BERLIN & BEYOND March 27-31, 2025

[Chris Knipp]

BERLIN & BEYOND March 27-31, 2025 San Francisco & Bekeley

FESTIVAL REVIEWS SECTION

2025 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

source

OPENING NIGHT FILM
John Cranko
Northern California Premiere
Directed by Joachim A. Lang
Starring Sam Riley, Elisa Badenes, Max Schimmelpfennig, Hanns Zischler, Lucas Gregorowicz

Prosecuted for homosexual activity in London, up-and-coming choreographer John Cranko is stranded in Stuttgart, Germany in 1960. With his charming demeanor, the manic workaholic swiftly revitalizes the ballet company of this rather sleepy, sympathetic city, and catapults it onto the global stage. (133 min. Germany / 2024. German and English with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtimes:
– Roxie, SF – March 27 at 5:30 PM tickets on sale soon
– Rialto Elmwood, Berkeley – March 31 at 7:45 PM buy tickets

CINEMA PANORAMA

Beyond the Blue Border (Jenseits der blauen Grenze)
Northern California Premiere
Directed by Sarah Neumann
Starring Lena Urzendowsky, Willi Geitmann, Jannis Veihelmann

GDR, August 1989: Hanna and Andreas became a target of the secret police and had to give up their plans for their future studies and desired professions. Their only chance for a self-determined life lies in fleeing across the Baltic Sea. (102 min. Germany / 2024. German with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtime: Rialto Elmwood, Berkeley – March 31 at 3:00 PM buy tickets

From Hilde, with Love (In Liebe, Eure Hilde)
Northern California Premiere
Directed by Andreas Dresen
Starring Liv Lisa Fries, Johannes Hegemann, Lisa Wagner, Alexander Scheer

Berlin 1942, Hilde, a member of an anti-Nazi group, falls in love with another member, Hans. They are caught by the Gestapo and Hilde is imprisoned, eight months pregnant. (125 min. Germany / 2024. German with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtime: Roxie, SF – March 27 at 8:45 PM tickets on sale soon

The Mariana Trench (Marianengraben)
Northern California Premiere
Directed by Eileen Byrne
Starring Luna Wedler and Edgar Selge

Adaptation of Jasmin Schreiber’s bestselling novel. Paula, who is deeply grieving the loss of her younger brother, crosses with Helmut, an elderly widower planning to transport his late wife’s ashes to South Tyrol. (88 min. Luxembourg, Austria, Italy / 2024. German with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtime: Roxie, SF – March 29 at 11:30 AM tickets on sale soon

The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
Starring Soheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Setareh Maleki

Nominated for the 2025 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film: Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble. (167 min. Germany, France / 2024. Persian with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtime: Roxie, SF – March 29 at 5:00 PM tickets on sale soon

Weddings and Wokes: A Family Dilemma (Der Spitzname)
North American Premiere
Directed by Sönke Wortmann
Starring Iris Berben, Christoph Maria Herbst, Florian David Fitz, Justus von Dohnányi, Janina Uhse, Caroline Peters

Anna and Florian want to get married and unite their families in a ski resort in Tirol. But the celebratory atmosphere is on the verge of collapse as discussions about helicopter parents, wokeness and the meaning of sensibility training arise. This is third of Sönke Wortmann’s familial tragicomedies, following How About Adolf? and Family Affairs, which both screened at previous Berlin & Beyond Film Festivals. (90 min. Germany / 2024. German with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtimes:
– Roxie, SF – March 29 at 8:45 PM tickets on sale soon
– Rialto Elmwood, Berkeley – March 31 at 5:30 PM buy tickets

Two to One
Special Screening
Directed by Natja Brunckhorst
Starring Sandra Hüller, Max Riemelt, Ronald Zehrfeld, Peter Kurth

Halberstadt, summer 1990: a group of clever East Germans seizes the chaotic post-GDR era to retrieve hidden millions from an underground vault. As they outsmart formidable opponents, the heist takes an unexpected turn when money officially unrecognized in the GDR circulates. (116 min. Germany / 2024. German with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtime: Rialto Elmwood, Berkeley – March 30 at 3:45 PM buy tickets

GOETHE FORUM
Black Fruit (Schwarze Früchte) (Episodes 1-3)
West Coast Premiere | Series
Directed by Elisha Smith-Leverock and David Ụzọchukwu
Starring Lamin Leroy Gibba, Melodie Simina, Vanessa Yeboah, Benjamin Radjaipour, Daniel Hernandez, Nick Romeo Reimann, Christine Rollar

Lalo and his best friend Karla, mid-20s, queer and Black in Germany, try to shape who they want to become and grapple with the limits of their adaptability in society. (87 min. Germany / 2024. German and some English with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtime: Roxie, SF – March 28 at 8:00 PM tickets on sale soon

