – 7 PM: Filmmakers Reception

7 PM: VISION Vision – Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen (Germany 2009, 111 min.)
Dir. Margarethe von Trotta, with Barbara Sukowa, Hannah Herzsprung, Heino Ferch, Alexander Held
In German with English subtitles

Hildegard von Bingen, long considered a candidate for sainthood, is a legend whose popularity and teachings have spanned the ages. Her musical, literary and philosophical works are still loved today and her impact on holistic medicine is still vital. The first woman composer and the first to write about female sexuality, her works inspired not just Dante and Leonardo da Vinci several centuries later but were a key to bringing Europe out of medieval darkness into the modern era of science and enlightenment. The team of Margarethe von Trotta, one of the great directors of her generation, and Barbara Sukowa, one of Germany’s most fascinating actresses, create this powerful portrait of Hildegard von Bingen.


9:15 PM: THE BONE MAN Der Knochenmann (Austria 2009, 121 min.)
Dir. Wolfgang Murnberger, with Josef Hader, Josef Bierbichler, Birgit Minichmayr
In German with English subtitles

Private Investigator Brenner (Josef Hader) is handling a case at the grill-station “Löschenkohl.” After ordering the grilled chicken house special, he discovers another kind of meat that isn’t on the menu. Again, director Wolfgang Murnberger joins up with actor Josef Hader and writer Wolf Haas to create another irresistibly dark comedy in the same vein as their earlier collaboration SILENTIUM (shown at Berlin & Beyond 2006). THE BONE MAN is “harte Kost”—


Saturday, March 6, 2010 in Point Arena, Mendocino County

2 PM: BEING MR KOTSCHIE Mensch Kotschie (Germany 2009, 96 min.)
In German with English subtitles

As his 50th birthday approaches, Jürgen Kotschie seems to have everything a man can ask for: a house, a beautiful wife, a son, success, money, and admiring colleagues. But with his mid-century pressing upon him, he lies awake tormented with sleepless contemplation and confusion about the circumstances of his life. It all begins to unhinge and the banalities of every-day-life become surreal, complete with fantastic images set to a capella Baroque music.

Director Norbert Baumgarten will attend the screening



4 PM: MISS STINNES Fräulein Stinnes fährt um die Welt (Germany 2009, 90 min.)
In German with English subtitles

MISS STINNES is the dramatic telling of one of the most unusual adventure stories of the 20th century. Clärenore Stinnes conjures up an ambitious dream to circumnavigate the world by car and and has the means to do it. In 1927 she starts in Berlin in an Adler with two mechanics and a cameraman. Miss Stinnes survived the two-year-long journey and so did the Adler, the cameraman, and the footage documenting the insane adventure.

Director Erica von Moeller will attend the screening



7:30 PM: VISION – Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen (Germany 2009, 111 min.)
In German with English subtitles

Hildegard von Bingen, long considered a candidate for sainthood, is a legend whose popularity and teachings have spanned the ages. The first woman composer and the first to write about female sexuality, her works were a key to bringing Europe out of medieval darkness into the enlightenment. The renowned Margarethe von Trotta teams up with Barbara Sukowa, one of Germany’s most fascinating actresses, to create this powerful portrait.