17 September: German

The Tin Drum (1978)  142 min.

Directed by: Volker Schlöndorf

Introductory speaker: Flemming Finn Hansen

Danzig in the 1920s/1930s. Oskar Matzerath, son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his birth he decides at his third birthday not to grow up as he sees the crazy world around him at the eve of World War II. So he refuses the society and his tin drum symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighborhood, which stand for all passive people in Nazi Germany at that time. However, (almost) nobody listens to him, so the catastrophe goes on.

1 October: Cultural Encounters

Almania – Wilkommen in Deutschland (2011)  101 min.

Directed by: Yasemin Sandereli

Introductery Speaker: Helle Bach Riis

Almanya is the name for Germany in Turkish, and the subtitle ”Wilkommen in Deutchland” refers to the main film’s main themes: cultural identity and integration. In the cheerful comedy-drama. We meet three generations in a family with roots in Turkey and who moved to Germany in the 1960s. One of the films greater questions is In which country and which culture the different family members feel at home. The answer is in no way simple.

 22 october 2013: Danish

Armadilo (2010)  105 min.

Directed by: Janus Metz Pedersen

Introductory Speaker: Erik Svendsen (The Presentation will be held in Danish)

In February 2009 a group of Danish soldiers accompanied by documentary filmmaker Janus Metz arrived at Armadillo, an army base in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. Metz and cameraman Lars Skree spent six months following the lives of young soldiers situated less than a kilometer away from Taliban positions. The outcome of their work is a gripping and highly authentic war drama that was justly awarded the Grand Prix de la Semaine de la Critique at this year's Cannes film festival. But it also provoked furious debate in Denmark concerning the controversial behavior of certain Danish soldiers during a shootout with Taliban fighters. The filmmakers repeatedly risked their lives shooting this tense, brilliantly edited, and visually sophisticated probe into the psychology of young men in the midst of a senseless war whose victims are primarily local villagers. 

5 November: History

Katyn (2007)  122 min.

Directed by: Andrzej Wajda

Introductory Speaker: Carsten Tage Nielsen

On 17 September 1939, a group of Polish officers and soldiers are imprisoned by the Soviet Army on the border of Poland. Anna and her daughter Nika travel from Krakow to meet her husband and officer Andrzej and they try to convince him to leave the soldiers and escape back home. However, Andrzej refuses to leave the troop and is deported to USSR. Later the Soviet tells that the Polish officers had been massacred by the Germans in the Katyn Forest with a shot on the back of the neck. However Anna retrieves Andrzej's diary and discloses that the soldiers had been actually murdered by the Soviet Army.

19 November: Philosophy

Late Spring (1949)  108 min.

Directed by: Yasujiro Ozu

Introductory Speaker: Anne Elisabeth Sejten

Noriko is 27 years old and is still living with her father Somiya, a widower. Noriko just recovered from an illness she developed in the war, and now the important question pops up: when will Noriko start thinking about marriage? Everybody who is important in her life tries to talk her into it: her father, her aunt, a girlfriend. But Noriko doesn't want to get married, she seems extremely happy with her life. She wants to stay with her father to take care of him. After all, she knows best of his manners and peculiarities. But Noriko's aunt doesn't want to give up. She arranges a partner for her and thinks of a plan that will convince Noriko her father can be left alone.

3 December: English

Midnight in Paris (2011)  100 min.

Directed by: Woody Allen

Introductory Speaker: Camelia Elias

Gil and Inez travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on her parents' business trip. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with the city and thinks they should move there after they get married, but Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the golden age. When Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers what could be the ultimate source of inspiration for writing. Gil's daily walks at midnight in Paris could take him closer to the heart of the city but further from the woman he's about to marry.