The German Film Festival in Singapore has come a long way since the first film week in 1978 organised by the Goethe-Institut Singapore. In the Festival’s 22nd edition, a selection of the latest films from Germany and Europe will be screened over three weeks. Not only does the Festival showcase the diversity of contemporary German cinema in terms of artistic languages and styles, it also tackles a wide range of issues and themes.
FROM OCTOBER 25TH TO NOVEMBER 11TH!
In a programme spanning drama, documentaries, children movies and art films, a central theme emerges: how people find the strength and courage to challenge obstacles in their lives and rise above loneliness, marginalisation and other adversities. The audience will encounter characters who dare to be different in their quest for change and individual freedom. For example, in Different Kinds of Rain, a student’s entrenchment in his own room becomes a promise of freedom, while the Golden Globe Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, In the Fade, focuses on a painful odyssey for a young woman countering nationalism and right-wing populism.
The programme also includes adaptations of famous German children’s literature: The Legend of Timm Thaler, Rabbit School and The Little Witch. Other highlights include LOMO – The Language of Many Others, 3 Days in Quiberon, Once Upon a Time – Indianerland and the opening film, In the Aisles.
The Festival is as much about films from Germany as it is about films from Europe, as can be seen in the German-French and German-Swiss co-productions featured in the programme. This shows how film-makers, artists, actors and production teams from different nations can come together for film projects addressing local or global issues.
Here’s German cinema at its best – where, at the core, the human perspective places women and men at the centre of the narrative, highlighting their place, relation or struggle with their immediate environment and the world at large.
3 Days in Quiberon
Hilde Fritsch (Birgit Minichmayr) arrives to visit her old friend – world-famous star Romy Schneider (Marie Bäumer) – who has retreated to a spa hotel to escape the daily pressures of her life. Together, they appear like two regular women who are just happy to be reunited. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that Hilde is expected to offer the support the sensitive actress needs to be able to truly face her own demons.
After journalist Michael Jürgs (Robert Gwisdek) and photographer Robert Lebeck (Charly Hübner) arrive to conduct an interview for the famous German magazine Stern, a cat-and-mouse game ensues. Hilde attempts to guard her fragile friend, while the journalists try to capture the innermost feelings of this fascinating woman for their audience. By the end of these three days – spent in the French village of Quiberon, on the coast of Brittany – will Romy find the inner strength to get what she desperately wants: to start over?
Year 2018
Runtime 115 min
Rating NC16: Some nudity
Language German, French
Subtitles English
Director Emily Atef
Producer Karsten Stöter
Screenwriter Emily Atef
Director of Photography Thomas Kiennast
Cast Marie Bäumer, Birgit Minichmayr, Charly HübnerAwards
Best Feature Film in Gold
German Film Award 2018
Best Director
German Film Award 2018
Best Lead Actress: Marie Bäumer
German Film Award 2018
Best Cinematography
German Film Award 2018Saturday, 10th November, 5:00 pm – Alliance Française de Singapour
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and
Sunday, 11th November, 6:30 pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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A dysfunctional cat
Late by Iranian standards in getting married, Mina gets help from her family members who introduce her to potential husbands in Iran. She has rejected all of them until she meets Kian, a surgeon of Iranian origin from Germany. It’s not love at first sight, but the tempting idea of starting a new life in Europe makes her say yes to the union.
In his mid-30s, Kian is desperate for a wife to make his life appear complete. He takes his new bride back home, but this marriage involving virtual strangers is much more difficult than they could imagine.
Born in Kassel, Germany, to Iranian parents, writer-director Susan Gordanshekan employs an understated approach to tell this story of how a couple has to reconcile expectations and differences to finally find a way to live together.
Year 2018
Runtime 93 min
Rating M18: Sexual scenes
Language German, Farsi
Subtitles English
Director Susan Gordanshekan
Producer Ralf Zimmermann
Screenwriter Susan Gordanshekan
Director of Photography Julian Krubasik
Cast Pegah Ferydoni, Hadi Khanjanpour, Henrike von KuickFriday 2th, 20.00pm & Saturday 3th, 17.30pm – Golden Mile Tower
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Cloud Whispers
Cloud Whispers tells the tragicomic story of 60-year-old Charlotte, who leaves her old life behind at a motorway pull-in to go on a road trip with her granddaughter Jo and her dead cat. Her husband Paul and her daughter Alex are left puzzled and somewhat shocked. On the other hand, the first impulse of Charlotte and Jo to run away has developed more and more into a self-determined new beginning. Far away from their old patterns, they dive into the here and now, embracing their fears while at the same time welcoming surprises that life and love has to offer. But Paul eventually catches up…
The impressive cast in this feature-film debut by writer-director Kerstin Polte include Corinna Harfouch (Downfall), Meret Becker (Munich, Wetlands) and Sabine Timoteo (The Free Will)..
