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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2014

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014

Focus On Germany

In-depth look at new German film, including an Achtung! Maybe! Event.

Programme

13 films · 6 reviews

Jump to a film

Bahar In Wonderland

A little lost girl approaches a city like a playground.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Bernhard Strubel; Writer: Alexandra Petkau; Stars: Korkmaz Arslan, Julia Kahl, Kani Mohammadi)

Showing in short film showcase Small Revolutions

Beloved Sisters (Die geliebten Schwestern)

Review preview for Beloved Sisters

This sympathetic and thoughtful portrayal of the many faces of marriage avoids clichés about the good old days as well as the bad ones.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Two sisters both fall for the same man - poet Friedrich Schiller.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Dominik Graf; Writer: Dominik Graf; Stars: Henriette Confurius, Florian Stetter, Hannah Herzsprung, Claudia Messner, Ronald Zehrfeld, Andreas Pietschmann, Maja Maranow, Eli Wasserscheid, Bennet Meyer, Michael Wittenborn, Peter Schneider, Anne Schäfer, Klaus Lehmann, Philipp Oehme, Martin Trippensee)

Full review See: Fokus: Films From Germany - season preview , Uschi Reich in conversation on Beloved Sisters

UK premiere

Blur Blue

Short film

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Sonja Polligkeit)

Showing in short film showcase Small Revolutions

Daughters (Töchter)

A woman travels to Berlin after a body is found, when it turns out not to be her daughter, she continues looking...

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Maria Speth; Writer: Maria Speth; Stars: Corinna Kirchhoff, Kathleen Morgeneyer, Hiroki Mano, Fabian Hinrichs, Matthias Matschke, Lars Mikkelsen, Irina Potapenko, Dzamilja Anastasia Sjöström, Hermann Beyer, Philippe Graber, Pit Bukowski, Judith Engel, Hans-Jochen Wagner, Maria Matschke, Michael Sideris)

UK premiere

Elisabeth

Drama about an isolated writer.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Katharina Woll; Stars: Pascale Schiller, Julian Härtner)

Showing in short film showcase Small Revolutions

Finsterworld

Review preview for Finsterworld

Finsterwalder gets remarkable performances out of her first-rate ensemble.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Generations of the Sandberg family are revealed through loosely connected strands.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Frauke Finsterwalder; Writer: Frauke Finsterwalder, Christian Kracht; Stars: Christoph Bach, Margit Carstensen, Jakub Gierszal, Corinna Harfouch, Sandra Hüller, Carla Juri, Johannes Krisch, Sarah Mathilda Libbertz, Michael Maertens, Dieter Meier, Max Pellny, Leonard Scheicher, Bernhard Schütz, Ronald Zehrfeld)

Full review See: Fokus: Films From Germany - season preview , Frauke Finsterwalder and Christian Kracht in conversation on Finsterworld , Frauke Finsterwalder and Christian Kracht in conversation on Finsterworld

UK premiere

Home From Home - Chronicle Of A Vision (Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht)

Review preview for Home From Home - Chronicle Of A Vision

Reitz and co-writer Gert Heidenreich define home as the bosom of family, as an emotional shelter or storm, rather than simply the roof over Jakob's head.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A man in a Prussian village dreams of escape to South America.

(Country: Germany, France; Year: 2013; Director: Edgar Reitz; Writer: Edgar Reitz, Gert Heidenreich; Stars: Jan Dieter Schneider, Antonia Bill, Maximilian Scheidt, Marita Breuer, Rüdiger Kriese, Philine Lembeck, Mélanie Fouché, Eva Zeidler, Reinhard Paulus, Barbara Philipp, Christoph Luser, Rainer Kühn, Andreas Külzer, Julia Prochnow, Martin Haberscheidt)

Full review

UK premiere

A House In Berlin

Review preview for A House In Berlin

There’s really no excuse for producing such a visually insipid film.

Robert Munro · 2 out of 5
After a woman inherits an old house in Berlin, she starts to piece together its history.

(Country: Germany, UK; Year: 2014; Director: Cynthia Beatt; Writer: Charlie Gormley; Stars: Susan Vidler, Isi Metzstein, Clemens Schick, Peter Knaack, Maria Heiden, Doris Egbring-Kahn, Achim Buch)

Full review

UK premiere

Jack

Review preview for Jack

Ivo Pietzcker's performance is amazing.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A boy and his younger brother go in search of their mum after she disappears.

(Year: 2014; Director: Edward Berger; Writer: Edward Berger, Nele Mueller-Stöfen; Stars: Ivo Pietzcker, Georg Arms, Luise Heyer, Vincent Redetzki, Jacob Matschenz, Nele Mueller-Stöfen)

Full review

UK premiere

Parents (Eltern)

A house-husband and his wife find themselves in conflict after the arrival of an au pair.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Robert Thalheim; Writer: Jane Ainscough, Robert Thalheim; Stars: Àlex Brendemühl, Paraschiva Dragus, Maren Eggert, Daniela Holtz, Charly Hübner, Clara Lago, Jannis Niewöhner, Christiane Paul, Emilia Pieske)

UK premiere

Pride

Drama.

(Country: Bulgaria, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Pavel Vesnakov)

Showing in short film showcase Small Revolutions

Stations Of The Cross (Kreuzweg)

Review preview for Stations Of The Cross

Almost perfectly constructed... a stunning piece of filmmaking.

Andrew Robertson · 5 out of 5
The story of a teenager whose family are Catholic fundamentalists.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Dietrich Brüggemann; Writer: Anna Brüggemann, Dietrich Brüggemann; Stars: Hanns Zischler, Franziska Weisz, Florian Stetter, Birge Schade, Ramin Yazdani, Lucie Aron, Lea van Acken, Moritz Knapp, Klaus Michael Kamp, Georg Wesch)

Full review

UK premiere

Städtebewohner

Documenting the everyday lives of inmates and guards at a juvenile prison in Mexico.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Thomas Heise; Writer: Thomas Heise; Stars: Hortensia Curtado, Lena Lauzemis)

UK premiere