Archive 2003
NEW GERMAN FILMS
German films are on the up and up as "Run Lola run" has proved. Very popular too both with the general public and the critics is "Goodbye Lening" while Caroline Link has won the Oskar for best foreign film with her "Nirgendwo in Afrika". You can argue about the quality of individual films but not about variety or lack of originality. The 17. Brunswick Film festival presents eleven films which show the many-sidedness of German film-making.
German language barriers are knocked down, the East is illuminated, the nights are young and dark, and, completely to our surprise, our star guest of last year, Axel Prahl, is appearing in three films. In "Befreite Zone" he plays a harried father and a lamentably incapable vacuum cleaner salesman; In "Neufundland" he is the best friend of Jochen Nickel, who seeks to find his dead wife again in Anna Loos; and in "Schussangst" he is a mysterious diver who only goes into the water at night and then plays dead. In "Devot" relationship is a painful game. In "Über Nacht", "Motown" and "Kiss and Run" young people have to grow up. "Der Junker und der Kommunist" documents the story of an encounter: a count and a worker, who become friends in a concentration camp.
In "Tor zum Himmel" the fates of two people cross at Frankfurt Airport; and in "Science Fiction" two men arrive in a world which is identical to their own but in which they are forgotten as soon as a door closes behind them. Original, bizarre, fast-paced, funny and profound.
This series is supported by Gaertner Datensysteme.
Über Nacht
Director: Horst Krassa, D 2002, 98 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
We, October 29 15:00 CinemaxX 1
Sa, November 1 22:30 CinemaxX 4 Guests: Horst Krassa, Thomas Rocha, Frank Wünsche
Su, November 2 15:15 CinemaxX 1 Guests: Horst Krassa, Thomas Rocha, Frank Wünsche
Mathilda works in a club and takes care of little drug deals for her boss. Moni lives together with Mathilda and drifts from one onenight stand to the next. Pavel surprises his girlfriend who is cheating on him and loses his job as a photographer.
Pavel and Mathilda meet in the club. Something happens between them. But what is it? How can one love when nobody wants to get hurt?
Befreite Zone
Director: Norbert Baumgarten, D 2002, 90 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
We, October 29 19:45 CinemaxX 3 Guests: Florian Lukas, Norbert Baumgarten
Th, October 30 17:15 CinemaxX 3 Guests: Florian Lukas, Norbert Baumgarten
Su, November 2 11:00 CinemaxX 3
A winning streak in the football tournament for the DFB cup is sweeping the club from Sässlen to the very top. Solely responsible for this is Blondie, the pitch black forward and unstoppable scorer. Blondie starts an affair with Sylvia, who is actually Michael.s girl-friend; Michael, on the other hand, is secretly meeting Kerstin. The game goes on; and in the finals Sässlen has to play Bayern München...
Tor zum Himmel
Director: Veit Helmer, D 2003, 90 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
Fr, October 31 22:30 Universum 1 Guest: Veit Helmer
Sa, November 1 15:00 Universum 1
Su, November 2 19:45 CinemaxX 3
Working at Frankfurt Airport, Nisha, a young, pretty and capricious Indian does her best to realize her dreams: to bring her son to Germany and to become a stewardess. The romantic illegal worker Alexei wants to become a pilot at all costs. One day the two meet. They fall in love and go on their nightly dream trips together until their courage, a touch of good luck and a bit of black magic open a door to a better future.
Veith Helmer's film is an international fairy tale and a romantic comedy about love, freedom, adventure and courage.
Schussangst
Diretcor: Dito Tsintsadze, D 2003, 105 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
Fr, October 31 10:45 CinemaxX 2
Sa, November 1 13:00 CinemaxX 4 Guests: Dito Tsindzatse, Fabian Hinrichs
Su, November 2 20:00 CinemaxX 4
Lukas is a quiet loner. His life takes a dramatic turn when he meets Isabella, the woman of his dreams. He falls in love. Although it remains unrequited, he gets obsessed with the thought of rescuing her from the step-father who sexually abuses her. Becoming more and more certain that Isabella will give her love to the person who kills her step-father, the gentle pacifist Lukas procures a gun...
