The 4th German Film Week commemorates the 30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall with films depicting life in a divided Germany to be screened on November 6-12, 2019 at the SM Manila and SM Megamall cinemas.
Presented by the Goethe-Institut Philippinen, the festival boasts a selection of twelve feature length films, half of which is in keeping with the Fall of the Berlin Wall Anniversary theme.
Here are the films to be screened at the 4th German Film Week.
25 km/h
Director: Markus Goller
Cast: Franka Potente, Alexandra Maria Lara, Lars Eidinger, Jördis Triebel, Sandra Hüller, Jella Haase, Bjarne Mädel, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Martin Brambach, Dirk Helbig
Lars Eidinger and Bjarne Mädel play two completely disparate brothers who decide at their father’s funeral to follow a crazy whim and, at long last, fulfill their long-held dream of traveling through Germany on their mopeds. While they make some strange new acquaintances and experience all kinds of crazy situations during their marathon journey, the brothers gradually come to realize that, in the end, blood is thicker than water.
100 Things/100 Dinge
Director: Florian David Fitz
Cast: Florian David Fitz, Matthias Schweighöfer, Miriam Stein, Hannelore Elsner, Wolfgang Stumph, Katharina Thalbach, Johannes Allmayer, Sarah Victoria Frick, Max Bretschneider, Maria Furtwängler
Toni loves his espresso machine. Paul adores his smart phone. Toni can’t do anything without his hair-growth pills. Paul can’t function without Amazon. All hilarious hell breaks loose when a drunken argument at a party leads to an unthinkable wager between the two men: they vow to rid themselves of all possessions for 100 days. Only allowing themselves to retrieve one item out of storage per day, Paul and Toni are forced to confront what is really important in their lives, and what they can do without.
Director: Florian David Fitz
Cast: Florian David Fitz, Matthias Schweighöfer, Miriam Stein, Hannelore Elsner, Wolfgang Stumph, Katharina Thalbach, Johannes Allmayer, Sarah Victoria Frick, Max Bretschneider, Maria Furtwängler
Toni loves his espresso machine. Paul adores his smart phone. Toni can’t do anything without his hair-growth pills. Paul can’t function without Amazon. All hilarious hell breaks loose when a drunken argument at a party leads to an unthinkable wager between the two men: they vow to rid themselves of all possessions for 100 days. Only allowing themselves to retrieve one item out of storage per day, Paul and Toni are forced to confront what is really important in their lives, and what they can do without.
All About Me/Der Junge muss an die frische Luft
Director: Caroline Link
Cast: Luise Heyer, Sönke Möhring, Diana Amft, Joachim Król, Elena Uhlig, Maren Kroymann, Julius Weckauf, Ursula Werner, Theresa Schneider, Katharina Hintzen
Film adaptation of the autobiography of German entertainer Hape Kerkeling.
The story begins in the Ruhr Valley of 1972: Hans-Peter is nine years old and a bit chubby, but full of self-confidence. The latter is not least due to his ability to make other people laugh, a talent that he trains on every occasion - be it in the grocer's shop of his grandmother Änne, with the customers as an audience, or at the various meetings with his party-prone relatives. But the idyllic family life takes a turn for the darker when Hape's mother loses her sense of smell and taste as the result of a chronic sinus infection and starts struggling with depression. The father is helpless and doesn't know how to deal with his wife's mental illness. But for Hape, the sadness of his mother is an even greater incentive to act out his comedic side.
Balloon/Ballon
Cast: Luise Heyer, Sönke Möhring, Diana Amft, Joachim Król, Elena Uhlig, Maren Kroymann, Julius Weckauf, Ursula Werner, Theresa Schneider, Katharina Hintzen
Film adaptation of the autobiography of German entertainer Hape Kerkeling.
The story begins in the Ruhr Valley of 1972: Hans-Peter is nine years old and a bit chubby, but full of self-confidence. The latter is not least due to his ability to make other people laugh, a talent that he trains on every occasion - be it in the grocer's shop of his grandmother Änne, with the customers as an audience, or at the various meetings with his party-prone relatives. But the idyllic family life takes a turn for the darker when Hape's mother loses her sense of smell and taste as the result of a chronic sinus infection and starts struggling with depression. The father is helpless and doesn't know how to deal with his wife's mental illness. But for Hape, the sadness of his mother is an even greater incentive to act out his comedic side.
