Karbid und Sauerampfer, Jakob der Lügner, Fünf Patronenhülsen, Der Verdacht
September 6, 2016, starts from 6 PM
1. Karbid und Sauerampfer (1963)
2. Jakob der Lügner (1975)
September 7, 2016, starts from 6 PM
1. Fünf Patronenhülsen (1960)
2. Der Verdacht (1991)
On September 6-7, 2016 we will be presenting another important German director in our ArtHouse Cinema series:
Frank Beyer.
Everything pointed to Frank Beyer living a regular, conventional life. Born in 1932 in Nobitz (Thuringia), Beyer graduated in 1950 from secondary school, became district secretary of the Cultural Union in Altenburg, then a dramaturge at Crimmitschau District Theatre in Saxony. He started a degree in Directing at the Film Academy in Prague (FAMU) as early as 1952, before working as an assistant director to Kurt Maetzig. In 1956, when Beyer was 24, he shot his first feature film: ZWEI MÜTTER. Some cultural officials accused him and his debut of “petty-bourgeois pacifism”. From then on, despite his many successes, Frank Beyer's conflict with censors and politicians of the GDR knew no end (Walter Ulbricht himself was outraged at TRACE OF STONES). “It could very well be,” Beyer speculated in his must-read autobiography, “Wenn der Wind sich dreht” (“When the Wind Turns”, Econ Verlag, 2001), “that I was the GDR film director with the greatest successes and worst defeats of my generation.”
(Hans-Günther Pflaum)
Arthouse Cinema
Arthouse Cinema is the regular film program of the Goethe-Institut. Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month we screen independent movies, avant-garde movies, retrospectives, experimental films or documentary films from Europe and Indonesia – anything but the mainstream.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Karbid und Sauerampfer (Carbide and Sorrel)
Director: Frank Beyer, b/w, 85 min., 1963
Shortly after the end of the Second World War: a road movie that takes place on a waterway. The story focuses on the first few months of the establishment of the Soviet Occupation Zone, which later became the GDR. Worker Kalle Blücher must transport seven barrels of carbide from Wittenberge (Brandenburg) to Dresden in Saxony; he has no vehicle, and his journey turns into a surprisingly comical odyssey. Frank Beyer, who was able to make CARBIDE AND SORREL despite the film officials’ fear of the Russian authorities, described the mood: “Humour on the outer edge of a catastrophe, which was the tone I wanted for this film.” Many of the film’s details remained topical even at the time of its premiere in 1963.
Jakob der Lügner (Jakob the Liar)
Director: Frank Beyer, colour, 100 min., 1974
1944, in a Polish ghetto: Jakob Heym accidentally overhears news broadcast announcing the advancement of the Red Army. The news could give new courage to those who have lost all hope in the ghetto. In order to spread the news, Jakob has to lie about the circumstances through which he came to hear the news, as people are unlikely to believe him. Jakob heard the news, which he was never meant to learn about, in the offices of the Gestapo. He claims to have a secret radio. From then on, he is forced to come up with more news reports; the victims in the ghetto are given fresh hope and the number of suicides decreases. However, Jakob’s inventiveness can’t prevent the deportation from taking place.
Fünf Patronenhülsen (Five Cartridges)
Director: Frank Beyer, b/w, 87 min., 1959/60
The Spanish Civil War in the year 1936. In the ranks of the International Brigades, the German commander Wittig only has a few comrades to provide cover for the retreat operation of his battalion through enemy lines. After being seriously wounded, he gives his comrades a piece of paper that supposedly contains the deployment plan of Franco’s army. For security reasons, he tears the paper into five pieces, placing each piece in one of five cartridges. To fulfil the mission, all five men have to transport their piece of paper to their own lines. Almost all reach their destination, only to discover that the plan had been designed to serve their own rescue. The message just contains the command: “Stick together!”
Der Verdacht (The Suspicion)
Director: Frank Beyer, colour, 98 min., 1990-91
A love story from the GDR, which just barely manages to avoid turning into a tragedy in the mid 70s. Karin, the daughter of the Socialist Unity Party official, Kurt Melzer, loves Frank. The young man has gone through some hard times and for that reason alone doesn’t conform to the image of a perfect future son-in-law. Moreover, Kurt and his comrades harbour a nasty suspicion about Frank’s political sentiments. Karin, who has just started working for a newspaper and wants to start studying soon, is to give up the relationship. And so Karin does exactly that, yielding to the pressure from her parents and in the hope of getting a place at university. When Frank tries to commit suicide, the young, now pregnant woman decides to go back to her boyfriend after all. Her father seems to have learned something, too. THE SUSPICION was the first feature film by the great DEFA director Frank Beyer and came out after the Fall of the Wall.
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