photo: EDGE OF EVERYTHING

This year, you can catch not only the world premieres of 15 German films in the long-established NEW GERMAN CINEMA section, but the world premieres of six international films as well. Attend these screenings and you’ll be among the very first to see them!

The protagonist in Bernard Émond’s A RESPECTABLE WOMAN is catapulted into completely new circumstances. It is 1930, and for years, she’s been separated from her husband, who now has a new family. When his girlfriend dies, his three children are without a mother and land on the doorstep of his ex-wife. How is she supposed to say no? An unintended patchwork family is the result.

By contrast, Sue, who’s in her mid-50s, is finally ready to let a new man into her life. In the affectionate, humorous drama SWEET SUE by English director Leo Leigh, she makes a fresh start with a headstrong biker named Ron. Meanwhile, Ron’s son, Anthony, dreams of making it big with his dance troupe. Their different lifestyles are on a collision course.

A RESPECTABLE WOMAN

SWEET SUE

Like Anthony, teenage Abby is suddenly given a new mother figure. When her own mother dies, she moves in with her understanding but helpless father, but fails to find a good role model in her rebellious new friend, Caroline. Directing team Sophia Sabella and Pablo Feldman have crafted the sensitive coming-of-age story EDGE OF EVERYTHING with a great eye for the characters and a lot of attention to detail.

“Rebellious” is a word that could also describe Marie-Rose Astié (Doria Tillier) in THE EDGE OF THE BLADE. As a feminist in the late 19th century, she’s far ahead of her time. She finds an ally in Clément Lacaze (Roschdy Zem), who instructs her in the art of dueling. But the two must decide where to draw the line when it comes to resorting to violence to defend their honor.

UKI

THE EDGE OF THE BLADE

THE RETURN FROM THE OTHER PLANET

Violence and trauma are the focus of the impressive documentary film THE RETURN FROM THE OTHER PLANET. In 1945, after his liberation from Auschwitz, Yechiel De-Nur starts writing books. He publishes them under the pseudonym Ka-Tzetnik (“the man from the camps”). His identity only becomes known when he gives eyewitness testimony at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961. He treats his traumas with LSD and writes an account of his experiences that will go down in history.

A different kind of gloomy vision of the future is laid out in Shu Lea Cheang’s UKI. In the latest film by this new media artist, who will be given a homage at the Filmfest, a replicant named Reiko awakens on an electronic waste dump, discarded and robbed of the data her body contains. She and other transmutants join forces with the UKI virus, which aims to prevent pills from manipulating the sexual desire of the population.