December 3 (Wednesday) 9 pm
Directed by Jan Schütte
West Germany, 1987, b/w, 75 min.
With Bhasker, Frank Oladeinde, Youngme Song
German with English subtitles
A young Pakistani man seeking to gain residence in Hamburg takes an illegal job in a Chinese restaurant. He befriends a young waiter who decides to join him in pursuing their dream of opening a restaurant of their own. Director Schütte provides a humanist perspective on cultural displacement in modern Germany and the struggles of the new immigrant class.
December 8 (Monday) 7 pm
Directed by Tom Tykwer
Germany, 1998, color, 80 min.
With Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Nina Petri
German with English subtitles
A critical and popular success at home and abroad, Tykwer’s inventive Run, Lola, Run sets a frenetic pace (fueled by the techno-score of Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil) as it simultaneously enacts three resolutions to its thriller plot line. Small-time gang courier Manni has misplaced 100,000 DM in a bag and has twenty minutes to find or replace it. Girlfriend Lola comes to his aid, racing through the streets of Berlin as split-second decisions become life altering.
December 10 (Wednesday) 9 pm
Directed by Tom Tykwer
Germany, 1997, color, 124 min.
With Florian Daniel, Heino Ferch, Josef Bierbichler
German with English subtitles
Four twenty-something characters are brought together in a snowy village somewhere in the Alps: a film exhibitor, a nurse, a translator, and a ski instructor. Two romantic liaisons ensue, with varying degrees of commitment and success. One child is killed. One is born. Spectacular snowscape panoramas and quotations to films as diverse as Hitchcock’s Spellbound and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey form the backdrop to this microcosmic analysis of a confused and uncommitted generation.
December 15 (Monday) 7 pm
Directed by Oskar Röhler
Germany, 2000, b/w, 100 min.
With Hannelore Elsner, Vadim Glowna, Jasmin Tabatabai
German with English subtitles
On the eve of reunification, a middle-aged German writer (Elsner) despairs at the decline of her once promising career. She decides to forgo the decadent lifestyle to which she has become accustomed and turns over a new leaf. Echoing themes from Fassbinder and Von Trotta, director Röhler provides an intelligent portrait of the modern woman, aided in no small part by an outstanding performance from Elsner.
December 17 (Wednesday) 9 pm
Directed by Fatih Akin
Germany, 1998, color, 100 min.
With Mehmet Kurtulus, Aleksanda Jovanovic, Adam Bousdoukos
German with English subtitles
In the manner of modern crime films from American filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese and Brian DePalma, director Fatih Akin unflinchingly probes the romance of gangster life within new immigrant communities in Hamburg. Short Sharp Shock focuses on Gabriel, a Turk who has decided to leave his criminal past behind after completing a prison sentence. However, his best friends, a Greek immigrant dating Gabriel’s sister and a native Serb trying to join an Albanian gang, have quite different plans for him.
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