SWISS FILM & TALKS

he Traitor (Landesverräter)
US Premiere
Directed by Michael Krummenacher
Starring Dimitri Krebs, Luna Wedler, Fabian Hinrichs, Stefan Gubser, Robert Hunger-Bühler, Sina Martens

St. Gallen during World War II: In the mistaken belief that he could become a great singer in Germany, drifter Ernst Schrämli sells Swiss military information to a manipulative German Nazi spy. (116 min. Switzerland & Germany / 2024. Swiss German with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtime: Roxie, SF – March 29 at 1:45 PM tickets on sale soon

DOC SPECIAL
Riefenstahl
US West Coast Premiere
Directed by Andres Veiel

Riefenstahl examines this question using never-before-seen documents from the estate of one of the most controversial women of the 20th century, filmmaker and Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl. (115 min. Germany / 2024. German and English with English subtitles) View Trailer
Showtime: Roxie, SF – March 29 at 5:30 PM tickets on sale soon

YOUTH 4 GERMAN CINEMA 2025 WINNER
Winners (Sieger sein)
Northern California Premiere
Directed by Soleen Yusef
Starring Dileyla Agirman, Sherine Ciara Merai, Tamira Bwibo, Halima Ilter

Eleven-year-old Mona fled Syria with her Kurdish family and goes to a school in Wedding in Berlin. Mona doesn’t know a word of German, but she can speak football. (119 min. Germany / 2024. German and some Arabic with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtimes:
– Roxie, SF – March 29 at 10:00 AM (invited schools only/at capacity)
– Vogue, SF – March 29 at 11:00 AM (limited tickets to be released soon)

JUNIOR (FAMILY MATINÉE)
The Door-to-Door Bookstore (Der Buchspazierer)
North American Premiere
Directed by Ngo The Chau
Starring Christoph Maria Herbst, Yuna Bennett, Ronald Zehrfeld, Maren Kroymann, Edin Hasanovic, Hanna Hilsdorf

Cinematic vision of the bestselling novel by Carsten Henn: Carl’s life runs like clockwork: every day, he goes door-to-door delivering books to a handful of loyal customers. (108 min. Germany / 2024. German with English subtitles) View Trailer

Showtime: Rialto Elmwood, Berkeley – March 30 at 1:00 PM buy tickets

[Chris Knipp]

FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE/IN LIEBE, EURE HILDE (Andreas Dresen 2024)

Impressive and involving tale of Hans and Hilde Coppi, who were part of the "Red Orchestra" of ieaalistic pro-Russian, communist resistors to the Nazis who were crushed in 1942. Hilde is followed as she is arrested when eight-months pregnant with Hans' child and gives birth and shorly after beginning to breastfead the baby, was executed. This grim story is intercut with clips of their idyllic romance, which is hot stuff. Outsitanding performances, especially by Liv Lise Fries as Hilde. Director Dresen and writger Laila Stieler show that live in Nazi Germany still has new facets to reveal. Recommended.

Berlin and Beyond, San Francisco. Showtime:

Roxie, Mar. 27, 2025 at 8:45pm.

[Chris Knipp]

JOHN CRANKO (Joachim A. Lang 2024)

Sam Riley (who became famous playing Ian Curtis of Joy Division) takes control in the early sixties as John Cranko, the choreographer born in South Africa ostracized for being gay in London who leads Stuttgart to a world class ballet company, with the current Stuttgart ballet stars playing their earlier counterparts. A feast of music and dance.

Berlin and Beyond, San Francisco. Showtimes:

– Roxie, SF – March 27 at 5:30 PM
– Rialto Elmwood, Berkeley – March 31 at 7:45 PM

[Chris Knipp]

THE MARIANA TRENCH/MARIANENGRABEN (Eileen Byrne 2024)

Based on a German instant covid bestseller, this is a road movier and a buddy picture of an ill and aging man in a van joined by a young woman. Both are coping with death. And it's a comedy, sort of. Well acted by distinguished fcharacter actor Edgar Selge, known in Germany as Commissioner Tauber from the TV series "Polizeiruf 110", and rishing young Swiss actress Luna Wedler.

Berlin & Beyond showtime:

Showtime: Roxie, SF – March 29 at 11:30 AM.

(SWISS FILM & TALKS)

[Chris Knipp]

THE TRAITOR/LANDESVERRÄTER(Michael Krummenacher 2024)

Newcomer Dmitri Krebs stars in the story of the first Swiss executed for treason in WWI, at only 23.

Showtime: Roxie, SF – March 29 at 1:45 PM . (SWISS FILM & TALKS)

[Chris Knipp]

BERLIN & BEYOND begins today in San Francisco

TRAILER

Still not too late to get tickets. GO HERE.

MARCG 27-31, 2025.