Focus on Germany at Durban International Film Festival

Goodbye Berlin film. Image supplied.

Curated by Alex Moussa Sawadogo, the films are:

1. Auf Einmal/All of a Sudden, 2016 Director: Asli Özge.

2. Das Versprechen/The Promise, 2016 Directors: Marcus Vetter, Karin Steinberger.

3. Der Geilste Tag/The Most Beautiful Day, 2015 Director: Florian David Fitz.

4. Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer/The People vs Fritz Bauer, 2015 Director: Lars Kraume.

5. Die Dunkle Seite des Mondes/The Dark Side of the Moon, 2015 Director: Stephan Rick.

6. Fado, 2016 Director: Jonas Rothlaender.

7. Grüsse aus Fukushima/Greetings From Fukushima, 2016 Director: Doris Dörrie.

8. Karl Marx City, 2016 Directors: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker.

9. Paula, 2016 Director: Christian Schwochow.

10. Tschick/Goodbye Berlin, 2015 Director: Fatih Akin.

While Goodbye Berlin ties in with this year’s overall festival theme, ‘Transit Tales’, All of a Sudden, Greetings from Fukushima, Paula and Karl Marx City speak to one of this year’s focus areas, women-led films.

Guests at Diff

Diff audiences will have the chance to meet key people behind the productions. Anand Batbileg and Tristan Göbel, two of the most promising talents in Germany’s film scene and the main actors of Goodbye Berlin will be in Durban for a Q&A following the German Gala screening of Goodbye Berlin at The Playhouse (Drama Theatre) on Sunday, 16 July. Prominent filmmaker Akin, who recently presented his last film in Cannes, made the award-winning and family-friendly film. Tickets for the gala screening are available at Computicket.

Another confirmed Diff guest is Dörrie, director of Greetings from Fukushima. With her unmistakable way of storytelling, she has been one of the towering figures in German cinema since she stirred up the countries’ film scene in 1985 with the gender comedy Men. Schwochow has been awarded for both his cinema and theatre work and will visit Diff in his capacity as director of Paula. Epperlein will visit Durban to present the documentary Karl Marx City, which is a personal cinematic journey into her childhood to find the truth about her late father’s suicide and his rumoured past in the GDR’s secret service. Furthermore, directors Steinberger (The Promise) and Rick (The Dark Side of the Moon) will be attending Diff.

German Films, the Goethe-Institut and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in South Africa present the German Focus at Diff 2017, in cooperation with Diff.

Talents Durban

Diff, the Goethe-Institut South Africa and Berlinale Talents have a decade-long partnership. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Talents Durban, a programme that began in 2008 because of the partnership between Diff and Berlin International Film Festival’s Berlinale Talents, with the support of the Goethe-Institut and the German Embassy.

Talents Durban is an annual five-day training and mentorship programme that runs at Diff, aimed at empowering emerging 27 African screenwriters and directors working on projects for film, television, web series and content for mobile platforms.

It will take place from 14-18 July, under the theme ‘Perspectives: Seeing things differently’, which is derived from the observation that film alone may not change the world but can show the world when it changes. Talents Durban looks to not only highlight the stories of Africa but also create a culture of Africans telling their own stories and most importantly from their experience and perspective of cutting edge and modern cinematic technology.

As part of Talents Durban and in association with the Goethe-Institut and Fipresci (International Association of Film Critics), the Talent Press programme will again provide mentorship and hands-on training in the craft of film criticism to three emerging African journalists.

Furthermore, the Goethe-Institut will present ‘New Dimensions – Virtual Reality Africa’, a new package of four VR productions from Kenya, Ghana and Senegal. The works were co-produced with Cape Town-based Electric South. They allow a glimpse into the new opportunities that technology provides for visual storytelling.

For more information, click here.