Having long settled in Britain after fleeing Nazi Germany with her family as a young girl, Judith Kerr wrote her semi-autobiographical 1971 children’s novel “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit” as a response to her own son’s Hollywood-tilted misconception of her childhood. After watching “The Sound of Music,” he observed that her own escape must have been similar; amused, she proceeded to pen perhaps the most piercing child’s-eye view of Hitler’s rise to power and the Jewish refugee experience ever published — an episodic tale long on wry culture-clash observation and intimate familial strife, but short on Edelweiss sentimentality. In adapting Kerr’s novel for the screen, writer-director Caroline Link splits the difference somewhat: In this bright, engaging film, Kerr’s story is faithfully and lovingly preserved, though its tougher, quirkier details are mollified by a layer of palatable movie gloss.
Reaching U.S. screens nearly 18 months after its release in Germany,...
Reaching U.S. screens nearly 18 months after its release in Germany,...
- 5/20/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The 33rd edition of the International Dortmund | Cologne Women's Film Festival came to a successful conclusion after six days of films and events. At the awards ceremony on Sunday evening held in Cologne's Odeon Cinema, four prizes were awarded with prize money totaling €16,000.
The Ecuadorian director Ana Cristina Barragán convinced the international jury with her debut work "Alba" and was in Cologne in person to pick up the €10,000 prize. The jury consisted of screenwriter, director and producer Ana Cruz Navarro (Mexico), director and screenwriter Angelina Maccarone (Germany) and producer and director Marilyn Watelet (Belgium). They explained their decision as follows
"Ana Cristina Barragán creates the intimate portrait of a girl on the verge of adulthood struggling to balance the yearning to belong against the price she has to pay for it. Thanks to the cinematographic verve and a tenderness of view, no explanatory dialogues are required to get under our skin. From the very first moment of the film, we see the world radically only through the eyes of this serious young girl – wonderfully played by Macarena Arias. Barragán tells a coming-of-age story that goes far beyond itself and thus becomes a strong expression of love."
Endowed with €1,000 and sponsored by choices, a listings magazine, the Audience Prize 2016 was awarded to film director Leona Goldstein for her documentary film "God is Not Working on Sunday!" (Rwa/De). Eligible for nomination was any film longer than sixty minutes to be shown at the festival.
The winners of the National Competition for Women Directors of Photography had been selected in the run-up to the festival. The award is shared by the directors of photography Katharina Diessner in the documentary category for the film "Arlette. Courage is a Muscle" (dir. Florian Hoffmann) and by Julia Hönemann in the feature film category for "Porn Punk Poetry" (dir. Maurice Hübner). Prizes were worth €2,500 each this year with the feature film award being sponsored by the Dfg German Film Insurance Pool. The jury comprised Sophie Maintigneux and Bella Halben, both directors of photography themselves, and Christiane Schmidt, last year's winner
Festival Director Silke J. Räbiger was more than pleased with the general feedback and the all-round successful collaboration with cooperation partners such as the Cologne Academy of Media Arts, medica mondiale, the Cologne International Film School Cologne, Gold + Concrete and the local cinemas – the Odeon, the Film Forum at the Museum Ludwig, the Filmpalette and the Altes Pfandhaus.
The next festival will be taking place from 4 to 9 April 2017 in Dortmund.
The Ecuadorian director Ana Cristina Barragán convinced the international jury with her debut work "Alba" and was in Cologne in person to pick up the €10,000 prize. The jury consisted of screenwriter, director and producer Ana Cruz Navarro (Mexico), director and screenwriter Angelina Maccarone (Germany) and producer and director Marilyn Watelet (Belgium). They explained their decision as follows
"Ana Cristina Barragán creates the intimate portrait of a girl on the verge of adulthood struggling to balance the yearning to belong against the price she has to pay for it. Thanks to the cinematographic verve and a tenderness of view, no explanatory dialogues are required to get under our skin. From the very first moment of the film, we see the world radically only through the eyes of this serious young girl – wonderfully played by Macarena Arias. Barragán tells a coming-of-age story that goes far beyond itself and thus becomes a strong expression of love."
Endowed with €1,000 and sponsored by choices, a listings magazine, the Audience Prize 2016 was awarded to film director Leona Goldstein for her documentary film "God is Not Working on Sunday!" (Rwa/De). Eligible for nomination was any film longer than sixty minutes to be shown at the festival.
The winners of the National Competition for Women Directors of Photography had been selected in the run-up to the festival. The award is shared by the directors of photography Katharina Diessner in the documentary category for the film "Arlette. Courage is a Muscle" (dir. Florian Hoffmann) and by Julia Hönemann in the feature film category for "Porn Punk Poetry" (dir. Maurice Hübner). Prizes were worth €2,500 each this year with the feature film award being sponsored by the Dfg German Film Insurance Pool. The jury comprised Sophie Maintigneux and Bella Halben, both directors of photography themselves, and Christiane Schmidt, last year's winner
Festival Director Silke J. Räbiger was more than pleased with the general feedback and the all-round successful collaboration with cooperation partners such as the Cologne Academy of Media Arts, medica mondiale, the Cologne International Film School Cologne, Gold + Concrete and the local cinemas – the Odeon, the Film Forum at the Museum Ludwig, the Filmpalette and the Altes Pfandhaus.
The next festival will be taking place from 4 to 9 April 2017 in Dortmund.
- 5/2/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Door / Die Tür
Director: Anno Saul
Written by Anno Saul
2009, Germany
Glowering Danish sex god Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) comes face to face with himself in director Anno Saul’s German fantasy thriller, The Door. It’s one of many head-scratching moments in a film that flirts with different genres and ideas, from time-travel, horror and homicidal doppelgangers to old-fashioned redemptive drama. Narrative coherence isn’t its strong point, but The Door does deliver some genuinely heart-stopping moments.
Artist David Andernach (Mikkelsen), leaves his young daughter Leonie (Valeria Eisenbart) alone in the garden of their suburban house so he can visit his mistress. His afternoon delight turns into a nightmare, when he returns to find the girl drowned in the swimming pool. Five years pass, and a clumsily scripted scene reveals that David is now divorced from his wife Maja (Jessica Schwarz) and in a suicidal state. Then a...
Director: Anno Saul
Written by Anno Saul
2009, Germany
Glowering Danish sex god Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) comes face to face with himself in director Anno Saul’s German fantasy thriller, The Door. It’s one of many head-scratching moments in a film that flirts with different genres and ideas, from time-travel, horror and homicidal doppelgangers to old-fashioned redemptive drama. Narrative coherence isn’t its strong point, but The Door does deliver some genuinely heart-stopping moments.
Artist David Andernach (Mikkelsen), leaves his young daughter Leonie (Valeria Eisenbart) alone in the garden of their suburban house so he can visit his mistress. His afternoon delight turns into a nightmare, when he returns to find the girl drowned in the swimming pool. Five years pass, and a clumsily scripted scene reveals that David is now divorced from his wife Maja (Jessica Schwarz) and in a suicidal state. Then a...
- 3/22/2011
- by Susannah
- SoundOnSight
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