German Film Night
Come enjoy a German film, with English sub-titles, at the German Free School (507 E. 10th St., Austin) on the fourth Friday of the month (except Jun, Jul, Aug & Dec). Doors open at 7:00 pm, and the film starts at 7:30 pm. Admission is free. Free popcorn, pretzels and pre-film Gemütlichkeit are on tap. Feel welcome to bring your beverages of choice. Seating is limited, so please RSVP to reserve a spot.
Upcoming Films
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain from Köpenick), 1956.
This film stars the beloved German actor, Heinz Rühmann (1902-1994) who starred in approximately 100 films. This appears to be the only film from his large repertory with English subtitles.
A young shoemaker is arrested for stealing a small amount of money, and is released after being jailed for 15 years. He wants to have a pass to get a job and start anew, but without a job he doesn’t get a pass; and without a pass, he doesn’t get a job. He gets into the net of Prussian bureaucracy, and can’t see a solution. Until he enters a small Second-Hand Shop, and sees a Prussian Uniform that fits him like a second skin
Friday, March 23, 2012 at 7:30 pm
To be announced.
Friday, April 27, 2012 at 7:30 pm
To be announced.
Past Films
Bersina oder die letzten Tagen der Schweiz (“Bersina or the last days of Switzerland”), 1999).
This film is billed as an “eccentric, Swiss black comedy”. Elena Panova plays a Russion call girl who desperately wants Swiss citizenship. As everyone around her makes promises, she channels Inspector Clouseau and Agent 99. Later, she fumbles and flirts her way to an accidental coupe d’etat. The film will tickle your funny bone and make you smile at all things eccentric Swiss.
De tweeling (“Twin Sisters”), 2002).
This film is a moving story about two little, twin girls who are seperated when their father dies and are taken in by different relatives. One has a hard life on a pig farm in Germany and the other lives in a wealthy home in Holland. The movie follows the twins from childhood to old age, with WWII serving as a backdrop for much of the story. The movie is in German and Dutch and has English subtitles.
Jerichow , 2008.
The dishonorably discharged Afghanistan veteran Thomas returns to his home village of Jerichow. Ali, a local Turkish-German businessman, owner of a snack-bar chain, hires him as a driver. That’s when Thomas meets Laura, his Turkish Boss’s young and attractive wife. A classic love triangle is born, unfolding in desolate northeast Germany, where thick forests suddenly end on cliffs overlooking the Baltic Sea. Caught between guilt and freedom, between Passion and reason, the protagonists have no hopes for fulfillment of their dreams.
Anonyma – Eine Frau in Berlin (“A Woman in Berlin”), 2008).
A nameless woman keeps a diary as the Russians invade Berlin in the spring of 1945. She is in her early 30s, a patriotic journalist with international credentials; her husband, Gerd, a writer, is an officer at the Russian front. She speaks Russian and, for a day or two after the invasion, keeps herself safe, but then the rapes begin. She resolves to control her fate and invites the attentions of a Russian major, Andreij Rybkin. He becomes her protector of sorts, subject to pressures from his own fellow soldiers and officers. Dramas play out in the block of flats where she lives. Is she an amoral traitor? She asks, “How do we go on living?” And what of Gerd and her diary?
Kirschblüten – Hanami (“Cherry Blossoms”), 2008.
When Trudi learns that her husband Rudi is dangerously ill, she suggests visiting their child-ren in Berlin without telling him the truth. As Franzi and Karl don’t care much about their parents, Trudi and Rudi go to the Baltic Sea, where Trudi suddenly dies. Rudi is thrown out of gear, even more when he learns that his wife wanted to live a totally different life in Japan.
“Effi Briest”, (not rated, 1974), based on the 1894 novel by Theodor Fontane.
Effi Briest is a socially ambitious 17-year-old girl who accepts a proposal of marriage from Baron Geert von Instetten, a much older diplomat. Unfortunately, neither the Baron’s family nor anyone in the secluded town she now calls home accept Effi as an equal. Starved for companionship, Effi begins an innocent friendship with a well-known womanizer that may jeopardize her position as the Baron’s wife.
“Buddenbrooks”, (not rated, 2006), based on the first novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann.
As the 19th century gives way to a new era, four generations of a German merchant family cope with the changing times and their own conventions. Destiny ties the rise and fall of the Buddenbrookses’ fortunes to their conflicts between family loyalty and the drive for individual success.
‘Der Untergang’ (Downfall), (rated R), 2004.
In April of 1945 Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Forces from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Hitler still proclaims that Germany will achieve victory with orders to fight to the last man. Der Untergang explores the final days of the Reich, where senior leaders began defecting in order to save themselves, while others pledge to die with Hitler.