Year 2017
Runtime 93 min
Rating R21: Some homosexual content
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Kerstin Polte
Producer Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo
Screenwriter Kerstin Polte
Director of Photography Anina Gmuer
Cast Corinna Harfouch, Karl Kranzkowski, Meret BeckerAward
Preis des Verbands der deutschen Filmkritik
Achtung Berlin New Berlin Film Award 2018Sunday, 4th November, 6:30 pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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Different kinds of rain
Mike has locked himself in for weeks. He is not sick; he has consciously decided not to take part in the life outside anymore. And his parents or sister cannot do anything about it. They can only stand in front of the locked door and prompt, plead, ask, lose it, despair, accuse, ignore and hope. In the process, the door turns into a mirror of their own stories.
Inspired by the Japanese phenomenon hikikomori, where teenagers withdraw from social life, this debut feature of award-winning German director Isa Prahl won the Best First Feature award at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
Year 2017
Runtime 91 min
Rating R21: Sexual scenes
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Isa Prahl
Producer Melanie Andernach, Knut Losen
Screenwriter Karin Kaci
Director of Photography Andreas Köhler
Cast Bibiana Beglau, Bjarne Mädel, Emma BadingAward
Best Film First Feature Competition
Tallin Black Nichts Film Festival 2017Thursday, 8th November, 7:15pm & Sunday, 11th November, 01:45pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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In The Aisles
Introverted Christian (Happy End’s Franz Rogowski) discovers love, friendship and a whole new world between the aisles of the market where he has started working. Bruno (Peter Kurth) from the Beverage aisle takes him under his wing and quickly becomes a fatherly friend to him.
In the aisles, he meets “Sweets” – Marion (Toni Erdmann’s Sandra Hüller) – and is instantly smitten by her mysterious charm. The coffee machine becomes their regular meeting point and the two get to know each other. But Marion is married and Christian’s feelings for her seem to remain unrequited, especially when she doesn’t return to work one day. As Christian gets more ingrained as a member of the wholesale market family, his days of driving fork lifts and stacking shelves begin to mean much more to him than meets the eye.
Year 2018
Runtime 125 min
Rating NC16: Some gore
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Thomas Stuber
Producer Jochen Laube, Fabian Maubach
Screenwriter Thomas Stuber, Clemens Meyer
Director of Photography Peter Matjasko
Cast Franz Rogowski, Sandra Hüller, Peter KurthAward
Best Lead Actor: Franz Rogowski
German Film Award 2018Saturday,10th November, 02:00 pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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In the Fade
Katja’s life falls apart when, out of the blue, her husband Nuri and little son Rocco are killed in a bomb attack. Her friends and family try to give her the support she needs, and Katja somehow manages to make it through the funeral. But the mind-numbing search for the perpetrators and the reasons behind the senseless killing complicates Katja’s painful mourning by opening up wounds and doubts. Danilo, a lawyer and Nuri’s best friend, represents Katja in the eventual trial against the two suspects: a young couple from the neo-Nazi scene. The trial pushes Katja to the edge, but there’s simply no alternative for her: she wants justice.
Written and directed by the award-winning film-maker Fatih Akin (The Edge of Heaven, Soul Kitchen), In the Fade won the 2018 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Diane Kruger, who plays the lead role of Katja, was named Best Actress at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
Year 2017
Runtime 106 min
Rating NC16: Disturbing scene and coarse language
Language German, Greek
Subtitles English
Director Fatih Akin
Producer Ann-Kristin Homann, Nurhan Sekerci-Porst, Fatih Akin, Herman Weigel
Screenwriter Fatih Akin, Hark Bohm
Director of Photography Rainer Klausmann
Cast Diane Kruger, Denis Moschitto, Johannes KrischAwards
Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
Golden Globe Awards 2018
Best Actress: Diane Kruger
Festival de Cannes 2017
Best Actress: Diane Kruger
Bavarian Film Awards 2018
Best Direction
Bavarian Film Awards 2018Thursday, 1th November, 20:00pm & Sunday 4th, 17.30pm – The Projector, Golden Mile Tower Singapore
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Lomo
Karl’s father is an architect, while his mother is a former singer who spends all her time on the computer with role-playing games. They are liberals, so the sky’s the limit for their kids. Karl runs a blog on the Internet, where he collects and compiles photographs and videos. Is identity just an illusion? Many followers reading his blog ask themselves this very question.
