If you love German cinema, this is your lucky week. The German Film Festival, now in its 16th year, has brought a baker’s dozen of new films to Moscow film lovers. Organized by German Film, a national center for the promotion of German films worldwide, the program was put together with a jury of Russian film professionals and critics, who selected a wide cross-section of films that should appeal to every movie-goer.
Supported by Cool Connections, a group which helps to organize various film festivals and special screenings in Moscow and abroad, the German Film Festival will showcase 13 full-length films, including two documentaries and one film for families and children. Additionally, the event "Next Generation Short Tiger 2017" will show a selection of short films by young German film school graduates and filmmakers. Two episodes of “Berlin Babylon,” a television drama series, will also be presented in a special event during the festival. All films are shown in the original language with Russian subtitles.
One of the program highlights is this year´s German Oscar submission, “In the Fade” (translated into English from German “Aus dem Nichts”) by Turkish-German director Fatih Akin. Akin told a journalist from the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that he was "in a very fatalistic phase" when he wrote the script, and indeed, the film is darkly emotional and fast-paced.
German-American actress Diane Kruger won the Cannes Film Festival’s best actress award for her role as a woman who loses her family to a terrorist attack. The film chronicles her character’s evolution from grieving mother to active agent of retribution, battling insensitive law enforcement, a brutal court system, and the neo-Nazis accused of carrying out the vicious crime against her family. It will be shown at 9:30 p.m. on Thurs. Nov. 30.
The film festival will be held until Dec. 5 at the Formula Kino Gorizont. For more information about the films and schedule, see the Cool Connections site.
