Category: Film

Writer in Residence Ulrich Peltzer

German at Aston is proud to be hosting critically acclaimed writer Ulrich Peltzer as part of the German Academic Exchange Service’s (DAAD) Writer in Residence programme. Peltzer is with us from 28 Nov until 8 Dec.
During his time at Aston, the author will read from his latest novel Das bessere Leben. He will also give a research seminar on “Political Writing Today: Film and Prose”, where he will discuss his novels and his film scripts for some of Berlin School director Christoph Hochhäusler’s films with Prof Julian Preece from Swansea University.
On 7 Dec, Peltzer will appear at Birmingham’s Waterstones bookshop to discuss his break-through novel Teil der Lösung (Part of the Solution) and his experience as an author living and writing in Berlin.

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Ulrich Peltzer and Uwe Schütte

German Film of the Week: Gegen die Wand

gegen_die_wandThis week’s film is Fatih Akin’s award-winning Gegen die Wand, a powerful story of love, obsession and self-destruction set in  the Turkish-German community.

When Cahit reluctantly agrees to enter into a marriage of convenience with Sibel who is desperate to escape the control of her strict Turkish parents, he doesn’t expect to fall in love with her and he doesn’t anticipate the tragic course of events his feelings for his ‘wife’ will trigger.

Set in Hamburg and Istanbul, Akin once again captures the hopes, dreams and struggles of people living in modern multi-cultural societies.

Aston students can access the film through our VLE. It is available to Box of Broadcasts subscribers here.

Trailer:  httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRioyPHCSVo

Viel Vergnügen!

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German Film of the Week: Sonnenallee

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Less than 10 years after the East German state ceased to exist, we started to miss it. Ostalgie, a nostalgia for the East and for everyday life under Socialism, is a much discussed phenomenon which sprang up in the 1990s when East Germans increasingly felt they had been taken over by the West and memories of the East were being devalued. 2260745,yp+T7PMY5lKvdiJRNP2232rRcIxVh8A_S7N9IsWuz4QEwaEPZZrjpU+rJbihmueTTpJCTKIusJ0qmDEDRKo4WA==This resulted in an identity crisis for the generation which had grown up behind the Wall, and people started organising “East parties” and celebrating their “Easterness” with the consumption of regional products and re-introduced Eastern brands. Made in 1999, Sonnenallee is a hilarious comedy which takes the desire to reassert an East German identity to the big screen, simultaneously mocking and mourning the GDR.

Aston students can access the film through Blackboard. It is also available online here and  here.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js9DphJ8JXU

Viel Vergnügen – and apologies for the poor quality of the subtitles!

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German Film of the Week: Goodbye Lenin

200_sThis week’s film is Wolfgang Becker’s classic Goodbye Lenin, which provides a comic take on the rapid transformation process that East Germany underwent when it joined the Federal Republic following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

When Christiane wakes up from a months-long coma and has to avoid all forms of excitement to prevent a relapse, her son Alex is faced with the challenge of hiding the changes that have taken place and recreating the GDR for her – complete with locally produced pickles and fake East German news.

Aston students can access the film through our VLE. Box of Broadcasts users can access the film here and it is also available online here and here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJb4efZcFUM

Viel Vergnügen!

German Film of the Week: Requiem

indexThis week’s film is Requiem, Hans Christian Schmid’s 2006 drama based on the real life story of Anneliese Michel, who died in 1975 following Catholic exorcism rites. Her life also inspired the American film The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Aston students can access the film through our VLE, Box of Broadcasts users can watch it here  and it is available online here and here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30KLEFl2Nvg

Viel Vergnügen!

German Film of Week: Go Trabi Go

"Go, Trabi, Go" BRD 1990 Walter StumphOur first film in 2015 is Go Trabi Go, a comedy about an East German family who decide to take advantage of their newly acquired freedom to travel and set off for Italy – following in the steps of Goethe’s Italian Journey which took place almost exactly 200 years earlier. Unlike Goethe, the Struutz family travel in the comfort of their own automobile, but “Schorsch” is an old Trabant car and the journey turns out to be quite a challenge for “him”.

One of the first films about East Germany to be made after the Wall came down, Go Trabi Go celebrates Saxonian resilience in the face of adversity and pokes fun at the developing tensions between resourceful East Germans and their richer cousins in the west.

Aston students can access the film through our VLE and it is available online here .

Here is a brief taster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM4RVvf5vwI

Viel Vergnügen!