Goethe-Institut Hanoi

Goethe-Institut Hanoi 60 years of German cinema
1949-1958

Free tickets are available at the Goethe-Institut, tel: 37342251/52/53 (Ext. 9), email: info@hanoi.goethe.org

German cinema has gone though remarkable milestones since the Second World War, for which the German Year in Vietnam is a retrospective opportunity. We will introduce every two ...months a series of German films made in the 1940-50s, including the most typical works that reflect German life and lifestyles. These works were both shocking and inspiring for viewers at their time, and play a path finding role for both East and West German cinema industries.

25.01.2010 / 19:30
Zwischen Gestern und Morgen / Between yesterday and tomorrow, 1949

26.01.2010 / 19:30
Der Verlorene / The lost one, 1951

27.01.2010 / 19:30
Frauenschicksale / Women’s destiny, 1952

28.01.2010 / 19:30
Himmel ohne Sterne / Sky without stars, 1955

29.01.2010 / 19:30
Die Halbstarken / The Hooligans, 1956

30.01.2010 / 19:30
Berlin, Ecke Schönhauser / Berlin, Schönhauser Street, 1957

31.01.2010 / 19:30
Anders als du und ich / Different from me and you, 1957

More information is available at: www.deutschland-in-vietnam.de and www.goethe.de/vietnam

Between yesterday and tomorrow (1947)
Director: Harald Braun, 107mins
In 1947, after the wave of destruction and dispel in Europe, Michael, a caricaturist, returns to his homeland in Germany. However, his old friends in Munich do not want to have anything to do with him. He is then accused for being associated with a theft and a suicide in the past. Throughout his fight for justice, Kat (by Hildegard Knef) is the only one who takes side with him. It is the smart, decisive, alerted and even cunning girl that helps Michael find his life back.

The lost one (1951)
Director: Peter Lorre, 95 mins
Finding out that his fiancée is spying on him, the renowned medical doctor Klaus Rothe loses his control and kills her. He regrets much for that, and expects punishment. However, the Nazis cover this crime because they need him for their work. Haunted by fear and paranoid, Rothe becomes a serial killer. Yet, under a regime where death is a daily scene, nobody cares what Rothe is doing. „The lost one“ is an impressive film that deals with individual and collective regret, a post-war painful feeling in Germany.

Women’s destiny (1952)
Director: Slatan Dudow, 104 mins
Four women are up to a new beginning, looking for their happiness in post-war Berlin. One after another, they meet Conny, a handsome womanizer who always seeks new love affairs. The young student Barbara is deeply in love with Conny, while Anni gets pregnant with him, and Renate becomes a thief out of her mad love towards him. Conny, however, chooses to couple with aristocrat Isa von Trauwald and enjoys the luxurious life of the high society, which makes the situation even more thrilling …Dodow’s 1952 „Women’s destiny“ hit the box offices of cinemas in Germany at its time.

Sky without stars (1955)
Director: Helmut Käutner, 108 mins
Germany of 1952 is prior to the Berlin war. Anna lives in the Eastern part, while her son lives with his grandparents in the West. She regularly secretly passes the border to visit him, and during her trips, she gets to know a border guard. They then fall in deep love. However, the only chance for them to see each other is at fallow train station. The story developed into a tragedy, like a denouncement of the unnatural border line that tears Germany apart. „Sky without stars“ has received many German and international cinema awards.

The hooligans (1956)
Director: Georg Tressler, 97 mins
Freddy cannot stand his parents’ harsh and obsolete lifestyle, as well as the father’s oppression any more, so he runs away. He wanders about and becomes the leader of a group of young people who want to fight back against their parents’ harsh petite bourgeoisie Nazis lifestyle. “The hooligans” get stuck more and more deeply in crimes, and an unsuccessful robbery ends in disaster. “The hooligans” reflects young people’s rebellion in 1950’s Germany, similar to James Dean in American classic “Rebel without a Cause”.

Berlin, Schönhauser Street (1957)
Director: Gerhard Klein, 80 mins
The underground crossroads of Schönhauser Allee in East Berlin is where a group of young people who are bored with living at home gather. They cannot stand their fathers‘ violence and family conflicts. They are there together to kill time, muck around and defy one another. One of them, Karl-Heinz, born to a decent family, gets stuck in criminal business for quick money at the western Zoo station. He gets his two friends Dieter and Kohle involved, and as their crime is revealed, they have no choice but to flee to West Berlin for good. Finally, only one of them gets disillusioned and returns to East Berlin to build a new honest life, while the other two’s destiny becomes tragic…

Different from me and you (1957)
Director: Veit Harlan, 90 mins
Klaus Teichmann’s parents are worried: they have been seeing their son hang about with gays and become more and more attached to a group of artists, where Klaus himself makes his own artistic works. Klaus‘ close friend Boris is particularly an offence. Therefore, not knowing anything about Boris, Mr. Teichmann sends a anonymous accusation letter against him and creates a scandal. Mrs. Teichman, on the other hand, tries her best to be a match maker for her son with young beautiful Gerda. As soon as Klaus starts to feel for Gerda, the situation becomes tense… „Different from me to you“ is not only about a taboo topic, which is why it was prohibited at its time, but also an attractive footage of the youth’s response against social prejudice in Germany during its magic development era in the 1950s.