Language courses
The Fall of the Wall - Film series
Film + Exhibition
September 1 - December 21, 2009
Various locations
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the Goethe-Institut is presenting a series of films, narrative and documentary features, as well as shorts that portray not only the historical events but also the conditions before and after November 9, 1989.
Films at the Goethe-Institut San Francisco:
Goethe-Institut
Auditorium
530 Bush Street
San Francisco
Tuesday September 1, 6.30pm
Sonnenallee
DIR Leander Haußmann, 1999, DVD, 88 min., color
Sonnenallee – a street in East Berlin with young people much like on the other side of the wall, but with forbidden music, forbidden dances and a love story that was meant to change the world. This humorous, satirical portrait of life in East Berlin before the wall came down features, among others, Katharina Thalbach, Henry Hübchen, Detlev Buck, and music by Nina Hagen, Die toten Hosen, Dynamo 5 and more.
Tuesday September 8, 6.30pm
The Wall/Die Mauer
DIR Jürgen Böttcher, 1990, DVD, 96 min., color + b&w
An enduring record of the deconstruction of the border between East and West Germany THE WALL is a requiem to the very country filmmaker and painter Jürgen Böttcher was bound to for 40 years. This poetic and enigmatic masterpiece reflects the soul of Berlin, both before and as the Wall came down.
Tuesday September 15, 6.30pm
After the Fall / Nach dem Fall
DIR Frauke Sandig, 1999, VHS, 86 min., color
A light-hearted documentary about the disappearance of the Berlin wall. Contemporary witnesses include an American historian, a church minister in Berlin and a Bavarian demolition expert. The common tenor of all their statements is that the wall and its traces were eradicated too quickly and too radically with the intention of forgetting the past.
Tuesday September 22, 6.30pm,
Irrational Remains / Der irrationale Rest
DIR Thorsten Trimpop, 2005, DVD, 95 min., color
In 1987, when they were 20 years old, Mathias and Susanne made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from the GDR while their best friend Suse remained in the country. The three did not meet again until sixteen years later, when they were involved in the filming of Thorsten Trimpop’s touching documentary about friendship, politics and deep wounds.
Tuesday September 29, 6.30pm
Burning Life
DIR Peter Welz, 1994, DVD, 105 min. color
In the desolate eastern states of the recently unified Germany, Anna and Lisa plan a series of bank robberies. They quickly become the most popular gangster duo of the German postwar history – the German answer to Thelma & Louise starring Maria Schrader and Anna Thalbach.
Tuesday October 6, 6.30pm
My Wall
Berlin Today Award, Short Film Competition 2009
DIR Five Directors, 2009, DVD, 59 min., color
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 2009, My Wall was chosen as the creative focus for the sixth edition of the Berlin Today Award – the short film competition of the Berlinale Talent Campus. Young directors had the unique opportunity to realize in collaboration with German production companies short films dealing with the Wall.
Tuesday October 13, 6.30pm
Nikolaikirche
DIR Frank Beyer, 1995, 16mm, 133 min., color
Leipzig 1987: The individual gestures of revolt against the state are becoming more and more apparent. The Monday prayers in the Nikolaikirche are attended by an increasing number of people. The state reacts by trying to intimidate the people, expulsion from the party and other repressive measures. On 9 October 1989 the Leipzig citizens achieve a decisive victory. The head of Leipzig state security declares : "We have reckoned with many things, but not with candles and prayers !"
Tuesday October 20, 6.30pm
German Endgame / Deutschlandspiel, part 1
Tuesday October 27, 6.30pm German Endgame / Deutschlandspiel, part 2
DIR Christoph Blumenberg, 2000, DVD, 90 min., color,
Starring Peter Ustinov, Peter Sodann
In less than a year, from October 6, 1989 to October 3, 1990, the Wall came down in Berlin, the GDR was shuffled off the world stage and the two German states were unified.
Deutschlandspiel, the two-part award winning dramatized documentary, reconstructs the story behind the story and shows the conflicts, discussions and intrigues which were carefully concealed from the public eye at the time.
All films are in German with English subtitles. Suggested donation $7.
Film at the Pacific Film Archive, PFA, Berkeley:
Pacific Film Archive
2575 Bancroft Way
Berkeley
Sunday November 8, 5:00PM
Stilles Land / Silent Country
DIR Andreas Dresen, 1992, 35mm, 98 min., color
In September of 1989, Kai, an eager drama student, arrives in a small town, far away from Berlin, to stage „Waiting for Godot“ in a run-down theatre. The local actors are a group of cynics and drunks trying to make sense of the revolution in Berlin. Stilles Land, the first feature of Andreas Dresen, one of Germany’s most successful directors, is a tragic-comic look at the events that made unforgettable history. Followed by Q&A and a reception.
For tickets and more information go to: 
www.bampfa.berkeley.edu
Exhibition at the Doe Library, UC Berkeley:
Icons of a Border Installation
Exhibition November 9 – December 21, Doe Library, UC Berkeley
Opening reception November 9, 5-7pm, Morrison Library
In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall an exhibition of photographs and sounds will take us back to the visible and invisible remnants of the Berlin Wall. Students of the University of Paderborn tracked down with cameras and recording devices deserted watchtowers, barely visible border strips as well as mental traces of “walls in peoples’ minds”. On the other hand, the city has grown more and more together and traces of the wall are ever harder to find. Since 1989 Berlin has changed drastically.
