Presented by the Goethe-Institut Toronto & the Consulate General of Germany in Toronto
Till the End of the Night (Germany 2023, 123 min) by Christoph Hochhäusler, with Timocin Ziegler, Thea Ehre, Michael Sideris, Ioana Iacob, Rosa Enskat, Aenne Schwarz, Gottfried Breitfuß, Sahin Eryilmaz, Ronald Kukulies
“Robert wears a leather jacket and his hair rather long. He is by no means your average cop. As an undercover investigator, he is tasked with gaining the trust of a criminal, Victor, by faking a relationship with Leni who has been released on parole to play along. They manage to make contact with Victor at a dance class: Robert and Leni –he gay, she trans– make a great couple and soon have the criminal on the hook. Or is it he who has entrapped them? And ultimately, are there not more feelings at play in this supposedly fake love affair?
We would not be in a film by Christoph Hochhäusler if there were any simple answers or truths. His clever plot is pure oscillation, and the result is an ingenious portrait of emotional intellect that is as witty as it is touching. The film is a (not entirely drug-free) trip along the director’s trademark Möbius strip of genre and auteur cinema. Added into the mix is one of the most beautifully nostalgic soundtracks of the year, a worse-for-wear romantic atmosphere with a Fassbinder-like charm and, finally, an ensemble cast that breathes life into all of puppet master Hochhäusler’s deceptive manoeuvres, death wish included.” (Berlinale)
Christoph Hochhäusler was born in Munich in 1972. His films Milchwald and Eine Minute Dunkel both screened in the Berlinale Forum. He also directed an episode of the anthology film Deutschland 09 which was presented in the Berlinale Competition. His work has won numerous awards including a Special Grimme Award, the Günter Rohrbach Award and the Berlin Art Prize. He is co-founder and co-publisher of “Revolver” film magazine. Between 2017 and 2021, he was senior lecturer in directing at the dffb German Film and Television Academy Berlin. Till the End of the Night is his sixth feature film.
We are thrilled to continue the decades-long tradition of presenting contemporary European cinema in Canada. The EUFF embraces Canada-wide audiences online and returns to in-cinema screenings in Toronto as well as Ottawa and Vancouver for its 2023 edition. For full festival program and registrations (highly recommended), visit euffto.com.
