The Kemper Art Museum will present “A Festival of Contemporary German Film” April 11-15.
The festival includes three St. Louis premieres — “Vier Minuten” (Four Minutes), “Fremde Haut” (Unveiled) and “Sommer vorm Balkon” (Summer in Berlin) — as well as the critically acclaimed “Alles auf Zucker!” (Go for Zucker!).
All four films will be shown in German with English subtitles. Screenings begin April 11 at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar Blvd.
In addition, the 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. April 13, preceded by a reception at 6 p.m.
Lutz Koepnick, Ph.D., professor of Germanic languages and literatures and film and media studies, both in Arts & Sciences, will moderate the panel.
Panelists include Jennifer M. Kapczynski, Ph.D., assistant professor of German; Leah Chizek, a doctoral candidate in Germanic languages and literatures; Roger F. Cook, Ph.D., professor of German and chair of the Department of German and Russian Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC); and Brad Prager, Ph.D., associate professor of German at UMC.
The festival is held in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition “Reality Bites: Making Avant-garde Art in Post-Wall Germany,” on view through April 29.
The film schedule is:
• 7 p.m. April 11 “Vier Minuten” (Four Minutes), 2006, directed by Chris Kraus. Traude Krueger (Monica Bleibtreu) has taught piano at a women’s prison since World War II. With Traude’s help, inmate Jenny (Hannah Herzsprung), a former child prodigy jailed for a brutal killing, begins training for a piano competition.
• 7 p.m. April 12 “Alles auf Zucker!” (Go for Zucker!), 2004, directed by Dani Levy. The first Jewish comedy made in Germany since World War II, the film tells the story of two brothers who reunite after decades of separation by the Berlin Wall.
• 2 p.m. April 14 “Fremde Haut” (Unveiled), 2005, directed by Angelina Maccarone. When Iran’s vice squad discovers her homosexuality, translator Fariba (Jasmin Tabatabai) tries to flee a death sentence and winds up in a German refugee detention center, where she avoids deportation by assuming the identity of a deceased male inmate.
• 2 p.m. April 15 “Sommer vorm Balkon” (Summer in Berlin), 2005, directed by Andreas Dresen. The lives of two best friends in East Berlin grow increasingly complicated by relationships.
All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call 935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.