This year’s KINO/15 film festival features 10 recently released German films. Organised by the Goethe Institut the festival takes place from 22 October to 2 November.
A major issue currently facing Germany as well as other European countries is the tide of refugees. ‘Rescuing’ refugees is the humanitarian thing to do, but doing so can cause social pressures and anti-refugee sentiment in existing communities. KINO/15’s opening film We are Young. We are Strong looks at this controversial issue by recounting the violent xenophobic riots in Rostock in 1992, a time when hundreds of thousands of refugees arrived in Germany from the Balkans. Taking the helm is Burhan Qurbani, who’s family fled Afghanistan in 1979 to seek political asylum in Germany.
In October this year Germany celebrates the 25th anniversary of its reunification. Christian Schwochow’s film Bornholmer Straße (director of KINO/14’s Opening Film Westen) recounts the moment the Berlin Wall falls on 9 November 1989 when officers at the border checkpoint in Bornholm Street were absolutely clueless on how to handle the situation.
Germany in the 80s is also in the focus of the documentary film B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin. To quote The Hollywood Reporter, “B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin is a clumsily titled but highly engaging documentary about Berlin’s vibrant post-punk underground scene, as filtered through the personal story of British-born Berliner Mark Reeder.”
KINO/15 also includes Christian Zübert’s Tour de Force which gracefully combines a road movie with an incurable disease as an example of how to embrace and celebrate the fullness of life. Uwe Janson’s To Life! sees Jonas, a young man on the run, and Ruth, an ageing Jewish cabaret singer tortured by her past, helping each other to stand on their own feet again.
Other films: A Godsend, Jack, Who am I –No System is safe, Sanctuary, Concrete Love – The Böhm Family
Kino/15
Date: 22 October – 2 November, 2015
Venue: HK Arts Centre, HK Science Museum, the Grand Cinema, the University of Hong Kong and Comix Home Base.
Tickets: variou$
More info: screening schedule www.goethe.de/ins/cn/en/hon/ver/hon15.html