Balloon/Ballon
Director: Michael "Bully" Herbig
Cast: Friedrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross, Alicia von Rittberg, Thomas Kretschmann
Based on actual events, this feature film tells the story of a spectacular escape from the GDR. In summer 1979, after two years of preparations and planning, the Strezlzyk and Wetzel families want to escape from the GDR in a self-built hot-air balloon. The Strelzyk family goes first, but has to make an emergency landing before they get to cross the border. The damaged balloon gets carried away by the wind. While the family can make if back home safely, both, the Strelzyks as well as the Wetzels know it won’t be long before the Stasi are onto them. Feverishly, they start building a new, more stable balloon to undertake another attempt to escape.
Barbara
Director: Christian Petzold
Cast: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Mark Waschke, Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Jannik Schümann, Christina Hecke
Summer, 1980. Barbara, a doctor, has applied for an exit visa from the GDR (East Germany). Now, as punishment, she has been transferred from Berlin to a small hospital out in the country, far from everything. Jörg, her lover from the West, is already planning her escape. Barbara waits, keeping to herself. The new apartment, the neighbors, summertime, the countryside – none of that means anything to her. Working as a pediatric surgeon under her new boss Andre, she is attentive when it comes to the patients, but quite distanced toward her colleagues. Her future, she feels, will begin later. But Andre confuses her. His confidence in her professional abilities, his caring attitude, his smile. Why does he cover for her when she helps the young runaway Sarah? Does he have an assignment to keep track of her? Is he in love? But as the day of her planned escape quickly approaches, Barbara starts to lose control. Over herself, her plans, over love.
Berlin Blues/Herr Lehmann
Director: Leander Haußmann
Cast: Christian Ulmaen, Katja Danowski, Detlev Buck, Tim Fischer, Uwe-Dag Berlin
Using elusive measures Herr Lehmann has successfully ignored the demands of parents, landlord, neighbours and women for years. Now, in the year 1989, he lives pretty much trouble-free in Berlin, when he’s not in the nearest bar. But then, out of the blue, one unexpected annoyance after the other disrupts the routine of his beloved daily grind...
Cold Feet/Kalte Füße
Director: Wolfgang Groos
Cast: Heiner Lauterbach, Emilio Sakraya, Sonja Gerhardt, Aleksandar Jovanović, Alex Czerwinski, Michael Ostrowski, Gerti Drassl, Jasmin Gerat, Jeanne Goursaud, Adam Halajczyk
Through a curious mix-up, the petty criminal Denis suddenly finds himself in the position of a caretaker for the stroke patient Raimund. All he really wanted to do was break into Raimund’s house in order to finally pay off his debts to some disagreeable crooks. Instead, he now sits captive in the rich businessman’s house, who, since his seizure has been confined to a wheelchair. When Raimund’s granddaughter Charlotte shows up to check on him, it’s finally too much for Denis. But escape is not an option as a mighty snowstorm is raging in the region. And so he must continue to play the role of the caretaker – very much to Raimund’s dismay, who is doing everything he can to fend off the intruder. In contrast to Charlotte, Raimund has long since seen through Denis’ facade. A game of cat-andmouse begins, in which the handicapped senior and the clever young man put their resources to terrific use...
Good Bye, Lenin!
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Cast: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Florian Lukas, Chulpan Khamatova, Maria Simon, Alexander Beyer
October 1989 was a bad time to fall into a coma if you lived in East Germany - and this is precisely what happens to Alex’s proudly socialist mother. Alex has a big problem on his hands when she suddenly awakens eight months later. Her heart is so weak that any shock might kill her. And what could be more shocking than the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of capitalism in her beloved East Germany? To save his mother, Alex transforms the family apartment into an island of the past, a kind of socialist-era museum where his mother is lovingly duped into believing that nothing has changed. What begins as a little white lie turns into a major scam as Alex’s sister and selected neighbours are recruited to maintain the elaborate ruse - and keep her believing that Lenin really did win after all!
