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Extreme Tension: Six New German Voices
Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party © Real Fiction
At the centre of this year’s German presence is “Focus on New German Cinema: Extreme Tension.”
The program brings together six recent German films, with a particular emphasis on emerging directors and debut features. VIFF describes the selection as a continuation of the festival’s long-standing engagement with German cinema, while placing a special emphasis on a new generation of filmmakers. Several of the filmmakers will be in Vancouver personally to present their films and engage with audiences. Confirmed guests include Ella Cieslinski, Christoph Otto, Kai Stänicke and Daniela Magnani Hüller.
The six films are:
Dear Future Self
Ella Cieslinski & Nina Wesemann
Two childhood friends find themselves reconsidering the paths their lives have taken after encouraging their students to write letters to their future selves. The film explores friendship, dreams, expectations and the desire to shape one’s own life. The film marks the directors’ feature debut and will have its international premiere at VIFF.
More information, show times and tickets
I Understand Your Displeasure
Kilian Armando Friedrich
A tense realist drama about Heike, an overworked and underpaid manager of a cleaning crew who finds herself caught between workers, clients and superiors. Drawing partly on Friedrich’s own experience as a cleaner, the film examines labour, dignity and the pressures of precarious work. It will have its Canadian premiere at VIFF.
More information, show times and tickets
Prosecution
Faraz Shariat
A young German prosecutor of Korean origin investigates a racist attack against her despite pressure from her superiors to step away from the case. Using the conventions of a thriller, Faraz Shariat explores racism, institutional structures and the rise of far-right ideologies.
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Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party
Daniela Magnani Hüller
Fourteen years after surviving an attempted femicide by a schoolmate, filmmaker Daniela Magnani Hüller revisits the events surrounding the attack. Combining interviews, personal memories, archival material and documentary footage, the film becomes an investigation into memory, responsibility and the aftermath of violence.
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The Ballad From Wednesday to Thursday
Christoph Otto
One evening in Cologne, people meet in bars, cafés and clubs. Conversations range from immigration and war to feminism, gender and racial profiling — and become increasingly uninhibited as the night progresses. The film is both an ensemble comedy and an observational portrait of contemporary German society. It will have its North American premiere at VIFF.
More information, show times and tickets
Trial of Hein
Kai Stänicke
After 14 years away, Hein returns to the remote fishing village where he grew up — only to discover that nobody recognizes him. Suspicion grows, and the community subjects him to a three-day trial to determine whether he really is who he claims to be.