When Karl falls in love with Doro, he thinks he finally knows what he wants. But after she loses interest, Karl realises that one thing is now clear: nothing is true, everything is random. Disillusioned, he starts playing a dangerous game, where his followers take increasingly more control of his life, making decisions for him, and eventually ruling over matters of life and death.
There will be a talk with director Julia Langhof after the screening. This film is presented in partnership with the Singapore Writers Festival, as part of the SWF Country Focus: Germany.
Year 2017
Runtime 101 min
Rating NC16: Some sexual references and coarse language
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Julia Langhof
Producer Martin Heisler, Eva Kemme
Screenwriter Thomas Gerhold, Julia Langhof
Director of Photography Michal Grabowski
Cast Jonas Dassler, Lucie Hollmann, Eva NürnbergAwards
Götz-George-Nachwuchspreis Jonas Dassler
First Steps Award 2017
Michael-Ballhaus-Kamerapreis Michal Grabowski
First Steps Award 2017
Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino for best screenplay
Munich Film Festival 2017Best Actor Jonas Dassler
Achtung Berlin New Berlin Film Award 2018
Best Production
Achtung Berlin New Berlin Film Award 2018Saturday, 3th November, 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM – National Gallery Singapore, Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium
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Once Upon A Time – Indianerland
Once Upon A Time – Indianerland is adapted from the novel by Nils Mohl: It’s the end of the summer holidays in a drab neighbourhood of Hamburg. Young boxing talent Mauser (Leonard Scheicher) has only one goal in mind: the boxing competition that could change his future.
When he runs into Jackie (Emilia Schüle), his whole world turns upside down. Is this more than attraction?
When his father disappears, Mauser sets off to find him and embarks on a journey through the world of music, psychedelia, violence, love and a biblical thunderstorm.
Year 2018
Runtime 97 min
Rating M18: Some drug use and sexual scenes
Language German, Spanish
Subtitles English
Director Ilker Çatak
Producer Michael Eckelt
Screenwriter Nils Mohl, Max Reinhold
Director of Photography Florian Mag
Cast Leonard Scheicher, Emilia Schüle, Johanna PolleyFriday,26th Oktober, 17:15pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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The Garden
It’s 1976, the height of summer. A heat wave. Everybody is sweating. The wasps are even more aggressive than usual. In the midst of it all, a German family are spending the warm sultry “dog days” in their communal garden – just as they always do.
Then the passing of their overbearing matriarch Sophie reveals fine cracks in the family’s relationships while subtly changing how they interact. While the adults argue about the sale of the property, the children are free to roam the garden and the neighbourhood. Suddenly the news of the disappearance of a little girl disrupts the placid summer idyll…
Thomas Loibl (Toni Erdmann), Laura Tonke (Schneider is Stuck) and Ursula Werner (Cloud 9) star in this film that has won Best Director and Producer at the German Cinema New Talents Awards. It is, according to Variety, “a portrait of a bourgeois German family’s 1970s summer that feels deliciously and authentically present-tense.”
Year 2017
Runtime 97 min
Rating M18: Some nudity
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Sonja Maria Kröner
Producer Philipp Worm, Tobias Walker
Screenwriter Sonja Maria Kröner
Director of Photography Julia Daschner
Cast Ursula Werner, Laura Tonke, Thomas LoiblAwards
Best Director
Munich Film Festival 2017
Best Production
Munich Film Festival 2017
Best Screenplay
Bavarian Film Awards 2018Sunday, 28th October,6:30pm & Thursday, 8th November, 09:25pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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The Silent Revolution
From the director of the award-winning The People vs Fritz Bauer comes the inspiring true story of a group of ordinary students who saw their lives changed forever by a harmless humane act of solidarity during the early stages of the Cold War, where freedom of thinking and integrity could make anyone an enemy of state or an ordinary hero.
