Abschied vom falschen Paradies (Farewell to False Paradise)
Elif, a Turkish immigrant in Germany has been sent to prison for murdering her abusive husband. At the time of her imprisonment she has never ventured outside the Turkish community and even there has no friends. Ironical in prison, among strangers she gains a never before known taste of freedom. But soon she is to […]
Bagdad Café (Out of Rosenheim)
With actors Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder, Jack Palance, Christine Kaufmann available in USA on DVD Out of Rosenheim (Bagdad Café) is a look into the minds and lives of some people most of us have met but few of us know much about. This movie exemplifies how one person in the right place can affect […]
Sierra Leone
With actors Gottfried Breitfuss, Nikolaus Dutsch, Constanze Engelbrecht A grim look at modern society as seen through the eyes of a West German returning to his homeland from West Africa. Links: IMDB, Film Portal
Drachenfutter (Dragon Chow)
With actors Frank Oladeinde, Bhasker Patel, Youngme Song available on VHS with English subtitles in USA In Hamburg, always within reach of government officials, immigrants try to make their way. Shezad, a Pakistani in his early 20s, lives in a small hotel run by the shady Herder. The hotel is a virtual United Nations. Shezad […]
40 Quadratmeter Deutschland (Forty Square Meters of Germany)
With actors Özay Fecht, Yaman Okay, Demir Gökgöl The tale of a young Turkish woman who, after an arranged marriage, follows her much older husband to Hamburg, where he had been working for some time. Instead of allowing his wife to experience for herself life in this German city, the husband anxiously shields her from […]
Heimat – Eine deutsche Chronik (Heimat – A German Chronicle)
With actors Marliese Assmann and Eva Maria Bayerwaltes available on DVD with English subtitles in the US The series (11 episodes) tells the story of the village Schabbach, on the Hunsrueck in Germany through the years 1919-1982. Central person is Maria, who we see growing from a 17 year old girl to an old woman, […]
Stadt der verlorenen Seelen (City of Lost Souls)
With actors Wayne County, Manfred Finger, Judith Flex, Helga Goetze, Gerhard Helle City of Lost Souls is the latest work by cult director Rosa von Praunheim, known for his radical, controversial films that usually challenge both nongay and gay audiences. A group of Americans live in the midst of the lively artists’ set in Berlin. […]
Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum)
With actors Mario Adorf and Angela Winkler Danzig in the 1920s/1930s. Oskar Matzerath, son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his birth he decides at his third birthday not to grow up as he sees the crazy world around him at the eve of World War […]
Deutschland im Herbst (Germany in Autumn)
With actors Wolfgang Bächler Heinz Bennent, Wolf Biermann, Joachim Bissmeier The collaborative film entitled Deutschland im Herbst from Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alexander Kluge and a host of other directors from the New German Cinema is an amalgamation of short films that detail the prevailing sociopolitical sentiments in the Federal Republic of Germany during the immediate […]
Aus der Ferne sehe ich dieses Land (I See This Land from Afar)
color, Germany, Thomas Arslan, 89 Min, 2006 With actors Pablo Lira, Anibal Reyna, Valeria Villarcel A family of Chilean socialists living in West Germany, refugees from the coup which toppled Salvador Allende, attempt to survive on the few jobs which are open to them. In the story, the father has just been fired from his […]