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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival · 2024

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024

In Focus: Germany

Programme

18 films · 6 reviews

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Death Will Come (La Mort Viendra)

Tez kills for money. Charles Mahr, a legendary gangster, hires her to avenge the murder of one of his couriers. Once in Brussels, she gets caught up in the thicket of an intrigue in which she herself becomes the prey. Tez has to decide whose instrument she wants to be.

(Country: Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium; Year: 2024; Director: Christoph Hochhäusler; Writer: Christoph Hochhäusler, Ulrich Peltzer; Stars: Sophie Verbeeck, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Marc Limpach, Mourade Zeguendi, Hilde Van Mieghem)

Dying (Sterben)

Review preview for Dying

Dying is full of glorious contradictions, many of which occur within the same conversation

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Ensemble drama about members of an estranged family.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Matthias Glasner; Writer: Matthias Glasner; Stars: Lars Eidinger, Saskia Rosendahl, Ronald Zehrfeld, Corinna Harfouch, Anna Bederke, Lilith Stangenberg, Kailas Mahadevan, Tom Böttcher, Hans-Uwe Bauer, Robert Gwisdek, Jens Weisser, Karmela Shako, Sidney Fahlisch, Christopher Köberlein, Alina Hidic)

Full review

Elaha

Review preview for Elaha

Aboyan lets Layla drive the film with an emotional intensity alongside which everything else fades.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A German-Kurdish woman tries to decide whether to cover up the fact that she is no longer a virgin in the run up to her wedding in this poignant exploration of cultural pressure and self-determination.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Milena Aboyan; Writer: Milena Aboyan; Stars: Bayan Layla, Hadnet Tesfai, Derya Durmaz, Nazmi Kirik, Slavko Popadic, Armin Wahedi Yeganeh, Cansu Leyan, Beritan Balci, Homa Faghiri, Réber Ibrahim, Ferman Alkasari, Mehmet Daloglu, Derya Dilber, Taies Farzan, Lennart Gottmann)

Full review

From Hilde, With Love

Review preview for From Hilde, With Love

This non-sensationalist approach allows much more room to address the psychological effects of prison life itself, whilst emphasising the mundanity of much of what happened under the Nazis.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In Berlin 1942, Hilde finds her place within an anti-Nazi resistance group as gradually as she falls in love with one of its members. The two spend an unforgettable summer until they get caught by the Gestapo and Hilde is imprisoned, eight months pregnant.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Andreas Dresen; Writer: Laila Stieler; Stars: Liv Lisa Fries, Johannes Hegemann, Sina Martens)

Full review See: Interview with Andreas Dresen about From Hilde, With Love

Ice Aged

Six senior figure skaters show that it’s never too late to lace up your skates and chase your dreams.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Alexandra Sell; Stars: Elena Rickmann, Sissy Krick, Roland Suckale, Toos van Urk, Nadia Colbourne, Linda Bernard, David Marzell)

Long Story Short (Feste & Freunde)

Comedy about a group of close friends who celebrate various parties over an extended period of time.

(Year: 2024; Director: David Dietl; Writer: Elena Senft; Stars: Laura Tonke, Nicholas Ofczarek, Henning Flüsloh, Jasmin Shakeri, Ronald Zehrfeld, Annette Frier)

The Marriage Of Maria Braun (Die Ehe der Maria Braun)

Review preview for The Marriage Of Maria Braun

The film is an intelligent, technically proficient and complex critique of this period, weaving metaphors for the German body politic and psyche of the time.

Ben Sillis · 4 out of 5
A heart-breaking study of life for one woman in post-war West Germany. Out to own now on the RW Fassbinder Commemorative Collection: Vol 2.

(Country: West Germany; Year: 1978; Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Writer: Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Stars: Hanna Schygulla, Klaus Lowitsch, Ivan Desny, Gisela Uhlen, Elisabeth Trissenaar, Gottfried John, Hark Bohm, George Byrd, Claus Holm, Gunter Lamprecht)

Full review See: Fokus: Films From Germany - season preview

No Dogs Allowed

A teenager with dark fantasies is groomed by an older man.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Steve Bache; Writer: Stephan Kämpf; Stars: Finlay Deavin, Sean Douglas, Ole Eisfeld, Vera Gallmann, Bineta Hansen, Ralph Hönicke, Richard Kipp, Carlo Krammling, Franz Ferdinand Krause, Katharina Ley, Sithembile Menck, Lisa Riesner, Sammy Schrein, Katharina Marie Schubert, Robin Sondermann)

Protected Men (Die geschützten Männer)

