Nativity Plays to Two Berlinale Films
Having a movie at the Berlin Film Festival is widely seen as a major success, a dream come true even. Julia Franz Richter (Rubikon, Peacock, Ghost Trail) first had that experience in 2020 as part of the cast of Christian Petzold’s romantic fantasy drama Undine. This year, the 34-year-old Austrian
The Berlinale Shines a Light on Forgotten German Genre Films of the ’70s
German movies of the 1970s will forever be linked with the New German Cinema movement, the auteur directors — led by the likes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Margarethe von Trotta and Volker Schlöndorff — who shook the country out of its postwar stupor. “Papa’s Kino ist
Where to Stream Films That Celebrate Black Stories and Illustrate Systemic Injustice
In the midst of the current surge of activism and demands for change regarding police brutality and systemic racism, many streaming platforms have put a spotlight on features and documentaries that both illuminate and celebrate the black experience. Several services have dropped their paywall restrictions for these films, and we
Icarus Films: Bitter Money
Directed by Wang Bing 152 minutes / ColorMandarin / English subtitlesRelease: 2017Copyright: 2016 The city of Huzhou, where the film is shot, is home to 18,000 clothing factories. They are staffed by about 300,000 workers, many of them migrants from rural areas in the surrounding provinces. BITTER MONEY follows a
Icarus Films: Bones of Contention
Directed by Andrea Weiss 75 minutes / ColorEnglish; Spanish / English subtitlesClosed CaptionedRelease: 2017Copyright: 2017 BONES OF CONTENTION is the first nonfiction feature film to explore the theme of historical memory in Spain, focusing on the repression of lesbians and gays under Franquismo and Spain’s most famous poet, Federico Garcia
Icarus Films: We the Workers
Directed by Wen Hai 174 minutes / ColorEnglish; Mandarin / English subtitlesRelease: 2017Copyright: 2017 China’s economic miracle has been built on cheap labor. And now, that labor is starting to fight back. Filmed in the southeastern part of the country, WE THE WORKERS is a vérité documentary that closely follows
Icarus Films: December Days
Directed by Carla Valdes Leon 45 minutes / ColorEnglish; Spanish / English subtitlesRelease: 2017Copyright: 2016 Delfin, a shirtless old man in a New York Yankees cap, proudly fingers the medals on the military uniform hanging on the wall of his small home in the Sierra Maestra mountains of Cuba. The
Icarus Films: Free Lunch Society
Directed by Christian Tod 92 minutes / ColorEnglish / English subtitlesClosed CaptionedRelease: 2017Copyright: 2017 What would you do if your income was taken care of? Just a few years ago, an unconditional basic income was considered a pipe dream. Today, this utopia is more imaginable than ever before—intense discussions are
Icarus Films: Miss Kiet’s Children
Directed by Petra Lataster-Czisch and Peter Lataster 113 minutes / ColorEnglish; Dutch / English subtitlesRelease: 2017Copyright: 2016 Kiet Engels is the kind of teacher one wishes every schoolchild could have. She is strict but never harsh. She is loving but never soft. Her patience in endless. Many of Miss Kiet’s
Icarus Films: Mama Colonel
Directed by Dieudo Hamadi 72 minutes / ColorEnglish; French / English subtitlesRelease: 2017Copyright: 2017 Colonel Honorine Manyole, commonly known as “Mama Colonel,” works for the Congolese police force and heads the unit for the protection of minors and the fight against sexual violence. Having worked for 15 years in Bukavu,