Based on remarkable true events and adapted from Dietrich Garstka’s eponymous book, The Silent Revolution is a captivating Cold War-era drama that recently enjoyed its world premiere in the Special Gala of the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival.
It’s 1956 and during a visit to West Berlin, high school students, Theo and Kurt, witness dramatic footage of the Budapest uprising. Back in Stalinstadt, they spontaneously hold a two-minute silence during class in solidarity with the victims of the Hungarian struggle against Soviet oppression. But this gesture causes much bigger ripples than expected.
Year 2017
Runtime 111 min
Rating NC16: Some nudity
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Lars Kraume
Producer Miriam Düssel
Screenwriter Lars Kraume
Director of Photography Jens Harant
Cast Leonard Scheicher, Lena Klenke, Jonas DasslerAward
Best Actor: Jonas Dassler
Bavarian Film Awards 2018Saturday, 27th October, 04:00pm & Sunday, 11th November, 03:55pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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World beyond my Mind
Christoph (Nils Hohenhövel) begins his voluntary year of social service in a nursing home, where he takes on the role of personal nurse to the terminally-ill 28-year-old Sven (Samuel Koch). After initial problems, Sven gradually lets Christoph into his microcosm. In a frightening moment, Sven stops pretending to be cold, uncaring and superior – and the two young men become friends.
Drawn into this close friendship, Sven reveals his intimate desires to Christoph: he has a sexual fetish involving the feel of plastic garbage bag on his bare skin. As Sven’s health condition gets worse, he decides he will not succumb to his fate without putting up a fight. He tells Christoph his innermost wish.
Year 2018
Runtime 99 min
Rating PG13: Some mature content
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Eibe Maleen Krebs
Producer Verena Gräfe-Höft
Screenwriter Eibe Maleen Krebs, Andreas Keck
Director of Photography Judith Kaufmann
Cast Samuel Koch, Nils Hohenhövel, Eva NürnbergAward
Youth Award
Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis 2018Saturday, 27th October, 01:00pm & Friday, 9th November, 07:15pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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Rabbit School
Rabbit boy Max has one big dream: to become one of the really cool guys. To impress the leader of the hottest gang in town, he attempts a stunt on a model airplane – which goes horribly wrong, landing him in a curious place where he meets a group of little rabbits in old-fashioned clothes. Max has ended up in Rabbit School, a place where time seems to have stood still.
In this animated film, Max has to contend with a family of hungry and deceitful foxes who are scheming to steal the Rabbit School’s most precious possession, the magical Golden Egg – which the foxes believe can help them become Easter foxes to deliver slimy worms and fried spiders, instead of Easter eggs, to children around the world. Will our hero be able to team up with the other rabbits and work up his wit and courage to stop the foxes from ruining Easter for us all?
Rabbit School: Guardians Of the Golden Egg is based on the children’s book by Albert Sixtus and Fritz Koch-Gotha.
Year 2017
Runtime 76 min
Rating PG
Language English
Director Ute von Münchow-Pohl
Animation Director
Peter Bohl
Producer Dirk Beinhold
Screenwriter Katja Grübel, Dagmar RehbinderSunday, 28th October, 02:00pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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The Legend of Timm Thaler
Timm Thaler is poor, but he laughs a lot, and often. His laughter is so charming and contagious that the diabolical Baron Lefuet wants, at all costs, to have the laughter for himself. And so the world’s richest man makes the boy a dubious offer: if Timm agrees to sell him his laugh, he’ll win every bet he ever makes in the future. After hesitating at first, Timm signs the contract. But though he can now seemingly fulfil his every wish, without his laughter, he is a different person.
Of all of Timm’s friends, only Ida and Kreschimir continue to stick with him. Together they hope to rescue Timm from the clutches of the baron and win back his inimitable laughter.
Directed by Andreas Dresen (Cloud 9), this film is based on a famous children’s book by the late German writer, James Krüss.This film is presented in partnership with the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Year 2017
Runtime 102 min
Rating PG
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Andreas Dresen
Producer Oliver Berben
Screenwriter Alexander Adolph
Director of Photography Michael Hammon
Cast Arved Friese, Justus Von Dohányi, Axel PrahlSaturday 27th November, 7:30 pm – Singapore Botanic Gardens
Free admission.
