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North American Premiere!
Fabian – Going to the Dogs ((Germany 2020, 183 min.), directed by Dominik Graf (Dreileben), starring Tom Schilling (A Coffee in Berlin), Saskia Rosendahl (Lore; Babylon Berlin), Albrecht Schuch (Berlin Alexanderplatz), Meret Becker (Munich), and others. Based on Erich Kästner’s 1931 novel Fabian: The Story of a Moralist.
Berlin, 1931. A milieu between sublets and the underworld, where brothels are artists' studios, Nazis are yelling abuse in the streets and Babelsberg is dreaming of producing "psychological cinema." Life is surging, society is fermenting and corroding. As long as he still has a job, Jakob Fabian, who has a doctorate in German studies, writes advertising copy during the day and frequents the city's more outlandish establishments with Stephan Labude at night. While his friend --who later confesses to having failed "in the subjects of life and profession”-- is a go-getter when it comes to communism and sex, Fabian remains sober and distant. Without really believing in it, he is waiting for the "victory of decency." His love for Cornelia is the only thing that makes him question his ironic fatalism. She becomes a ray of hope in his crumbling existence.
Bonus Material: The series is contextualized by a video introduction and commentary by Dr. Tim Cook, Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum. The author of over a dozen books, the historian was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal for his contributions to Canadian history and received the Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media. He is a Director for Canada’s History Society, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a member of the Order of Canada. Cook’s new book on medicine in the Great War is forthcoming in September 2022.
“German genre dazzler Dominik Graf careens through the twilight hedonism of pre-Nazi Germany in this adaptation of Erich Kästner’s early-1930s-set autobiographical romance.” – BFI
“… the striking way the story of Jakob and his friends is told mixing the narrative drama with now old-fashioned “modernist” tech devices borrowed from the past — screens split into multiple windows, black and white shots of the day, bursts of archive footage so appropriate they actually advance the story.” – The Hollywood Reporter
"Brilliant actors, a dancing camera, contemporary documentary sprinkles and numerous references to Weimar cinema combine to create a masterful homage to Berlin and an era in decline." - Film Dienst
Festivals & Awards:
Nuremberg Film Festival "Turkey-Germany" 2021: Winner Best Feature Film
Berlin International Film Festival 2021 Nomination: Golden Bear for Best Film
German Film Awards 2021 Nomination: Film Award in Gold for Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Performance by a Lead and Supporting Actress and many more.
Dominik Graf was born in1952 in Munich, West Germany. He is a director and writer, known for romantic drama Der Felsen (2002) and crime thriller The Cat (1988) as well as the Berlin-set Russian mafia series In the Face of Crime (GOETHE FILMS 2012). His lush 18th century literary romance Beloved Sisters competed for a Berlinale Bear in 2014.
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