Polish jazz pianist, composer Artur Dutkiewicz to hold concert, workshop at the CCP

The Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland present Polish jazz pianist and composer Artur Dutkiewicz in a solo concert on November 12, 2019 at 7:30 PM at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater).

The concert, billed as Impromazurka, will feature music by Antonín Dvořák, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Alexandre Tansman, and Dutkiewicz own improvisations on the mazurka.

The morning after, on November 13, 2019, 10:00 AM, Dutkiewicz will conduct a piano improvisation workshop to be held also at the CCP's Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino.

Ticket prices for the concert are at P1000 and P800 with 50% discount for students and 20% discount for senior citizens. There will be an admission fee of P100 for observers at the workshop.

Artur Dutkiewicz,called as the Ambassador of Polish Jazz, studied composition and arrangement where he graduated from the Jazz Department at the Academy of Music in Katowice (Poland), receiving a diploma with distinction. He was a finalist of the Thelonious Monk Competition in Washington, USA.

Dutkiewicz has taken part in dozens of renowned jazz and music festivals around the world including the Hague’s Northsea Jazz Festival, Warsaw’s  Jamboree, Hamburg’s Campnagel Theater, Bern’s Festival Kleiner Bunchen, Nuremberg’s Jazz Ost West, Cannes’ MIDEM, Milan’s Music Oggi, Paris’ Festival D`Europe Centrale, Budapest’s Sziget Festival, Havana’s Jazz Plaza Festival, Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, Glasgow Jazz Festival, Duesseldorf’s Jazz Rally, Berlin’s World Culture Festival, Milan’s  Notturni in Palestro Festival, Beijing’s BJ Ninegates Jazz Festival, Helsinki’s Kontu Festival, and Melbourne’s International Jazz Festival.

He has released several albums as a solo artist, (Mazurki) and as the leader of the Artur Dutkiewicz Trio (Prana, Traveller). For the readers' listening pleasure, here is Prana, a recent Artur Dutkiewicz Trio release with Dutkiewicz alongside bassist Michał Barański bass and drummer Łukasz Żyta.

4th German Film Week commemorates 30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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...

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.

St. Scholastica's College stages Mozart's Die Zauberflöte/The Magic Flute

St. Scholastica's College Manila School of Music and the Filipinas Opera Society Foundation Inc. in cooperation with Guang Ming College present a production of Wolfgang Amafrud Mozart's Die Zauberflöte/The Magic Flute this November 8-12, 2019 at the St. Cecilia's Hall located inside the St. Scholastica's College Manila campus.

This opera in two acts stars Myramae Meneses as Pamina, Lorenz Lapresca and Nomher Nival as Tamino, Kevin Chen as Papageno, Mavel Bautista and Bernadette Mamauag as Queen of the Night, and Roby Malubay as Sarastro as well as alumni and students of St. Scholastica's College Manila School of Music. Maestro Juan Luis Muñoz conducts the SSC Orchestra.

The creative team consists of director Nazer Salcedo, music director Camille Lopez Molina, production designer Ohm David, and artistic consultant Paul Alexander Morales.

Performances will be on November 8 & 12, 2019 at 4:00 PM and November 10, 2019 at 3:00 PM. For tickets, please call 8567-7686 loc. 2288.

Aga Muhlach, Alice Dixson starrer opens 5th Danish Film Festival

The Aga Muhlach and Alice Dixson starrer Nuuk, the first Filipino film shot in Greenland is set to make its world premiere at the 5th Danish Film Festival.

Danish Ambassador designate Grete Sillasen and Alice Dixson

Presented by the Embassy of Denmark, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, and the Shangri-La Plaza, the 5th Danish Film Festival will screen Nuuk and nine other films from Denmark on October 9-13, 2019 at the Red Carpet in Shangri-La Plaza.

Danish Ambassador designate Grete Sillasen

The inclusion of Nuuk continues the tradition of Philippines-Denmark ties through cinema in the festival. In earlier editions, the film festival has shown Rosita with Filipina actress Mercedes Cabral in the lead. Last year, the Filipino movie Dagsin was part of the selection owing to the film's exploration of ideas by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and French Existentialist Albert Camus.

Danish Ambassador designate Grete Sillasen, Veronica Velasco, Alice Dixson,
and Erwin Blanco

Here are the films to be screened at the 5th Danish Film Festival.

Nuuk

Director: Veronica Velasco

Cast: Aga Muhlach, Alice Dixson, Ujarneq Fleischer

Elaisa Svendsen (Alice Dixson) is a Filipina immigrant in Nuuk, Greenland struggling to survive the recent death of her husband. Abandoned by Karl (Ujarneq Fleischer) her only son, she tries to cope using alcohol and drugs. Her life changes when she meets Mark Alvarez (Aga Muhlach). Mark is a fellow Filipino fighting the loneliness that surrounds the city. Together, they find love in the cold and isolated place of Nuuk. When all seems perfect, Mark disappears without a trace.

Ordet

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Cast: Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Birgitte Federspiel, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Cay Kristiansen, Ejner Federspiel, Gerda Nielsen, Sylvia Eckhausen, Ove Rud, Henry Skjær, Edith Trane, Ann Elisabeth Rud, Susanne Rud, Hanne Agesen

The three sons of devout Danish farmer Morten (Henrik Malberg) have widely disparate religious beliefs. Youngest son Anders (Cay Kristiansen) shares his father's religion, but eldest son Mikkel (Emil Hass Christensen) has lost his faith, while middle child Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye) has become delusional and proclaims that he is Jesus Christ himself. When Mikkel's wife, Inger (Birgitte Federspiel) goes into a difficult childbirth, everyone's beliefs are put to the test.

