Sommerkino at the Goethe Institut

For the third consecutive year, the Goethe Institut Cyprus presents its Sommerkino – a series of German film screenings. The programme includes five films by two of the most important contemporary German directors: Andreas Dresen and Fatih Akin. Among the films are a coming-of-age film and a film for children. The screenings will take place between July 11 and 15 in the garden and in the hall of the Goethe Institut in Nicosia.

The work of both Andreas Dresen and Fatih Akin is integral to contemporary German cinema and the arthouse scene. The films of the two German directors address a spectrum of different topics that often deal with marginalised social groups. Dresen is also known not to shy away from subjects that other filmmakers consider taboo.

Dresen, born in 1963 in Gera, is one of the most renowned contemporary German filmmakers. The director and screenwriter, who has won numerous national and international awards, takes typically unconventional perspectives to explore his characters, some of whom have links to the history of the GDR. With great sensitivity towards his characters as well as seemingly banal everyday stories, Dresen manages to paint a picture of the emotional-social situation of the Republic.

Akin, born in 1973 in Hamburg, has established himself firmly in the German directing and film scene with films such as Soul Kitchen, Head On (Gegen die Wand) and In the Fade (Aus dem Nichts) and has been awarded numerous prizes for his work.

The Sommerkino will start with Goodbye Berlin (Tschick), Akin’s award-winning adaptation of Wolfgang Herrndorf’s novel Why We Took the Car (Tschick) which tells the story of two teenage misfits from Berlin who set off across eastern Germany towards Wallachia in a stolen car. Dresen’s drama Grill Point (Halbe Treppe) is the story of two married couples struggling with their professional and family lives while trying to stay financially afloat until a love affair shatters their routine.

With Cloud 9 (Wolke 9), Dresen is one of the few directors who dares to cinematically depict the world of older adults by telling the story of a married woman in her mid-60s who falls in love with another man. In the much-praised and awarded Gundermann, Dresen devotes himself to the life and oeuvre of songwriter Gerhard Gundermann, an idol of many people in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) until the rumour that he was a spy for the Stasi started to spread.

The Sommerkino concludes with the children’s film The Legend of Timm Thaler or The Boy who Sold his Laughter, in which Dresen turns to the tale about a boy with an irresistible laugh who, in a life crisis, first sells his gift to the sinister Baron de Lefouet and later tries to recapture it with the support of his friends.

Sommerkino

Film screenings by two German directors. July 11-15. Goethe-Institut, Nicosia. 8.15pm and/or 6.30pm. Free. German with English subtitles. Tel: 22-674606, www.goethe.de/cyprus/sommerkino2022