Contemporary German Film Series with Diego Ongaro

Date: 03/23/2023
Time: 6:30 pm-8:30 pm

The Berlin School is a German film movement that started in the mid 90s, creating radically new images of German society. With directors coming from different horizons, their films can be seen as documents of a society in transition where lives had to be redefined after the fall of the Wall. Their more restrained approach to characters, places and moods alone made them stand out from the staidly conventional German films of the turn of the century. They reflect an unconscious insecurity, the feeling that history is going down a different road, but one in which people do not know what role they are going to play. Director Diego Ongaro will introduce and discuss three powerful and unique films that recently sprouted from that movement: Toni Erdman (2016), Western (2017), and Great Freedom (2021).

WESTERN – Directed by Valeska Grisebach / 2017 / 120mn

A group of German construction workers start a tough job at a remote site in the Bulgarian countryside. The foreign land awakens the men’s sense of adventure, but they are also confronted with their own prejudice and mistrust due to the language barrier and cultural differences. Valeska Grisebach observes the intimacy of all-male spaces. She explores the ways men labour, act and interact, their unspoken and brittle bonds. A work of unmatched subtlety, complexity and artistry.

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