BANGKOK — This year’s German Film Week will feature 11 films from Germany and guest countries, spanning love triangles to proletariat revolution.
Starting on Monday, the Goethe-Institut Thailand and various partners around Bangkok will host daily screenings of award-winning, predominantly German-language films from Germany, Austria, France, Israel, and Switzerland.
This year’s headline film is “All About Me,” which revisits the life of German comedian Hape Kerkeling. Behind his smile lies a dark shadow that loomed over his youth, when he had to utilize his talents to energize his depressed mother.
Meanwhile “Gundermann” explores the contradicting facets of an East German miner, who is both a musician and an agent of the East German intelligence service, Stasi, on the side. The biopic, which won in the German Film Awards (Deutscher Filmpreis), examines how Gerhard Gundermann dealt with his past and influenced the former socialist republic through his music.
Shout “workers of the world, unite!” with “The Young Karl Marx.” The historical drama follows Karl Marx during his 20s when he meets Friedrich Engels, a son of a wealthy factory owner. Engels helps Marx actualize his vision of igniting a new political movement and setting another course for history.
Meet the guardians of fake news in “The Cleaners.” The documentary follows a group of content moderators whose task is to monitor and filter social media sites. In doing so, they are constantly bombarded with the worst the internet has to offer.
In “Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden,” an Austrian erotic painter falls in love with one of his models. Meanwhile in “The Cakemaker,” an Israeli businessman begins an affair with a Berliner baker, who later uncovers the deception behind the affection.
The details of other films and the festival schedule can be found online or at participating cinemas: the Goethe-Institut, Doc Club Theater, Cinema Oasis, Bangkok Screening Room, ChangChui, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand, and the Film Archive.
“German Film Week 2019” will run from 8-14 July at various locations around Bangkok. Every screening will include Thai and English subtitles. Tickets can be obtained online or at the box office for 100 baht each, except screenings at the Goethe-Institut and ChangChui which will be free.