Fuglene over sundet/Across the Waters

Director: Nicolo Donato

Cast: David Dencik, Danica Curcic, Jakob Cedergren, Nicolas Bro, Laura Bro, Morten Holst, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Marijana Jankovic, Lars Brygmann, Morten Suurballe, Mads Riisom, Signe Egholm Olsen, Kristian Høgh Jeppesen, Anders Heinrichsen, Elliot Hove

The year is 1943 and rumors have it, that the Germans are about to deport all Danish Jews. The Jewish jazz musician Arne Itkin, his wife and their 5-year-old son quickly realize that they have to flee to safety in Sweden, in order to avoid the horrors of the concentration camps. But who can be trusted when Gestapo and Danish collaborators are on their heels to stop anyone from fleeing the country.

Jeg er William/I am William

Director: Jonas Elmer

Cast:: Alexander Magnússon, Amina Awan Abou Arrakha, Dorte Højsted, Niels-Martin Eriksen, Rasmus Bjerg, Stinne Henriksen

William lives with his uncle Nils. His father is dead and his mother is mentally unstable. Nils retired early and spends his day buying and selling stuff at a favourable price. Nils owes some gangsters money and they want their debt paid back.

Darling

Director: Birgitte Stærmose

Cast: Danica Curcic, Astrid Grarup Elbo, Gustaf Skarsgård, Ulrich Thomsen

Darling is the moving love story of a dancer on the rollercoaster ride of her life, a drama about the rise and fall of a modern woman as she summons the courage to face her greatest trial.

Der kommer en dag /The Day Will Come

Director: Jesper W. Nielsen

Cast: Sofie Gråbøl, Lars Mikkelsen, Lars Ranthe, Sonja Richter, David Dencik

The year is 1967, and a blooming youth culture is on the rise. In a working-classneighborhood of Copenhagen, two inseparable brothers, Elmer and Erik – are removed from their ill mother and put in the Gudbjerg Home for Boys, a place frozen in time. Here, Headmaster Heck practices his own brand of philosophy and regulation. Unruly boys are transformed into obedient citizens at any cost. From their very first day, the boys understand that their freedom is lost and a daily struggle for survival has begun. The boys try to live under the radar, but Elmer’s vivid astronaut dreams and clubfoot constantly gets him in trouble. The brothers realize they are on their own and a simmering revolt slowly forms. Armed only with a vivid imagination and a fickle hope the boys engage in the frightening battle against Headmaster Heck and his lethal tyranny.

Lykke-Per/A Fortunate Man

Director: Bille August

Cast: Julie Christiansen, Anders Hove, Jens Albinus, Esben Smed Jensen, Ole Lemmeke, Katrine Greis-Rosenthal, Rasmus Bjerg, Peter Plaugborg, Tommy Kenter, Morten Hauch-Fausbøll

On his quest for happiness, Per decides to leave Jutland and an upbringing in a strict religious home. He runs from his family and his patriarch father, and sets sail towards Copenhagen to become an engineer. Parallel to his studies, he works on a visionary energy project based on wind and wave energy, a project so much ahead of its time, tha professors consider him insane and far too self-confident. However, Per’s project becomes a succes and he marries the beautiful Jakobe who is a part of a wealthy Jewish family. One would imagine that Per’s happiness now is made. But Per’s childhood keeps haunting him and his dogmatic family cannot accept his new life. Despite his luck and success, Per is unable to fully cut the strings to his strict religious background, and he now fears that he will repeat his father’s patriarchist behavior.

Charmøren/The Charmer

Director: Milad Alami

Cast: Ardalan Esmaili, Soho Rezanejad, Susan Taslimi, Lars Brygmann, Stine Fischer Christensen, Amalie Lindegård, Dan Boie Kratfeldt, Jesper Lohmann,Nastja Arcel

Esmail, a young Iranian man, is desperately trying to meet women who can secure his stay in Denmark. As time runs out, he falls in love and his past catches up with him.

Team Hurricane

Director: Annika Berg

Cast: Eja Penelope Roepstorff, Ida Glitre, Maja Leth Bang, Mathilde Linnea Daugaard Jensen, Elise Pedersen, Sara Morling, Zara Munch Bjarnum

Experimental teen drama that celebrates teenage girls who dare to be loud, annoying, vulgar and vulnerable.

Cirkeline, Coco og det vilde næsehorn/ Circleen, Coco and the Wild Rhinoceros

Director: Jannik Hastrup

Cirkeline finds a bestie with the airs of a princess, and Ingolf meets a rhinoceros who’s fed up with always being the little one. They set off together on a journey that teaches them that being in charge isn’t always a piece of cake and that even the teeniest of rhinos can prove the greatest of heroes.

Here is the schedule of screenings of the 5th Danish Film Festival.

October 9, 2019

7:30 PM Nuuk

October 10, 2019

2:30 PM I Am William

4:30 PM Darling

6:40 PM The Day Will Come

9:00 PM A Fortunate Man

October 11, 2019

2:40 PM Team Hurricane

4:50 PM The Charmer

7:00 PM Across the Waters

9:00 PM A Fortunate Man

October 12, 2019

2:00 PM Ordet

4:30 PM Nuuk

7:00 PM Darling

9:00 PM I Am William

October 13, 2019

2:45 PM Circleen, Coco and the Wild Rhinoceros

4:20 PM Team Hurricane

6:30 PM Nuuk

9:00 PM Across the Waters

Admission to the screenings is for free on a first come, first served basis.

The 5th Danish Film Festival is presented by Embassy of Denmark Manila, the Danish Film Institute, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, and the Shangri-La Plaza.