Directed by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland), 2017
Winner, Silver Bear for Best Director, Berlin Film Festival 2017
Thursday, September 13, 7:00 pm
THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE (September 13)
Introduced by Ted Barron, Executive Director of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
A shirt salesman in Helsinki quits his job and decides to restore a run-down local restaurant. As he attempts to convince locals to eat sushi, he hires a Syrian refugee hiding from the police and hoping to reunite with his sister. The New York Times calls this deadpan comedy, which Kaurismäki says will be the last film of his career, “humane and gravely funny.” 91% approval on Rotten Tomatoes.
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All films will be screened in the Browning Cinema of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. For tickets, contact 574-631-2800 or visit performingarts.nd.edu.
WELCOME TO GERMANY (September 20)
Directed by Simon Verhoeven (Germany), 2016
Thursday, September 20, 7:00 pm
Introduced by Steffen Kaupp, Executive Resident Director, Notre Dame Berlin Programs
A comedy about a retired schoolteacher’s decision to offer her home in Munich to a refugee from Nigeria. Verhoeven’s film was a box-office hit in Germany in 2016, in the middle of Germany’s influx of refugees from the Middle East. Featuring some of Germany’s biggest stars, the film shows how the arrival of one refugee, played by Belgian actor Eric Kabongo, sets off a series of crises and clashes in home, neighborhood, and nation.
WESTERN (October 4)
Directed by Valeska Grisebach (Germany), 2017
Screened avec Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2017
Thursday, October 4, 7:00 pm
German construction workers building a new hydroelectric dam in the remote Bulgarian countryside encounter neighbors affected by the new plant. Social tensions run high. As one German worker tries to make friends, stereotypes begin to collapse: what results is something both awkward and authentic. All the actors in the film were new to acting and offer compelling performances. “A faultlessly observed, broodingly intelligent piece of realism.” Los Angeles Times
A CIAMBRA (November 15)
Directed by Jonas Carpignano (Italy), 2017
Screened in the Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 2017
Thursday, November 15, 7:00 pm
Introduced by Anthony Monta, Associate Director, Nanovic Institute for European Studies
From the director of MEDITERRANEA (2015) comes a new film about a boy coming of age in Reggio Calabria. In a tough neighborhood that mixes Italians, Africans, and Roma, growing up is chaotic business where success is less about money, which is elusive, than about obtaining some degree, or any degree, of empathy. A brilliant character study of friendship, Carpignano’s neorealism impressed Martin Scorsese, who agreed to serve as executive producer.
Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.