Jakarta, IO – Goethe-Institut launched a film festival KinoFest which was held offline for the first time since the pandemic on September 21-27. The festival featured 14 films from Germany which were screened in eight Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia.
According to the release received by the Independent Observer, the films that can be watched are of various genres, from drama, comedy, fiction to thriller. Some of the films in this festival will be released between 2021 and 2023.
Gugi Gumilang, the festival’s curator, said this it focuses on the diversity of German films aiming to showcase and celebrate the diversity of voices, stories and perspectives within the German filmmaking community.
“Germany is culturally diverse with a significant immigrant population, the curated films reflect this diversity by showing stories from various cultural backgrounds and exploring the experiences of immigrants and their descendants living in Germany,” he said.
For example, the film Toubab (2022) by Florian Dietrich tells the story of Babtou, an immigrant from Africa who wants to enjoy his freedom after being released from prison, but is instead trapped again in dealing with the police because of an unexpected incident. Facing the problems and gaps in the reality of immigrants in Germany today, Babtou and his best friend devise a crazy plan so he can stay in Germany.
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Opening screening of prestigious films at Berlinale 2023
At the opening screening of Kinofest 2023, on Thursday (21/9), the Goethe-Institut Indonesia screened Roter Himmel (2022) by Christian Petzold.
This film, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), tells the story of four young people who meet in a holiday cottage on the shores of the Baltic Sea when a forest fire hit.
Kinofest also screens documentaries that show the entire range of narrative styles, from Nasim (2017) by Ole Jacobs and Arne Buttner, Republic of Silence (2021) by Diana El Jeiroudi, Iron Butterflies (2023) by Roman Liubyi to Liebe, D-Mark und Tod (2022) by Cem Kaya. (at)