Goethe-Kino (Online - Only Available in the UK)
Monika is curator for contemporary art at a public art gallery in Frankfurt. She is in her mid-40s and well respected in her job, but her boss’s unexpectedly announced departure leaves her feeling uncertain about her future at the gallery. When she pops into an African bar near the train station to buy cigarettes one evening she finds herself in the middle of a police raid and hiding behind a rubbish bin next to Joseph. The Congolese businessman is in Germany to find investors to open a diamond mine in his home country. Meanwhile he does import/export business and always has trouble with his papers. This brief encounter under adverse circumstances develops into an intense love affair, which, however, is soon put to the test.
In her debut film, which was co-produced by
Toni Erdmann-director Maren Ade, director Lisa Bierwirth describes the encounter of the different worlds her two protagonists inhabit in a nuanced and undramatic way: on the one hand Monika's liberal friends from arts and cultural scene, who are rather sceptical of Joseph’s ambitions in the gemstone business; on the other Joseph’s circle of African friends not all of whom Monika trusts. With precision and many everyday details, Bierwirth lays out the complex causes of the misunderstandings, prejudices and injuries that increasingly undermine the trust between Monika and Joseph. In doing so she is supported by her two excellent leads, the Austrian actor and singer Ursula Strauss and the French rapper Passi Balende as well as, in a small role, the Scottish artist Douglas Gordon.
Germany 2021, colour, 125 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Lisa Bierwirth. With Ursula Strauss, Passi Balende, Nsumbo Tango Samuel, Victoria Trauttmansdorff, Alex Brendemühl, Hanns Zischler, Douglas Gordon.
Register: Please note that this screening is only accessible in the UK
Lisa Bierwirth
Lisa Bierwirth was born in Hessisch Lichtenau in 1983. She spent a year abroad in New York City in 2000/2001, where she worked at various Off-Broadway theatres while attending high school. Back in Germany, she moved to Berlin and graduated from high school. Various internships followed before she successfully applied to study directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) in 2006. During her studies, she directed several short and medium-length films, which were successfully screened at international festivals. She gained further practical experience before and during her studies by working on film productions (among others at Zero Film and Komplizen Film). She was an assistant editor on Sonja Heiss' Hotel Very Welcome (2007) and assistant director and dramaturgical advisor to Valeska Grisebach on Western (2015-2017), among others.
In 2019 Lisa Bierwirth started working on her feature film debut Le Prince. The film premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in August 2021 and was released in German cinemas the following month (Source: filmportal.de)
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