The little Witch
The little witch (Karoline Herfurth) has a big problem: She is only 127 years old and therefore much too young to dance with the other witches on Walpurgis Night. That’s why she secretly sneaks up on this most important of all witch festivals.
As punishment, she must memorise all the spells from the great magic book within a year and show everyone that she is a good witch. But diligence and ambition are not really her strengths and, on top of that, the evil witch Rumpumpel (Suzanne von Borsody) is in her way.
Since its publication decades ago, Otfried Preussler’s The Little Witch (1957) has inspired generations of children. In this first film adaptation of the classic book directed by Michael Schaerer, Herfurth (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, The Reader) brings one of Germany’s most popular literary characters to life.
Year 2017
Runtime 103 min
Rating PG
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Michael Schaerer
Producer Jakob Claussen, Uli Putz
Screenwriter Matthias Pacht
Director of Photography Matthias Fleischer
Cast Karoline Herfurth, Suzanne von BorsodySunday, 28th October, 04:00pm & Sunday 4th November, 04:00pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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Central Airport THF
Berlin’s historic defunct Tempelhof Airport remains a place of arrivals and departures. Today its massive hangars are used as Germany’s largest emergency shelter for asylum seekers, like 18-year-old Syrian refugee, Ibrahim. As Ibrahim adjusts to his transitory daily life of social services interviews, German lessons and medical exams, he tries to cope with homesickness and the anxiety of whether he will get deported or gain residency in a new country he can call home.
An assistant director to Todd Haynes in the past, Brazilian film-maker Karim Aïnouz has been directing his own films since 1992. In this documentary, he not only explores the former airport’s interesting architecture but also paints a sensitive portrait of refugees whom he has spent a year getting to know better.
Year 2018
Runtime 97 min
Rating PG13
Language Arabic, English, German, Russian
Subtitles English
Director Karim Ainouz
Producer Felix von Boehm
Screenwriter Karim Ainouz
Director of Photography Juan Sarmiento G.Award
Amnesty International Film Prize
Berlin International Film Festival 2018Saturday 3th November, 03:00pm – The Projector, Golden Mile Tower Singapore
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Family Life
Biggi and Alfred used to be a couple, but life’s tough if you don’t have gainful employment. So although they are separated, they are still living together on a run-down farm in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany.
Biggi’s daughters, 17-year-old Denise and 14-year-old Saskia, are trying to make their way in life. But they are hindered, both by the emotional rollercoaster that is puberty and by their schooling which is disrupted by bullying, bouts of anxiety and various spells in homes. The adults try to give them stability, but they are battling their own demons. They have big dreams of a Western town or a stud farm, but without money their bucolic idyll of horses and dogs soon feels like the end of the world.
Film-maker Rosa Hannah Ziegler, in her first feature-length documentary Family Life, continues working with Wendland Film Cooperative to use the medium of film to examine social imbalances.
Year 2018
Runtime 96 min
Rating PG13
Language German
Subtitles English
Director Rosa Hannah Ziegler
Producer Roswitha Ziegler
Screenwriter Rosa Hannah Ziegler
Director of Photography Matteo CoccoAward
Best Documentary
Neisse Filmfestival 2018Thursday, 1th November, 07:10pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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The Cleaners
Enter the third-world shadow industry of digital cleaning, where the Internet rids itself of what it doesn’t like: violence, pornography and political content. Here we meet five “digital scavengers” among thousands of people outsourced from Silicon Valley whose job is to delete “inappropriate” content off the Net. In a parallel struggle, we meet people around the globe whose lives are dramatically affected by online censorship.
A typical “cleaner” must observe and rate thousands of often deeply disturbing images and videos every day, leading to lasting psychological impacts. Yet underneath their work lies profound questions around what makes an image art or propaganda, and what defines journalism. Where exactly is the point of balance for social media to be neither an unlegislated space nor a forum rife with censorship?
Year 2018
Runtime 95 min
Rating M18: Mature content
Language English, Filipino
Subtitles English
Director Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck
Producer Christian Beetz, Georg Tschurtschenthaler
Screenwriter Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck
Director of Photography Axel Schneppat, Max PreissAward
Gilda Vieira de Mello Award
International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights 2018Sunday 4th November, 01:45pm – Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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