KINO! Germany NOW!

For the first edition of KINO! Germany NOW!, film curator Alissa Simon handpicked some of Germany’s most promising narrative, documentary, and short films that premiered within the last year, many of them directed by women.

While unique in terms of genre and style, four of the five fiction titles focus on their protagonists’ struggles to assimilate into contemporary Germany: In Exile, the prickly protagonist is a Kosovo-born pharmaceutical engineer who feels bullied by his German co-workers, while the likable heroine of Gipsy Queen is a single mother hoping to make it in the boxing ring. In I Was, I Am, I Will Be, an ambitious Turkish gigolo gets an unexpected opportunity to work and study in Germany, and Berlin Alexanderplatz centers on an undocumented immigrant who vows to be a good person but finds few paths open to him. Meanwhile, the horror-thriller Sleep follows a young woman to a small village, where she stumbles upon a Nazi cult while trying to solve the mystery of her mother’s breakdown.

The subjects explored in this series’ documentaries range far and wide: In Born in Evin, Maryam Zaree chronicles the circumstances of her birth inside one of the world’s most notorious prisons. Garage People takes a look at an unusual Russian social (or anti-social) phenomenon. Oeconomia journeys into the heartlands of neoliberalism and explains its inner workings in layman’s terms. In Walchensee Forever, key events of the 20th century impact the lives of four generations of women in director Janna Ji Wonders’ family.

KINO! Germany NOW! introduces up-and-coming young directors from Germany, all with distinct backgrounds and their own unique approaches to filmmaking. It’s a true pleasure to watch their talent on display in these films!

Pricing and Film Availability Info:

• Admission to the series will be sold either as an all-access pass or à la carte, available only in the JBFC Virtual Marquee.
• Pricing is $70 (members), $85 (nonmembers) for the all-access pass, or $10 (members), $12 (nonmembers) per film.
• All films will be available for the entire length of the series—films will become available at noon on May 28 and will be available until 11:59pm on June 10. Once a film is started, passholders will have 48 hours to finish, regardless of when in the series they start the film.
• The films in this series can and may sell out, so we encourage ticket and pass purchasers to secure their access by unlocking their films ASAP.

KINO! Germany NOW! is presented by the German Film Office, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut and German Films. All films in the series presented with the support of Kino Lorber.

All film descriptions written by Alissa Simon.