11th Bengaluru International Film Festival
The
Contemporary World Cinema category is enhanced by a package of
7 stellar films from Germany
+
Climate future - A furious earth, the
Documentary section features
2 pioneering German films.
We are happy to once again
star at the
Bengaluru International Film Festival in its
11th edition. From
February 21 to 28, 2019 more than
200 films from all over the world - including
Germany - will be screened in our city.
Contemporary World Cinema from Germany
3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon) | Emily Atef | 2018 | 115 min.
© Peter Hartwig / Rohfilm Factory
In the spring of 1981, Romy Schneider, at the late peak in her fragile career, withdraws to Quiberon. Her time at a spa hotel in Brittany proves difficult: the doctor has not only forbidden her from smoking, drinking and taking pills, but has also put her on a strict diet. The deadly boredom is only relieved by a visit from her old friend, Hilde Fritsch. Unexpectedly, two men show up at the front desk, the journalist Michael Jürgs and the photographer Robert Lebeck, the latter of whom the actress has known and appreciated for years. In all likelihood, it is thanks to him that Romy, who for years has turned down nearly all requests for interviews, agrees to partake in a longer interview – or perhaps she is merely in need of distraction, or aspires to work on her public image. The interview, when published in April 1981, is a sensation.
Amelie rennt (Mountain Miracle - An Unexpected Friendship) | Tobias Wiemann | 2017 | 97 min.
© Martin Rattini
Young Amelie is thoroughly sick and tired of having asthma: she is angry at God and the world, and especially at her parents and doctors. After a severe asthma attack, she is sent to South Tyrol to recuperate at a special clinic. The young girl, however, finds the therapy there a horror and flees into the mountains. Young Bart joins her, a stubborn and helpful companion. As the search for the runaway girl gathers momentum, with Bart's assistance Amelie reaches her destination: the peak of the mountain. During the descent, the two encounter a magical St. John's fire, which the girl hopes will heal her. In the end, perhaps, it is the tentative first stirrings of love that at least give the physically ill Amelie new strength psychologically.
Aus dem Nichts (In the Fade) | Fatih Akin | 2017 | 106 min.
© Boris Laewen/bombero international
While in prison for dealing drugs, Nuri Şekerci turned over a new leaf when he married Katja. Once released, he studied business administration and subsequently opened a tax consultancy and translation office – and, most importantly, had a son with his wife. With the help of Nuri's father, the young family can even afford a house of their own in Hamburg. Everything seems to be going perfectly when the inconceivable happens: Nuri and little Rocco are brutally murdered in Nuri's office by an exploding nail bomb. In her despair, Katja takes refuge in drugs and attempts suicide.
In den Gängen (In the Aisles) | Thomas Stuber | 2018 | 125 min.
© Sommerhaus Filmproduktion GmbH
Christian gets a new job as warehouse worker in the beverage department of a wholesaler — a world far removed from the shoppers. It would be an unbearably monotonous job, were it not for his coworkers and the hope of advancement to becoming a forklift operator. And were there not Marion, who works in the confectionary department – and with whom Christian is head over heels in love. When he finds out that Marion is married, his world falls apart. Bruno, the senior forklift operator and fatherly friend, can hardly help him there — and then, suddenly, Bruno is gone.
The Cleaners | Hans Block & Moritz Riesewieck | Documentary | 2018 | 88 min.
© Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion
Enter a hidden third world shadow industry of digital cleaning, where the Internet rids itself of what it doesn‘t like. Here we meet five “digital scavengers” among thousands of people outsourced from Silicon Valley whose job is to delete “inappropriate” content of the net. In a parallel struggle, we meet people around the globe whose lives are dramatically affected by online censorship. A typical “cleaner” must observe and rate thousands of often deeply disturbing images and videos every day, leading to lasting psychological impacts.
Das schweigende Klassenzimmer (The Silent Revolution) | Lars Kraume | 2018 | 111 min.
© Julia Terjung/Studiocanal GmbH
1956. During a visit to a cinema in West Berlin, East German high school pupils Theo and Kurt see disturbing newsreel footage of the uprising in Budapest. Back in Stalinstadt, one of the GDR’s flagship workers’ settlements, they have the idea of holding a minute’s silence in class for the victims of the Hungarian struggle for freedom. Neither the boys, nor their parents, nor the school’s administration are prepared for the minor and major reactions that their expression of solidarity unleashes. The school principal tries to dismiss the incident as juvenile mischief and deal with it internally, but the pupils find themselves snared in the political machinery of a state determined to make an example of them. Condemning their act as counter-revolutionary, the education minister demands that the pupils name their ringleader. They are faced with a decision that has dramatic consequences for their future.
Transit | Christian Petzold | 2018 | 101 min.
© Hans Fromm/Schramm Film
German troops are about to occupy Paris. At the last moment, the German refugee Georg escapes to Marseille. In his bags, the personal effects of the author Weidel, whose fear of those on his heels has led him to commit suicide: a manuscript, letters, and a visa assurance from the Mexican embassy.
Climate future - A furious earth featuring
German documentaries
End of Landschaft – wie Deutschland das Gesicht verliert (End of Landschaft) I Jörg Rehmann I 2018 | 103 min.
© SoonMedia
In January 2017, the author learns about allegedly 400 wind turbines, for which surfaces in the Odenwald are to be expelled. The citizens are insecure, but many are unaware of the changes and conflicts that may result. This leads the author to travel to other regions where there is more experience. In Ostfriesland is on average every 790 meters a wind turbine next to the other. Here, a latent expropriation and degeneration wave of the population has begun. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, billions were invested in a new infrastructure for „Aufbau Ost". But with the decision to make the whole federal state the „powerhouse of the nation", there is also a rural exodus. With the wind turbines now approaching the cities, residents are often confronted for the second time with destroyed landscapes, noise and conflicts. In Rhineland-Palatinate Moselhunsrück and in the Saarland, the author encounters structures that are referred to by experts as criminal. But a good goal should actually use good methods.
La Soufrière: Warten auf eine unausweichliche Katastrophe (La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Disaster) | Werner Herzog | 1976 | 31 min.
© Werner Herzog Film
Summer 1976: A volcano on the French Caribbean Island Guadeloupe threatens to unleash a devastating eruption. The islanders have been evacuated. Werner Herzog and his team stay behind to film the disaster – and wait in vain for the eruption.
For updated
screening schedule and
entry information, please visit the
BIFFES 2019 website.
Check out the
Master Class by German filmmaker, dancer, media artist
Michael Maurissens!
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