Oscar contender and comedian Sandra Guller: five reasons to visit the New German Film Festival

A frame from the film “Seeds of the Sacred Fig”, which will be shown at this year’s German Film Festival / screenshot from YouTubeEvery year, several film festivals are held in Ukraine, which introduce Ukrainian moviegoers to the latest innovations in the cinema of different countries of the world. The oldest among them is “New German Cinema”, which will be held for the 30th time this year.

In particular, the latest films produced in Germany will be available to watch at the Kyiv cinema “Zhovten” from November 14 to 20, 2024. Until the end of the year, the festival will also be held in Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro.

Before the start of the 30th “New German Price” in the Ukrainian capital, UNIAN together with the company “Arthouse Traffic” collected five reasons not to miss this film event.

Candidate for “Oscar” from GermanyVisitors to the film festival will have another chance to see one of the main German film events of the year – the political thriller “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Die Saat des heiligen Feigenbaums), which was nominated for the Academy Award in the category “Best International Film” from Germany and which premiered at the capital film festival “Youth” in the fall of 2024. He also has three nominations for the “European Oscar”: best film, director and screenwriter.

This is a picture by the Iranian director Mohammad Rasulof, which he shot secretly in his homeland. In the midst of filming, the director was sentenced to 8 years in prison, flogging and a fine with confiscation of property. Taking advantage of the appeals process, Rasuloff completed the filming, and, getting rid of the electrical equipment, fled the country on foot through the mountains.

The film centers on a man named Iman, whose appointment as an investigative judge turns into a nightmare when mass protests over the death of a young woman in Tehran tear his family apart. Against the backdrop of demonstrations and government brutality, tension at home grows, and the disappearance of a service weapon pushes Iman on a dangerous path: he begins an investigation against his own family. Can he stop before he crosses the final line?

The director himself came to Kyiv this fall and expressed his support for Ukraine, being in the capital throughout the entire “Youth” festival as the head of the jury.

The film has already won several awards at Cannes, but it is also well-received by international audiences: it received audience awards at the San Sebastian and Sydney film festivals.

The film currently holds a 7.9 out of 10 score on IMDb, while on Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 94% approval rating from critics with a “Certified Fresh” rating. At the same time, on Metacritic, film experts rated it 84 out of 100 points with the mark “Mandatory viewing”, which corresponds to the characteristic of “universal recognition”.

During the “New German Cinema” festival, the film will be shown once – on November 17 at 19:05.

The best German film of the yearThe black comedy “Dying” (Sterben) directed by Matthias Glasner became the best German feature film at the 2024 National Film Awards. The main role of the composer in the film was played by the well-known German actor Lars Eidinger – the star of the series “Irma Vep” by Francois Ozon and the films “White Noise” by Noah Baumbach, “Personal Shopper” and “Sils-Maria” by Olivier Assayas. For this role, he has already received important nominations – for the German Film Award and the prize of the European Film Academy.

The tape tells about a dysfunctional family: the father suffers from dementia, the mother receives a fatal diagnosis, the son writes the musical composition “Dying”, and the daughter drowns in alcohol and an affair with a married man. In the face of death, they all try to restore the broken family ties.

At the 2024 Berlinale festival, where the world premiere of “Dying” took place, the film received three awards at once, including the Silver Bear for the best screenplay and the Film Guild prize. The film was also the best at the German Film Awards.

The film currently has a score of 7.6 out of 10 on IMDb, while it has a 100% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. At the same time, on Metacritic, film experts rated it 80 out of 100 points, which corresponds to the characteristic of “generally positive reviews”.

During the “New German Cinema” festival, the film will be shown once – on November 18 at 19:00.

Sandra Guller in comedyThe crime comedy “Two to One” (Zwei zu eins), directed by Natia Brunckhorst, tells the story of three friends who, in the summer of 1990, find millions of devalued GDR marks in an abandoned mine and come up with a cunning plan to exchange “dead” money, which turns a quiet town into the epicenter of the largest financial crisis. antics of reunified Germany.

One of the main roles here is performed by this year’s Oscar nominee Sandra Guller (“Anatomy of the Fall”, “Zone of Interest”, “Tony Erdmann”), and her partners on the set were Max Riemelt (“Berlin Syndrome”, the series “The Eighth Sense “) and Ronald Zerfeld (“Phoenix”, the series “Babylon-Berlin”).

The film currently has a rating of 6.1 out of 10 on IMDb.

During the “New German Cinema” festival, the film will be shown twice – on November 14 at 19:30 at the opening of the event and at the closing on November 20 at 20:00.

The love story is not like in the movies, but like in lifeThe heroes of the poster of this year’s film festival were the couple in love from the melodrama “All that you are” (Alle die Du bist) directed by Michael Fetter Natansky.

This film from the program of this year’s Berlinale is about a faded love. The main character, named Nadine, desperately tries to rekindle the qualities she once saw in her impulsive husband, balancing reality and her idealized memories of the beginning of their relationship.

The main roles in the film were played by Anne Schwartz (“Bad Neighbor”, “Before Dawn”) and Carlo Lubeck (“Cardiac Arrest”, “Baader-Meinhof Complex”).

The film currently has a rating of 6.6 out of 10 on IMDb.

During the “New German Cinema” festival, the film will be shown once – on November 15 at 20:05.

A new experience – Wim Wenders’ double showA special event of the festival will be the screening of two films by the cult German director Wim Wenders – one of the brightest representatives of the wave of New German cinema, whose works have been repeatedly shown at the festival in previous years. Two films by the master and laureate of the European Film Academy’s “Achievement” award will be shown exclusively in Kyiv: “The Sky over Berlin” (Der Himmel über Berlin) from 1987 about an angel who fell in love with a circus acrobat, one of his main films, and “Perfect Days” (Perfect Days) about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo – last year’s hit, which was nominated for an “Oscar” and lasted in the Ukrainian rented for more than half a year .

The screening will take place in the Double Feature format, which is very popular at the world’s A-class festivals – a double session with a short break, which can be attended for one ticket. Alex Malyshenko, film critic and program director of the Mykolaychuk OPEN International Film Festival, will present both films and their connection.

The event will take place on November 16 at 5:20 p.m.

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