MoMA Presents: Kino! 2011: New Films from Germany

Features

Published on April 26th, 2011 | by Patricia Yurcak

“Kino! 2011: New Films from Germany” is the 32^nd edition of the annual survey of recent German cinema and will run April 27 until May 2. “Kino!” veteran Tom Tykwer will attend the opening night of the exhibition to introduce the New York premiere of his film,”Drei (Three).” The film is a 21st-century valentine to Berlin; an adult romantic comedy that puts a new twist on the notion of togetherness.

Other films in the exhibition will be narrative and documentary features and a selection of shorts to be announced on MoMA.org.”Kino! 2011: New Films from Germany” is organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, in cooperation with German Films Service + Marketing (Munich) and its New York representative, Oliver Mahrdt. “Kino!” is presented with the support of the Goethe Institute, New York.

Screening Schedule

Kino! 2011: New Films from Germany

April 27-May 2, 2011

Wednesday, April 27

4:00 How to Make a Book with Steidl. 2010. Directed by Gereon Wetzel, Jorg Adolph. This lively documentary captures the energy and passion of Gerhard Steidl, the German publisher of Günter Grass’s “The Tin Drum,” Robert Frank’s “The Americans,” and many excellent artists’ books. The film follows the production of Joel Sternfeld’s iDubai photo book, and also features appearances by Ed Ruscha, Jeff Wall, and Robert Adams, among others. In German and English. 88 min.

8:00 Drei (Three). 2010. Germany. Written and directed by Tom Tykwer. With Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper, David Streisow. Tykwer’s 21st-century valentine to Berlin—the city that inspired his breakthrough, “Run Lola Run,” 13 years ago—is an adult romantic comedy about a handsome couple, together for many years, who each become involved, unbeknownst to one another, with the same man. As smooth and effervescent as champagne, “Three” presents a delicious new twist on the notion of togetherness. Courtesy of Strand Releasing. 119 min.

Tom Tykwer present.

Thursday, April 28

4:00 Weissensee (The Weissensee Saga: A Berlin Love Story). 2010. Germany. Directed by Friedmann Fromm. Screenplay by Annette Hess. With Florian Lukas, Hannah Herzsprung, Uwe Kockisch, Karin Sass, Ruth Reinecke. A great many contemporary European films begin as television productions, and The Weissensee Saga, a miniseries of six 45-minute episodes, is one of the most popular films ever made for German television—with good reason. Set in East Berlin in the 1980s, the film follows the reluctant interactions of two families, the Kupfers, whose allegiance belongs to the Stasi secret police, and the Hausmanns, dissidents whose matriarch is a cabaret singer. Although the director and the writer are both from the West, The Weissensee Saga presented, apparently for the first time, an accurate dramatized depiction of day-to-day life in East Germany.

Episodes 1-3, 135 min.

Friedmann Fromm present.

7:30 Weissensee (The Weissensee Saga: A Berlin Love Story), Episodes 4-6, 135 mins. (See Thursday, April 28, 4:00).

Friday, April 29

4:00 Das Lied in mir (The Day I Was Not Born). 2010. Germany. Directed by Florian Cossen. Screenplay by Cossen, Elena von Saucken. With Jessica Schwarz, Rafael Faro. An assured and touching first feature about a German champion swimmer who lands in Buenos Aires by accident and there makes an astonishing discovery about her family and herself. The original German title translates as “The Song within Me,” and refers to a Spanish-language lullaby that the young woman knows…but can’t imagine why. In German, Spanish; English subtitles. 95 min.Florian Cossen present.

7:30 How to Make a Book with Steidl (See Wednesday, April 27, 4:00).

Saturday, April 30

1:30 Weissensee (The Weissensee Saga: A Berlin Love Story), Episodes 1-6; 15 min. intermission. (See Thursday, April 28, 4:00).

7:30 Das Lied in mir (The Day I Was Not Born) (See Friday, April 29, 4:00).

Sunday, May 1

1:00 Tanztraume: Jugendliche Tanzen “Kontakthof” von Pina Bausch (Dancing Dreams: Teenagers Dance Pina Bausch’s “Contact Zone”). 2010. Germany. Directed by Anne Linsel, Rainer Hoffmann. Screenplay by Linsel. Cinematography by Hoffmann. A documentary about Pina Bausch rehearsing and staging her seminal work “Kontakthof” with high school students from Wuppertal.In German; English subtitles. 90 min. Anne Linsel and Rainer Hoffmann present.

3:30 Next Generation 2010. 2010. Germany. Titles will be announced on MoMA.org. Twelve short films made in 2010 by students from German film academies. 93 mins.

5:30 Picco. 2010. Germany. Written and directed by Philip Koch. With Constantin von Jascheroff, Joel Basman, Frederick Lau, Martin Koerber, Jule Gartzke. The film draws from an actual incident in a boys’ reformatory where, to pass time, cellmates goad each other into suicide. Please note: contains scenes of strong psychological and physical violence. In German; English subtitles. 103 min.

Philip Koch present.

Monday, May 2

4:00 Next Generation 2010 (See Sunday, May 1, 3:30)

6:00 Tanztraume: Jugendliche Tanzen “Kontakthof” von Pina Bausch (Dancing Dreams: Teenagers Dance Pina Bausch’s “Contact Zone”) (See Sunday, May 1, 1:00).

8:30 Picco (See Sunday, May 1, 5:30).

Tags: Drei, Kino! 2011: New Films from Germany, MoMA