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Cast: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Florian Lukas, Chulpan Khamatova, Maria Simon, Alexander Beyer
October 1989 was a bad time to fall into a coma if you lived in East Germany - and this is precisely what happens to Alex’s proudly socialist mother. Alex has a big problem on his hands when she suddenly awakens eight months later. Her heart is so weak that any shock might kill her. And what could be more shocking than the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of capitalism in her beloved East Germany? To save his mother, Alex transforms the family apartment into an island of the past, a kind of socialist-era museum where his mother is lovingly duped into believing that nothing has changed. What begins as a little white lie turns into a major scam as Alex’s sister and selected neighbours are recruited to maintain the elaborate ruse - and keep her believing that Lenin really did win after all!
Gundermann
Director: Andreas Dresen
Cast: Alexander Scheer, Peter Schneider, Milan Peschel, Bjarne Mädel, Thorsten Merten, Alexander Schubert, Anna Unterberger, Axel Prahl, Alexander Hörbe, Leni Wesselman
Biopic about East-German singer-songwriter Gerhard Gundermann (1955–1998). During the day, he worked as a digger operator in a coal mine. Yet after his shift, he successfully performed as a singer who reached the masses. In his songs, he pondered existential questions of life and death, but also didn’t shy away from addressing current political and social issues. His very personal lyrics and authentic performances made him a cultural icon in the German Democratic Republic of the Eighties. At the same time, he frequently got into trouble with the authorities. After the fall of the wall, Gundermann’s popularity not only remained, it even grew bigger. Even when it was revealed in 1995 that Gundermann used to be an informant for the notorious secret state police Stasi, the news didn’t really tarnish his success – and though his musical career garnered him a good income, he continued to work as a digger operator. In 1998, Gerhard Gundermann passed away after suffering from a brain seizure.
Director: Andreas Dresen
Cast: Alexander Scheer, Peter Schneider, Milan Peschel, Bjarne Mädel, Thorsten Merten, Alexander Schubert, Anna Unterberger, Axel Prahl, Alexander Hörbe, Leni Wesselman
Biopic about East-German singer-songwriter Gerhard Gundermann (1955–1998). During the day, he worked as a digger operator in a coal mine. Yet after his shift, he successfully performed as a singer who reached the masses. In his songs, he pondered existential questions of life and death, but also didn’t shy away from addressing current political and social issues. His very personal lyrics and authentic performances made him a cultural icon in the German Democratic Republic of the Eighties. At the same time, he frequently got into trouble with the authorities. After the fall of the wall, Gundermann’s popularity not only remained, it even grew bigger. Even when it was revealed in 1995 that Gundermann used to be an informant for the notorious secret state police Stasi, the news didn’t really tarnish his success – and though his musical career garnered him a good income, he continued to work as a digger operator. In 1998, Gerhard Gundermann passed away after suffering from a brain seizure.
The Keeper/Trautmann
Director: Marcus H. Rosenmüller
Cast: David Kross, Freya Mavor, John Henshaw, Harry Melling, Dave Johns, Barbara Young, Chloe Harris, Mikey Collins, Gary Lewis, Dervla Kirwan
While visiting a PoW camp near Manchester at the end of WWII, Margaret and her father, the manager of the local football team, notice a young German soldier Bert Trautmann. Margaret’s father is so taken by Bert’s prowess as a goal-keeper that he gets him out of the camp to play for his team. While Margaret’s and Bert’s love slowly blossoms despite local hostility, Bert’s heroics in goal are noticed by Man City. Rather than going back to Germany, Bert marries Margaret and signs for Man City. His signing causes outrage to thousands of fans, many of them Jewish. But Bert and Margaret receive support from an unexpected direction: Rabbi Alexander Altmann, who fled the Nazis. Thus Bert’s path to acceptance begins. At the 1956 FA Cup Final he achieves ultimate reconciliation, when he secures victory by playing on despite breaking his neck. Yet fate twists the knife for both Margaret and Bert and their loyalty to each other will be put to the test once more.
Director: Marcus H. Rosenmüller
Cast: David Kross, Freya Mavor, John Henshaw, Harry Melling, Dave Johns, Barbara Young, Chloe Harris, Mikey Collins, Gary Lewis, Dervla Kirwan
While visiting a PoW camp near Manchester at the end of WWII, Margaret and her father, the manager of the local football team, notice a young German soldier Bert Trautmann. Margaret’s father is so taken by Bert’s prowess as a goal-keeper that he gets him out of the camp to play for his team. While Margaret’s and Bert’s love slowly blossoms despite local hostility, Bert’s heroics in goal are noticed by Man City. Rather than going back to Germany, Bert marries Margaret and signs for Man City. His signing causes outrage to thousands of fans, many of them Jewish. But Bert and Margaret receive support from an unexpected direction: Rabbi Alexander Altmann, who fled the Nazis. Thus Bert’s path to acceptance begins. At the 1956 FA Cup Final he achieves ultimate reconciliation, when he secures victory by playing on despite breaking his neck. Yet fate twists the knife for both Margaret and Bert and their loyalty to each other will be put to the test once more.
