True Stories of Being Black in Germany, Lakshmi Sarah
Lakshmi Sarah, one of the participants in the course Multicultural Germany, produced an article published in KQED entitled “True Stories of Being Black in Germany” in which she introduces a traveling exhibit from the Goethe Institut and its curator Victoria Toney-Robinson. Please click on this link to read the article in full: “True Stories of […]
Multicultural Germany Course: Summary of the First Two Weeks
To summarize the first two weeks of the seminar “Multicultural Germany” (fall 2015) it is best to start off with the participants: One third of the class is exchange students, mostly from Germany. Due to this the class can benefit from the insights and background information these students bring to the table. Another bonus is […]
Multicultural Germany Course, Fall Semester 2015
This course addresses questions of mobility and borders in our increasingly connected and disjointed world. We will approach the history of post-World War II Germany through the lens of migration, reading a variety of texts critically and relating them to broader questions of economic and cultural globalization: the long term consequences of “guest worker” recruitment; […]
Deutschland 09 – 13 kurze Filme zur Lage der Nation (Germany ’09 – 13 Short Films on the State of the Nation)
Thirteen German directors present short films exploring the state of the country in 2009. Director and one of the project’s founders, Tom Tykwer, says, “Der Film Deutschland 09 vereint ein gutes Dutzend individuelle filmische Blicke auf das, was wir heute und jetzt als Heimat erleben – und wie wir uns in diesem Land verorten, verirren, verstricken. (“The […]
Müll im Garten Eden (Garbage in the Garden of Eden)
This documentary follows villagers in Turkey’s Black Sea village of Çamburnu as they struggle with the central government’s decision to turn establish a garbage dump in the hills above their community. The film is not currently for sale in the US. Links: IMDB, Official Site, Film-portal Genre(s): Documentary Theme(s): Democracy; Activism; Spatial or Temporal Spaces and Borders;
Multicultural Germany Class Final Paper: Staged Realities
At the end of the past semester, students in the Multicultural Germany class at UC Berkeley wrote final papers on topics of their choosing. To conclude our series of posts from this class, we are delighted to share several of their papers here. This paper is by Treasure Nguyen, who wrote about Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 film, Angst […]
Film Reviews: “Alles auf Zucker!”
As part of their work in the Multicultural Germany undergraduate seminar at UC Berkeley, students in the course reviewed recent German films relating in various ways to topics of migration, multiculturalism, and contemporary German identity. Jennifer Lau, Jenelle Mathews, and Brittany Scott reviewed Dani Levy’s 2004 comedy Alles auf Zucker Review by Jennifer Lau: Nothing brings an estranged family […]
“Alles auf Zucker!” Film Review by Jennifer Lau
Nothing brings an estranged family together like the death of a loved one and the subsequent promise of an inheritance. In Dani Levy’s 2004 comedy, Go for Zucker (Alles auf Zucker), two brothers are forced to overcome their animosity and reconcile both their personal feud and religious differences, which simmered for over 40 years as […]
“Alles auf Zucker!” Film Review by Jenelle Mathews
The 2004 film, “Alles auf Zucker” is a German work that engages with social issues such as religion, family loyalty and identity through the use of comedy. The film was directed by Dani Levy and is situated in modern Berlin. Levy’s work portrays two brothers and their families, who after many years of severed contact […]
“Alles auf Zucker!” Film Review by Brittany Scott
Go for Zucker! is a comedy film directed by Dani Levy that was released in 2004. The film portrays the story of a family divided by the Berlin Wall emotionally and physically. The division provides the basis for conflict between Jackie Zucker – a pool shark – and Samuel Zuckerman, his orthodox Jewish brother. The […]