Kino in Oz ©Bedneyimages — Freepik.com

For #kinoinoz, Brisbane-based film critic Sarah Ward takes a closer look at German films screening down under. Here you'll find everything from film reviews and interviews to release information.

The Young Karl Marx© The Young Karl Marx via Sydney Film Festival

Sydney Film Festival 2017
A feast of German cinema

For the past 64 years, Sydney Film Festival has celebrated the latest and greatest in international cinema. The city’s major movie-focused showcase, it brings together an enormous program highlighting the breadth and depth of film as an art form. [more …]
Happy End© Happy End via Sydney Film Festival

Sydney Film Festival 2017
Happy End: Where Happiness is relative

Perhaps the greatest trick Michael Haneke continually pulls is his most obvious one. 28 years and twelve features into his filmmaking career, the Munich-born Austrian director has perfected the art of bleak portraiture. [more …]
Axolotl Overkill © Sydney Film Festival

Sydney Film Festival 2017
Axolotl Overkill: Not that kind of movie

Tales of youthful excess often start at a low point, wade through raucousness and revelations, and arrive at their conclusion with a protagonist ready to face their encroaching maturity. ‘Axolotl Overkill’ is not that kind of movie. [more …]
Austerlitz © Imperativ Film

Sydney Film Festival 2017
Austerlitz: Humanity in the face of horror

How does humanity cope in the face of unspeakable tragedy? A question pondered by Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa in his documentary 'Austerlitz' which is screening at the 2017 Sydney Film Festival. [more …]
Werner Herzog filming Into the Inferno 2016 on Yasur Volcano, Tanna Island, Vanuatu. © Photograph: Professor Clive Oppenheimer / Image courtesy: Netflix

GOMA Retrospective
Experiencing the wrath and reveries of Werner Herzog

Herzog’s voice, both uttered aloud and infused in the fabric of his films, will echo throughout Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art between June 2 and August 19. For nearly three months, their Australian Cinematheque plays host to a feast of his cinematic efforts. [more …]
Café Waldluft © Café Waldluft

Café Waldluft
There’s no place like home

Perched high on a hillside in the Bavarian Alps, in the shadow of Germany’s third highest peak, 'Café Waldluft' looms large over Berchtesgaden. In the documentary that shares the hotel’s name, first-time feature writer/director Matthias Koßmehl ponders the changes from picturesque vacation destination to welcoming safe haven for asylum seekers. [more …]
Teresa Parker as Clare in 'Berlin Syndrome'. © eOne Films

Cate Shortland
An Australian filmmaker’s visions of Germany

Cate Shortland’s resume may only boast three features to date; however her most recent two efforts share a location that’s far from typical for Australian filmmakers: Germany. [more …]