Devot
Director: Igor Zaritzki, D 2002, 92 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
We, October 29 15:00 CinemaxX 4
Th, October 30 22:15 Universum 2
Su, November 2 17:30 Universum 2 Guest: Igor Zaritzki
The young woman standing on the bridge looks like a potential suicide. But the man driving by in his big car just asks her what her price is. One hundred euros is the answer. He takes her to his apartment in a factory loft. But is Anja really a prostitute? A thief and a liar? Or a traumatized rape victim? A dangerous sadomasochistic game unfolds.
Neufundland
Director: Georg Maas, D 2002, 92 min, Super 35, colour, GV
Th, October 30 19:45 Universum 2 Gast: Christoph Toelle
Sa, November 1 13:00 CinemaxX 1 Guest: Georg Maas
Su, November 2 15:15 CinemaxX 3 Guest: Georg Maas
After the sudden death of his wife mechanic Robert starts a new life. He sells everything he has and takes off in a caravan. One day he spies Christiane, who is the spitting image of his dead wife. He follows her and shyly establishes contact. An affair begins, overshadowed by Robert's secret, which he keeps from Christine. But Christine, too, has a secret.
Motown
Director: Stefan Barth, D 2002, 87 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
We, October 29 22:30 Universum 2 Guest: Stefan Barth
Th, October 30 13:00 CinemaxX 4 Guest: Stefan Barth
Fr, October 31 20:00 CinemaxX 4 Guest: Stefan Barth
Duke returns home again from the USA and his first stop is the Motown, the pub where he always met his cronies: Olli, the eternal student; Pat, who wants to make a career for himself; and Vince, notoriously unfaithful in spite of his wife. Everything seems to be like it always was, but something is different - and things start moving.
"Motown" is a "coming-of-age" comedy, in which cool jocks know absolutely everything - except who they are and where they are going.
Science Fiction
Director: Franz Müller, D 2003, 112 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
Fr, October 31 17:30 CinemaxX 4
Sa, November 1 15:00 CinemaxX 1
Su, November 2 13:00 CinemaxX 3 Guest: Franz Müller
Marius is the trendy manager of a motivation workshop, Jürgen Karsunke is one of his customers. During one lesson something happens which is beyond their control: Jürgen opens a door and the other members of the seminar have disappeared. No one even knows any more who Marius and Jürgen are! As soon as a door shuts everyone forgets that the two were ever there. The arrogant West German and the East German dummie are doomed to stick together.
Der Junker und der Kommunist
Director: Ilona Ziok, D 2003, 80 min, 35 mm, colour, GV, german premiere
Su, November 2 17:45 CinemaxX 4 Guests: Ilona Ziok, Manuel Göttsching
Carl-Heinz von Hardenberg (born 1891) and Fritz Perlitz (born 1908) met in Sachsenhausen concentration camp where Perlitz was arrested for being a Communist and where Hardenberg was sent following his suicide attempt after his part in the attempt on Hitler's life on July 20, 1944. The two men had already met in 1931 during a rural workers. strike, where, of course, they had been on opposing sides. This documentary describes the lives and the late friendship of the two men.
Kiss and Run
Director: Annette Ernst, D 2002, 88 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
Th, October 30 17:30 Universum 2 Guests: Annette Ernst and Robert Malzahn
Fr, October 31 17:30 Universum 2
Su, November 2 17:15 CinemaxX 2
Emma is an actress, but works in a video shop because she isn't getting any roles. She comforts herself with the thought that a lot of famous actors were discovered late. But how late is "late"? At midnight, she will be twentyfive. Ancient. Max is a cinemaniac. Harold and Maude is his favorite film. He idolizes the porno star John C. Holmes and hangs out in the video shop all day. But today, Emma gets stuck in the lift with Max. She's about to miss an important audition and Max is driving her mad. To top it all off, she finds out that the video shop is going to be closed down to make way for a suntan studio...