German Currents 2017

11th German Film Festival in Los Angeles
Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood - October 13-16, 2017

Presented by the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and the American Cinematheque, with the support of German Films, Deutsche Welle, the Friends of Goethe and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, in cooperation with achtung berlin – new berlin film award, the German Consulate General, the Austrian Consulate General and the Consulate General of Switzerland.


OCTOBER 13 - 7:30 PM
OPENING NIGHT FILM

TIGER GIRL
2017, 90 min, Germany, Dir: Jakob Lass

Twenty-something pushover Maggie (Maria Dragus) is desperate to fit in. After failing the Berlin police entrance exams, she settles for training as a security guard, but her passivity constantly lands her in risky situations. Enter Tiger (Ella Rumpf), an assertive, street-smart young woman who gets what she wants - occasionally by violence - and takes Maggie under her wing. Hitting the streets of Berlin in borrowed security uniforms, the unlikely duo aims to correct minor social injustices, but the increasingly self-confident Maggie ultimately takes things a bit too far. Following his own FOGMA manifesto, director Lass’ third feature skillfully blends mostly improvised dialogue with documentary-style camerawork to bring the powerful, action-packed visuals and stylized fight scenes to life in this intelligently edgy “Martial Arthouse” film.

OCTOBER 14 - 5 PM

BEUYS

2017, 107 min, Germany, Dir: Andres Veiel

Thirty years after his death, Joseph Beuys, known worldwide as the man with the hat, the felt and the “Fettecke,” is remembered as a visionary artist. Though his work was once derided in Germany as “the most expensive trash of all time,” Beuys became the first German artist to have a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Comprised of previously unpublished audio and visual material, this Golden Bear-nominated documentary creates an intimate portrait of the artist that opens up spaces for ideas and discussion. Capturing the film’s subject as he boxes, chats, lectures and explains art to a dead hare, Veiel also presents Beuys as a family man, teacher and Green Party candidate, whose contradictions and tensions inspired an expanded concept of art that feeds directly into today’s social, political and moral debates.


OCTOBER 14 - 7:30 PM - DOUBLE FEATURE

TIGER MILK (TIGERMILCH)

2017, 106 min, Germany, Dir: Ute Wieland

Inseparable best friends Nini (Flora Thiemann) and Jameelah (Emily Kusche) live in the same working-class Berlin housing project, attend the same school and love Tiger Milk, a mix of milk, brandy and passion fruit juice. For the rebellious 14-year-olds, the summer means a chance to finally break from the innocence of childhood - partying, falling in love and perhaps finally doing “it.” But one evening, the girls witness a crime that hits so close to home that nothing will be the same again. Wieland’s adaptation of Stefanie De Velasco’s best-selling novel skillfully relays the relevant social tension of the source material and draws performances from the young protagonists that offer an authenticity rarely seen in coming-of-age films.

GOODBYE BERLIN (TSCHICK)

2016, 93 min, Germany, Dir: Fatih Akin

Eighth-grade classmates Maik (Tristan Göbel) and Tschick (Anand Batbileg) are both outsiders; Maik, from a wealthy albeit dysfunctional family, is virtually invisible to his peers, while Tschick, from a poor immigrant family, stands out at school with his loud Hawaiian shirt and rebellious attitude. With his mother in rehab and his father away on a business trip, Maik plans to spend the summer alone at home - but that changes when Tschick appears with a “borrowed” car and a notion to visit his grandfather in Wallachia. Akin’s (HEAD-ON) long-awaited adaptation of Wolfgang Herrndorf’s best-selling cult novel delivers a fresh, youthful perspective on the traditional road movie. The 2017 Bavarian Film Award winner for Best Youth Film.

OCTOBER 15 - 5 PM

EGON SCHIELE – DEATH AND THE MAIDEN

(EGON SCHIELE – TOD UND MÄDCHEN)

2016, 109 min, Austria/Luxembourg, Dir: Dieter Berner

Egon Schiele (Noah Saavedra) was one of the most provocative artists in Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century, his life and work driven by beautiful young women as an era was coming to an end. Two women in particular had a lasting impact on him – his sister and first muse Gerti (Maresi Riegner) and 17-year-old Wally (Austrian Film Award winner Valerie Pachner), arguably Schiele’s one true love, immortalized in his now-famous painting “Death and the Maiden.” This opulent historical drama employs a series of flashbacks to focus on key periods and figures in Schiele’s life, as well as the radical paintings that, despite being recognized as exceptional by both daring artists such as Gustav Klimt and art dealers, scandalized Viennese society. Cinematographer Carsten Thiele flawlessly captures the decadence and vibrancy of turn-of-the-century Vienna.

OCTOBER 15 - 7:30 PM

THE DIVINE ORDER (DIE GÖTTLICHE ORDNUNG)

2017, 96 min, Switzerland, Dir: Petra Volpe

Despite the worldwide social upheavals of the previous decade, Swiss women were still denied the right to vote in 1970. When unassuming and dutiful housewife Nora (Marie Leuenberger) is forbidden by her husband (Maximilian Simonischek) to take a part-time job, her frustration leads her to stand up not only for herself but for her fellow women as well, and she inadvertently becomes the poster child for her town’s suffragette movement. Although her newfound celebrity brings humiliation, threats and the potential end to her marriage, Nora refuses to back down, eventually convincing the women in her village to go on strike - and making some startling discoveries about her own liberation in the process. Supported by a strong ensemble cast and by cinematographer Judith Kaufmann's captivating visuals, writer-director Volpe’s period drama is an inspirational and timely tale about everyday people demanding their right to an equal voice. Switzerland’s official submission for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar.