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EU Film Showcase Features US Premieres, German Oscar Hopefuls
The 2006 European Union Film Showcase in Washington, D.C. features a packed program of international festival headliners, most of which are now making their US premieres and a number of which are official contenders for Oscar nominations. The festival, from November 2-19, is presented by the American Film Institute (AFI) in collaboration with the Cultural Counselors of European Union Member States and with 27 films from 21 EU member states is the largest in the festival’s 19-year history. Germany will be represented by two highly acclaimed films: “The Lives of Others” by director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and “Requiem” by Hans Christian Schmid.
“The Lives of Others” (Das Leben der Anderen) is set in East Berlin in November 1984. Five years before its downfall, the East German government is ensuring its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance. Party loyalist Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe) sees a chance to boost his career when given the job of collecting evidence against the playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his girlfriend, the celebrated stage actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). After all, the operation is backed by the highest political circles. What he didn’t anticipate, however, was that submerging oneself into the world of the target also changes the surveillance agent. This immersion in the lives of others – in love, literature, free thinking and speech – makes Wiesler acutely aware of the meagerness of his own existence and opens to him a completely new way of life, which he finds increasingly difficult to resist. Set in the heart of the East German regime, “The Lives of Others” is an intensely gripping thriller and moving love story featuring some of Germany’s most celebrated actors. “Requiem” is a psychological thriller set in 1970s small-town southern Germany. Michaela (Sandra Hueller), has grown up in a deeply religious family. Despite her long battle with epilepsy, she desperately wants to leave home and study at university. There, she experiences her first taste of freedom, her budding love for Stefan and her friendship with Hanna. Slowly, her protective shell of faith and family starts to crack open, but it leads to her having a breakdown. Not a normal epileptic attack, but a frightening onrush of grotesque faces and voices. Afraid of being sent back home to her family, Michaela seeks help from a priest, who reinforces her conviction that she is possessed. Though Stefan and Hanna encourage her to seek psychiatric help, they are unable to break through the dense religious and moral ties binding Michaela to her family. In addition to the festival program, the Goethe Institut Washington will be showing “And the Oscar Goes to…Europe,” an evening with award-winning short films from Europe. October 31, 2006 Links
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