The Lives of Others/Das Leben der anderen
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
East Berlin, November 1984. Five years before its downfall, the former East-German government ensured its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance. Party-loyalist Captain Gerd Wiesler hopes to boost his career when given the job of collecting evidence against the playwright Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend, the celebrated theater actress Christa-Maria Sieland. After all, the “operation” is backed by the highest political circles. What he didn’t anticipate, however, was that submerging oneself into the world of the target also changes the surveillance agent. The immersion in The Lives of Others – in love, literature, free thinking and speech – makes Wiesler acutely aware of the meagerness of his own existence and opens to him a completely new way of life which he has ever more trouble resisting. But the system, once started, cannot be stopped. A dangerous game has begun...
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
East Berlin, November 1984. Five years before its downfall, the former East-German government ensured its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance. Party-loyalist Captain Gerd Wiesler hopes to boost his career when given the job of collecting evidence against the playwright Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend, the celebrated theater actress Christa-Maria Sieland. After all, the “operation” is backed by the highest political circles. What he didn’t anticipate, however, was that submerging oneself into the world of the target also changes the surveillance agent. The immersion in The Lives of Others – in love, literature, free thinking and speech – makes Wiesler acutely aware of the meagerness of his own existence and opens to him a completely new way of life which he has ever more trouble resisting. But the system, once started, cannot be stopped. A dangerous game has begun...
A Regular Woman/Nur Eine Frau
Director: Sherry Hormann
Cast: Almila Bağrıaçık, Rauand Taleb, Aram Arami, Meral Perin, Mehmet Ateşçi, Mürtüz Yolcu, Merve Aksoy, Armin Wahedi
The film traces the fate of the German Turk Hatun Aynur Sürücü, her struggle for a free, self-determined life against the resistance of the family. Her brothers don’t accept her lifestyle and insult and threaten her more and more. Finally, the young woman files charges against her eldest brother and moves with her child to a friend as she doesn’t feel safe at home anymore. Simultaneously, the family tries to find a wife for the future murderer, Hatun’s eldest brother. In just a few weeks they manage to educate the young Turk Melek (Evin) to become a strict Muslim. She becomes part of the plan to take over and look after Hatun’s little boy after her death. Then the murder happens.
Here is the screening schedule for SM Manila Cinema 6.
November 6, 2019
7:00 PM Balloon
November 7, 2019
7:00 PM 25 km/h
9:30 PM Berlin Blues
November 8, 2019
7:00 PM Goodbye, Lenin!
9:30 PM The Keeper
November 9, 2019
7:00 PM Cold Feet
9:30 PM Gundermann
November 10, 2019
7:00 PM 100 Things
9:30 PM The Lives of Others
November 11, 2019
7:00 PM All About Me
9:30 PM Balloon
November 12, 2019
7:00 PM A Regular Woman
9:00 PM Barbara
Here is the screening schedule for SM Megamall Cinema 2
November 7, 2019
7:00 PM All About Me
9:30 PM Balloon
November 8, 2019
7:00 PM A Regular Woman
9:00 PM Barbara
November 9, 2019
7:00 PM 25 km/h
9:30 PM Berlin Blues
November 10, 2019
7:00 PM Goodbye, Lenin!
9:30 PM The Keeper
November 11, 2019
7:00 PM Cold Feet
9:30 PM Gundermann
November 12, 2019
7:00 PM 100 Things
9:30 PM The Lives of Others
Tickets to the screenings are P100 each while students can enjoy a discounted price of P50 per screening. Tickets can be purchased at the counters of the participating SM cinemas,online via smcinema.com or through the SM Cinema App. The premiere night screening on November 6 is free and open to all on a first come, first served basis.
The 4th German Film Week is presented by the Goethe-Institut Philippinen with the partnership with SM Lifestyle Malls and SM Cinemas and the support of the Film Development Council of the Philippines.
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