Berlinale Selection 2023 is the fourth edition of the film series organized by the Goethe-Institut Cyprus, presenting current German cinema in Cyprus. T
his year’s programme includes four award-winning German films that premiered at the Berlinale 2022, as well as a film about Iran that premiered at the Berlinale 2019. The films will be shown on the big screen at Pantheon in Nicosia between January 27-29.
// PROGRAMME //
𝟮𝟳.𝟬𝟭.𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝗽𝗺
𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗬𝗘 𝗞𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗭 𝗩𝗦. 𝗚𝗘𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗘 𝗪. 𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗛
(Directed by Andreas Dresen, 119′)
The life of Rabiye Kurnaz, someone you might generally call an ordinary woman, except that she is a real dynamo, changes abruptly when her son Murat is accused of terrorism shortly after the attacks of 9/11. This resolute German-Turkish woman with human rights lawyer Bernhard Docke on her side don‘t even stop at the Supreme Court in Washington DC to fight her son’s release from Guantanamo prison camp.
𝟮𝟴.𝟬𝟭.𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗮𝘁 𝟲𝗽𝗺
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗥 (𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗙𝗔̈𝗟𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥)
(Directed and written by Maggie Peren, 116′)
The film is based on a true story in 1942 Berlin. Cioma Schönhaus refuses to let the Nazis take away his love of life. The young Jewish man uses his talent for forging documents as a way to help not only himself but also others escape deportation. With his ability to create new identities, his ingenuity and charm, he evades the authorities: Together with his friends Det and Gerda, he manages to build a made-up life in plain sight, where there’s even space for a romance. But the more lives are saved, the more difficult it gets.
𝟮𝟴.𝟬𝟭.𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝗽𝗺
𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗠𝗔 – 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗚𝗢𝗥𝗦
(Directed and written by Alice Agneskirchner, 155′)
The title refers to the eponymous 1937 poem by Else Lasker-Schüler, in which the poet writes that “what once was: love” can be found at the cinema. Two decades on from this, it was a love of cinema that brought together two people who significantly expanded – today one might say, diversified – the film history of post-war Germany, encompassing both the way films are viewed as well as the discourse surrounding the medium: Erika and Ulrich Gregor. A film not only about love and cinema, but also about a piece of contemporary German history.
𝟮𝟵.𝟬𝟭.𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗮𝘁 𝟲𝗽𝗺
𝗔 𝗘 𝗜 𝗢 𝗨 – 𝗔 𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗟𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗕𝗘𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘
(Directed and written by Nicolette Krebitz, 104′)
Anna is 60 and her acting heyday is now behind her. She lives on her own but has a friend and confidant in her downstairs neighbour Michel, who is also single. Reluctantly, Anna accepts a job as a language coach for 17-year-old Adrian who has a speech impediment and is something of a misfit. She recognises him as the boy who recently snatched her handbag in the street. The film humourously tells the story of an impossible love affair. The fresh breath of freedom blows through a narrative that makes room for a nod to old West Berlin, some gentle teasing of Germany’s French neighbours.
𝟮𝟵.𝟬𝟭.𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝗽𝗺
𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗡 𝗜𝗡 𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗡
(Directed and written by Maryam Zaree, 95′)
In “Born in Evin”, director and actress Maryam Zaree tells of her search for the violent circumstances of her birth in one of the most notorious political prisons in the world.
After years of hesitation, Maryam Zaree finally decides to address the decades of silence: how did their trauma as a result of persecution and violence inscribe itself in the bodies and souls of the survivors and their children? How do survivors cope on a personal level with the fact that the perpetrators still enjoy positions of power with impunity? And what does it mean politically when one of the parties involved tries to cut through the dense undergrowth of repression that exists amongst the closest members of her family?
𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 2023 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘢 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺.
FREE ADMISSION
Pantheon Theatre – 29 Diagoras street, Nicosia
*The film “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush” is screened with English and Greek subtitles. All the other films are screened with English subtitles.*
INFORMATION: +357 22 674606, [email protected], www.goethe.de/cyprus
