Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum to present “A Festival of Contemporary German Film” April 11 to 15

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present “A Festival of Contemporary German Film” April 11 to 15.

The festival will include three St. Louis premieres — Vier Minuten (Four Minutes) (April 11), Fremde Haut (Unveiled) (April 14) and Sommer vorm Balkon (Summer in Berlin) (April 15) — as well as the critically acclaimed Alles auf Zucker! (Go for Zucker!) (April 12).

All four films will be shown in German with English subtitles. Screenings take place at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar Blvd., and begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, April 11 and 12; and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 14 and 15.

In addition, the Kemper Art Museum will host a panel discussion exploring contemporary German film within the artistic and socio-political context of post-unification Germany. “Kemper Conversation: Panel on Contemporary German Film” begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, and is preceded by a reception at 6 p.m. The Kemper Art Museum is located near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call (314) 935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.

“A Festival of Contemporary German Film” is held in conjunction with the exhibition Reality Bites: Making Avant-garde Art in Post-Wall Germany, on view at the Kemper Art Museum through April 29. Regular museum hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The museum is closed Tuesdays.

The festival is made possible by support from Washington University’s Program in Film & Media Studies and Department of Germanic Languages & Literature, both in Arts & Sciences. Reality Bites is made possible by an Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award, with additional funding provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Alston + Bird LLP; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V.; the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; the Regional Arts Commission; the Arts & Education Council; the Hortense Lewin Art Fund; Members of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum; and individual contributors.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

7 p.m. Wednesday, April 11
Tivoli Theater
Vier Minuten (Four Minutes), 2006
Directed by Chris Kraus

Schubert, Mozart, Chopin and a bunch of killers. That’s life for 80-year-old Traude Krueger (Monica Bleibtreu), who has taught piano at the women’s prison since World War II. But Traude has never met an inmate like Jenny (Hannah Herzsprung), a former child prodigy jailed for a brutal killing. With Traude’s help, the mercurial Jenny begins training for a prestigious piano competition, where only the four brief minutes of her performance offer a chance for redemption.

7 p.m. Thursday, April 12
Tivoli Theater
Alles auf Zucker! (Go for Zucker!), 2004
Directed by Dani Levy

The first Jewish comedy made in Germany since World War II, Alles auf Zucker! tells the story of two brothers — the secular, East German Jaeckie (Henry Hübchen) and the quasi-Orthodox Westerner Samuel (Udo Samel) — who reunite after decades of separation by the Berlin Wall. Mixing slapstick humor with social satire, Alles auf Zucker! is a powerful metaphor for the cultural and social estrangement that Jews and Germans (East and West) have been grappling with since the Holocaust.

6:30 p.m. Friday, April 13 (Reception 6 p.m.)
Kemper Art Museum
“Kemper Conversation: Panel on Contemporary German Film”

Moderated by Lutz Koepnick, professor of Germanic languages & literatures and film & media studies at Washington University. Panelists include Leah Chizek, a doctoral candidate in Germanic languages & literatures; Roger Cook, professor of German at the University of Missouri, Columbia; Jennifer Kapczynski, assistant professor of German at Washington University; and Bradley Prager, associate professor of German at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

2 p.m. Saturday, April 14
Tivoli Theater
Fremde Haut (Unveiled), 2005
Directed by Angelina Maccarone

When Iran’s vice squad discovers her homosexuality, translator Fariba (Jasmin Tabatabai) flees a death sentence by seeking asylum in Germany. Her request denied, Fariba is sent to a German refugee detention center but avoids deportation by assuming the identity of a deceased male fellow-inmate. Now known as Siamak, Fariba struggles to save money for a legitimate passport yet her cover remains in constant danger — especially when Siamak begins dating Anne (Anneke Kim Sarnau), a married coworker.

2 p.m. Sunday, April 15
Tivoli Theater
Sommer vorm Balkon (Summer in Berlin), 2005
Directed by Andreas Dresen

Two best friends — Nike (Nadja Uhl) and Katrin (Inka Friedrich) — live in the same old tenement building in East Berlin, sharing drinks, laughs and gossip from Nike’s balcony. Yet their lives grow increasingly complicated as Nike’s relationship with the truck-driver Ronald (Andreas Schmidt) starts to unravel and Katrina’s son, Max (Vincent Redetzki), plans an ill-fated seduction.