It’s a decade, this year, for the annual German Currents film festival in Los Angeles, co-sponsored by The Goethe Institute and the American Cinematheque.
Fittingly, the program has been expanded to include 10 Los Angeles premieres, peppered with conversations with prolific German directors, writers and actors.
Award winning director Wolfgang Becker (“Good Bye Lenin!”) will open the festival at the Egyptian Theatre with “Me and Kaminski,” starring Daniel Brühl.
Failing arts journalist Sebastian Zöllner (Brühl) believes he has the perfect subject to jump-start his failing career: painter Manuel Kaminski (Christensen), in the twilight of his years. Hoping to earn Kaminski’s trust, Zöllner leads the artist on a journey to visit Kaminski’s lost love, Therese. The script, based on Daniel Kehlmann’s bestselling novel of the same name, deftly balances its comic moments with thoughtful ruminations on art and regret.
Scheduled films of the four-day festival include other highlights:
- Doris Dörrie’s “Fukushima Mon Amour,” in which a young German woman bonds with an elderly Japanese woman while touring the Fukushima region of Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake;
- “TomCat,” by Austrian director Händl Klaus, which won the 2016 Teddy Award (Berlin Film Festival LGBT award), a powerful relationship film about the blind spot that resides in us all;
- “Wild,” writer-director Nicolette Krebitz’s controversial Sundance Film Festival selection;
- “Heidi,” the beloved children film starring the great Bruno Ganz.
10th Annual German Currents Film Festival | Egyptian Theatre | Oct 20 – 23