« Film Scores of Dmitry Shostakovich | Home | 8th goEast – Festival of Central & East European Film 2008 »
German Films at 7th Tribeca Film Festival 2008
By Tanja Meding | July 1, 2008
Back in 2002, Robert de Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival as a response to the aftermath of 9/11 with the mission to revive the devastated neighborhood. Now in its 7th year, the festival draws huge crowds and has become a landmark not only in the Manhattan cultural scene, but also on the worldwide festival circuit.
This year, seven German films and coproductions celebrated their US premiere, among them Yousry Nasrallah’s Genenet al Asmak (The Aquarium) (Egypt/France/Germany) in the World Narrative Feature Competition, Niels Laupert’s debut Sieben Tage Sonntag (Seven Days Sunday) in the Discovery section, Ayat Najafi and David Assmann’s documentary Football Under Cover in the International Showcase, and Rosa von Praunheim’s Meine Mütter (Two Mothers) in the World Documentary Competition.
Rosa von Praunheim’s Two Mothers, his most autobiographical film to date, had premiered at last year’s Hof Film Festival and was released in Germany to critical acclaim. In this intimate documentary Rosa explores his own origins and family roots. Some years prior to her passing, his mother disclosed that she had adopted him from an orphanage in Riga, Latvia, where she and her husband had lived during the Second World War. After her passing, Praunheim decided to retrace his own history, hoping to find his biological parents. With the help of scholars, writers and researchers, plus a stroke of luck, he managed to discover his biological mother and to meet some of her surviving family. Searching for his biological father, though, turned out to be more complex – he uncovers information that could point to his father being a high ranking SS member. Eventually, Praunheim abandons his research, as it just gets too painful and scary. Within this personal premise lies the beauty of the film: it evolves into a part of German history and at the same time touches on some universal issues, such as: searching for ones own identity, the question whether one needs to know all about family ties, and what and who constitutes family. Also, with this film, we realize how recently the Second World War ended and how it still resonates.
Rounding out the German films screened at Tribeca were three shorts: Florian Riegel’s Himmel auf Erden (Heaven on Earth), Nico Zingelmann’s 15 Minuten Wahrheit (15 Minutes of Truth), and Renate Günther-Greene’s experimental film 2007 – Ehe die Spuren verwehen (2007 – Before the Traces Are Gone). More info: www.tribecafilmfestival.org.
– Tanja Meding
Topics: German Film | Comments Off on German Films at 7th Tribeca Film Festival 2008
Comments are closed.