As always, this annual selection of recent German cinema, which showcases major new features and documentaries, is presented by the IFI in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Irland and German Films Services + Marketing.
Continuing a trend that has been much commented on, modern German cinema seems fascinated with exploring the country’s troubled past. Kaspar Heidelbach’s Berlin ’36 tells the extraordinary true story of Gretel Bergmann, who was destined for an Olympic gold medal before she was forced out of the German team for being a Jew. Max Färberböck’s A Woman in Berlin is based on the diary of the only woman to write about the taboo topic of the rape of German women by Red Army soldiers at the end of World War II. Two large-budget biographical features look at the lives of two very different figures from German history: Hilde, about the iconic actress-singer Hildegard Knef, and John Rabe, about the reluctant World War II hero.