Satirical thriller set in a hypothetical world ruled by women.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Irene von Alberti; Writer: Robert Merle, Irene von Alberti; Stars: Britta Hammelstein, Mavie Hörbiger, Yousef 'Joe' Sweid, Bibiana Beglau, Godehard Giese, Julika Jenkins, Michaela Caspar, Sina Martens, Ruby Commey, Johanna Polley, Bastian Reiber, Roland Bonjour, Mathias Herrmann, Florian Appelius, Timo Jacobs)

Riefenstahl

Review preview for Riefenstahl

Selective memory was something Riefenstahl excelled at and, as a director, she was also adept at staying on message in the face of counter evidence, something which Veiel scrutinises throughout.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An exploration of Leni Riefenstahl’s life and her attempts to rehabilitate her image.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Andres Veiel; Writer: Andres Veiel; Stars: Ulrich Noethen, Leni Riefenstahl, Heinrich Breloer, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler, Horst Kettner, Ray Müller, Hansjürgen Rosenbauer, Albert Speer)

Full review See: Interview with Andres Veiel about Riefenstahl

Sad Jokes

When his co-parent is hospitalised due to severe depression, a filmmaker reeling from a recent break-up is forced to step up.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Fabian Stumm; Writer: Fabian Stumm; Stars: Fabian Stumm, Haley Louise Jones, Ulrica Flach, Jonas Dassler, Godehard Giese, Marie-Lou Sellem, Anne Haug, Knut Berger)

September 5

Review preview for September 5

September 5 might not be a masterpiece but it is a tense, nail-biting thriller.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 3.5 out of 5
Set during the 1972 Munich Olympics, the film follows an American Sports broadcasting team that quickly adapted from sports reporting to live coverage of the Israeli athletes taken hostage.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Tim Fehlbaum; Writer: Moritz Binder, Alex David, Tim Fehlbaum; Stars: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem, Georgina Rich, Corey Johnson, Marcus Rutherford, Daniel Adeosun, Benjamin Walker, Ferdinand Dörfler, Solomon Mousley, Daniel Betts, Jeff Book, Leif Eisenberg)

Full review See: Interview with Moritz Binder about September 5

Solo Sunny

East Berlin’s rebel star – Sunny’s fight for freedom and fame.

(Country: East Germany; Year: 1980; Director: Konrad Wolf, Wolfgang Kohlhaase; Writer: Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Dieter Wolf; Stars: Renate Krößner, Alexander Lang, Heide Kipp, Dieter Montag, Klaus Brasch, Ulrich Anschütz, Ursula Braun, Michael Christian, Regine Doreen, Fred Düren, Klaus Händel, Hansjürgen Hürrig, Olaf Mierau, Thomas Neumann, Rolf Pfannenstein)

Tomorrow Somewhere By The Sea (Morgen irgendwo am Meer)

Four teens take a road trip during the summr holidays.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Patrick Büchting; Writer: Patrick Büchting, Adriana Popescu; Stars: Sophia Münster, Jonas Kaufmann, Carlotta Weide, Louie Betton, Elias Grünthal, Alex Freeman, Sami Kjell Köppe, Wolfgang Vogler)

Turning Tables

A staunch advocate of strict EU border controls, is suddenly faced with a moral crisis after being asked to hide an illegal immigrant.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Dan Dockery, Jennifer Prettyman; Writer: Elliott Graber, Jennifer Prettyman; Stars: Jennifer Prettyman, Elliott Graber, Jesse Griffith, Landyn Banx, Adam Colt, Dan Dockery, Allard LaRue, Tapan Sharma, Alex Suszko)

With My Open Lungs

In the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Jana embarks on a journey of love on the one hand and great chaos on the other.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Yana Sad; Writer: Yana Sad)

Yellow

Portrait of Vincent Van Gogh.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel, Albert Oehlen; Writer: Albert Oehlen; Stars: Ben Becker, Birgit Minichmayr, Charlotte Taschen, Christoph Dreher, Thomas Fehlmann, Julia Rüther, Karlotta Frahm, Thomas Grünfeld, Maya Oehlen, Rüdiger Carl, Sven Ake Johansson, Jutta Koether, Simon Hemmer, Daniela Henke, Thomas Houseago, Steamboat Switzerland, Marino Pliakas, Dominik Blum, Lucas Niggli)

Yesterday Girl

Jewish East German Anita G relocates to West Berlin and tries to start a new life there, but her attempts fail one after another.

(Country: West Germany; Year: 1966; Director: Alexander Kluge; Writer: Alexander Kluge; Stars: Alexandra Kluge, Günter Mack, Eva Maria Meineke, Hans Korte, Ursula Dirichs, Edith Kuntze-Pellogio, E.O. Fuhrmann, Josef Kreindl, Käthe Ebner, Hans Brammer, Karl-Heinz Peters, Fritz Bauer, Erna Bepperling, Gottfried Gerhard Bowin-Schlegel, Adam Delle)