We are proud to present the fourth German Currents Showcase, featuring some of the best German films of the past year. German film has had a rich and varied history. The Weimar era boasted a post-Caligari, pre-Hitler gallery of master criminals, fantastic worlds and pre-noir femme fatales. In the early 70s, a phenomenon known as "New German Cinema" erupted onto our screens, driven by the allegories of Werner Herzog, the road movies of Wim Wenders and the Brechtian melodramas and satiric comedies of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. After the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1990, German producers began generating "hits" that betrayed a lighter touch in their direction and performances. If the films of the New German Cinema were marked by introversion and alienation, more recent German films are extroverted and kinetic, featuring charismatic directorial voices and actors in action.

This year’s selections feature a wide array of narrative films and documentaries, from sweeping epics to intimate comedies. These films deftly cover such powerful emotional topics as immigration (WHEN WE LEAVE), aging (AUTUMN GOLD) and abuse (THE SILENCE), but also keep a positive tone, as in delightfully acerbic comedy VINCENT WANTS TO SEA, a German box office hit with young adults. We are also proud to present the first German 3D-animated film, ANIMALS UNITED, inspired by Erich Kaestner’s well-known book; the fascinating documentary ROCK HUDSON: DARK AND HANDSOME STRANGER, about the Hollywood icon’s seemingly disparate double life; and the epic historical drama POPE JOAN, based on the book by Donna Cross. All films in German with English subtitles.

Wednesday, October 20 – 7:30 PM