Be the Cowboy: The Cinema of Ulrich Köhler

Deptford Cinema and the Goethe-Institut have joined forces to present the four features films by Ulrich Köhler: an underrepresented, underrated figure in the so-called Berliner Schule, a group of filmmakers that includes acclaimed contemporaries Christian Petzold (Phoenix), Angela Schanelec (The Dreamed Path), Valeska Grisebach (Western) and Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann).

Leading up to the London premiere of his most recent film In My Room at the Goethe-Institut, Deptford Cinema will screen Köhler’s remarkable debut Bungalow (Berlinale Panorama, 2002) and his similarly subdued and slow-burn, similarly impressive sophomore feature Windows on Monday (Berlinale Forum, 2006). The Goethe-Institut will pick up the season with Sleeping Sickness, an enigmatic foray into Africa for which Kohler won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 61st Berlinale. The short season will end with Köhler’s latest film In My Room, which premiered during the Certain Regard series at the Cannes Film Festival 2018, and proceeded to play at both TIFF (Wavelengths) and New York Film Festival. His essay, “Why I Don’t Make Political Films,” was first published in Cinema Scope 38. Beginning with Köhler’s short film Feldstraße and ending with In My Room, Deptford Cinema and the Goethe-Institut’s retrospective celebrates a 25-year body of work.