Film screenings
Galway Film Fleadh 2019: New films from Germany

As in the past years, new features and documentaries from Germany will be presented at the Galway Film Fleadh.

Tue, 09.07.2019 -
Sun, 14.07.2019
Galway Film Fleadh

10 July 2019, 12:45 pm
Pálás Cinema 3, 15 Merchants Rd Lower, Galway
 

Lost Reactor
Director: Alexandra Westmeier
Documentary – Germany – 2018 – 76 mins – Colour
Irish Premiere
 
Starting in 1976, the construction of the nuclear power station on the Crimean-Peninsula was probably the biggest and most expensive building project in the history of the Soviet Union.
Shortly after the nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl, the construction works were stopped and never resumed as the USSR fell apart in 1990.
Then abandoned, the huge premises became an attraction not just for a wide population of birds but also for drop-outs and adventurers for whom the site became their new home.
“Lost Reactor” accompanies three individuals on their everyday life in the ruins of the nuclear power plant. With an almost meditative sense the camera explores the connection between the habitants and their home, which in its isolation seems to have fallen out of time.
Despite the fact that it’s situated in the heart of the Crimea-Peninsula and therefore in the centre of the latest conflicts between Russia and Ukraine the derelict area as well its inhabitants don’t seem to be affected by that.
 

11 July, 10:15 pm
Pálás Cinema 2, 15 Merchants Rd Lower, Galway
 

Endzeit / Ever After
Director: Carolina Hellsgard
Feature – Germany – 2018 – 90 mins – Colour
Irish Premiere
 
It’s a zombie film and it isn’t. “Ever After” by Carolina Hellsgard is set in in a post-apocalyptic environment dominated by zombie masses and a beautiful wild nature. The camera follows Eva and Vivi, two young women drifting through this new and fantastic but also dangerous reality. While fighting against the undead, the two are also forced to confront themselves with the demons of their former lives.
In a sophisticated manner, “Ever After”, created by an all-female cast and crew, uses the zombie apocalypse as a metaphor to tell a story about (female) emancipation, guilt and inner strength.
 
  
12 July 2019, 10:15 pm
Pálás Cinema 3, 15 Merchants Rd Lower, Galway
 

Das schönste Paar / The Most Beautiful Couple
Director: Sven Taddicken
Feature – Germany, France – 2018 – 96 mins – Colour
Irish Premiere
 
It’s the worst-case scenario of every loving couple: The teachers Liv and Malte spend a romantic holiday on the island of Majorca, when the two become victims of a violent attack. While Liv is being raped by one of the offenders, Malte has to watch the crime helplessly exposed.
After two years each of them has found a way to deal with the traumatic experience and as a couple they seem even closer to each other – until one evening Malte meets the offender by accident. While Liv just wants to get over the brutal attack and move on, Malte is longing for revenge…
In this complex drama about intimacy, vengeance and love, German director and screenwriter Sven Taddicken sounds out the various emotional states two people are taken trough after a trauma both as individuals and as a couple. Last but not least, the different ways of dealing with an event like this seems to drive the two apart from each other.
 
 
13 July 2019, 10:30pm
Pálás Cinema 3, 15 Merchants Rd Lower, Galway
 

Smile
Director: Steffen Köhn
Feature – Germany, Hungary – 2019 – 81 mins – Colour
Irish Premiere
 
The young and lonesome 19 year old Mercedes visits the legendary techno festival "Heimat" for the first time in her life. She is longingly hoping not just for experiences of proximity, joy and intensity but also for Boy, a DJ that she has been chatting with on Facebook. After a festival employee offers her ubiquitous happy pills, she finds herself confronted with the abysses of this alleged perfect world. Suddenly Mercedes has to fight for her freedom and identity. In the end, she sees no other way than committing an act of violence.

Steffen Köhn will be present at the screening to talk about his film.
 
 
Tickets available from: www.galwayfilmfleadh.com
 
Supported by the Goethe-Institut Irland