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LIFESTYLE Society

ANNUAL GERMAN OSCAR PARTY AT THE VILLA AURORA

Festive mood despite cold weather and Oscar snub for “Into the Fade”

The looming rain could not damper the celebratory atmosphere at the this year’s German Oscar reception at the beautiful Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, hosted just one day before the big event in order to honor the German speaking Oscar nominees. About 300 representatives of the German and international film and cultural scene including Annette Rupp and Dr. Klimmer of Villa Aurora e.V. (6) followed the invitation of the German Films Marketing GmbH, represented by Nicole Kaufmann (4 l.), and the Consul General of Germany to celebrate the German Oscar hopes.

Even though Fatih Akin’s Golden Globe winning film “Into the Fade” starring Diane Kruger did not garner an Oscar nomination, the German film scene had a lot to celebrate. Three German co-productions did receive a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, like Sebastián Lelio‘s „A Fantastic Woman“, a Chilean-Spanish production with German co-producer Komplizen Film, known for its 2017 Oscarnominated movie Toni Erdmann and represented by producer Janine Jackowski (1). Andrey Zvyagintsev‘s „Loveless“, a co-production with Senator Film Production and Ruben Östlund‘s „The Square“, produced in cooperation with its German partner Essential Film, were the two other Oscar-nominated German co-productions. In the documentary category, Fera Fayyad‘s „The Last Men of Aleppo“ (Kloos & Co. Media) was also in the running for an Oscar. It came at no surprise that renowned film composer and past Oscar winner Hans Zimmer was nominated again, this year for his score of the WW2 drama “Dunkirk”. And even the science fiction thriller “Blade Runner 2049” brought Oscar honors to Germany with German visual effects artist Gerd Nefzer (2) being nominated in the category of “Best Visual Effect.” Best Animated Short Film the German producers Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer (5) received a nomination for their film „Roaring Rhymes“ and in the category Best Short, director Katja Benrath and producer Tobias Rosen (3, r.) were nominated for their movie „Watu Wote - All of us” which won already this year’s Student Academy Award. Benrath and Rosen as well as several actors of the movie which was entirely filmed in Kenya made it to the Villa Aurora (3). The organizers were also happy to welcome Consul General Südbeck from San Francisco as well as Berlin & Beyond Festival Director Sophoan Sorn (7), actors Thure Riefenstein and Patricia Lueger (8), Christian Oliver and Jessica Mazur (9) as well as Dr. Doris Berger (11, with Sylvia Mogel). GW was represented by Petra Schurmann and staff writers Nina Wachenfeld and Katja Lau. (10) In the end, the German film industry still got a bit of golden Oscar luster since the Chilean-Spanish-German co-production „A Fantastic Woman“ won the Oscar for ‘Best Foreign Language’ film and Gerd Nefzer took home the Oscar for ‘Best Visual Effects’ in „Blade Runner 2049”. Congratulations to the winners and everyone who was nominated!

All photos: Courtesy German Films Marketing GmbH | Text by Katja Lau

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LIFESTYLE Entertainment

DEUTSCHES KINO IN AMERIKA

German movies and TV productions finding more and more fans in the US.

► ON TV (DEUTSCHE WELLE): The Germans The elaborately produced documentary series “The Germans” immerses the viewer in more than 1,000 years of German history – a fascinating journey through time from the very beginnings to the 20th century.

The series presents historic personalities, whose profiles open the door to the various different epochs. Deutsche Welle is broadcasting selected episodes from the series, beginning with “Charlemagne and the Saxons” followed by “Otto and the Empire” on May 20, 2018 (through June 3), “Barbarossa and the Lion” (as of May 27, 2018), “Luther (starting on June 3). Each episode is aired on several dates until July 1, 2018. See page 46 for more information or visit

→ www.dw.com/tv/

► ON DVD: Bye, Bye Germany by Sam Gabarski Germany 1946. David Berman (Moritz Bleibtreu known from “Run, Lola, Run”) and his friends, all Holocaust survivors and living in Frankfurt, have only one purpose: to go to America as soon as possible. For this they need money. They start selling linens at inflated prices to unsuspecting Germans. “Bye, Bye Germany tells an unusual story with gusto, enlivened by an enjoyable performance from Moritz Bleibtreu.”–The Hollywood Reporter. Comedy in German with English subtitles. Available on DVD. from

→ www.filmmovement.com as of August 7,2018

► AMAZON PRIME VIDEO: YOU ARE WANTED (Season 2) The new season of the record-breaking German original series sees both secret service agencies and international criminals hunting down Lukas Franke, a young hotel manager and father who is brutally torn out of his everyday life when he gets in possession of a gigantic data collection program. Lukas is on the run and ready to take destiny into his own hands? “Unapologetically and perfectly filmed” – The Huffington Post. Available on

→ www.amazon.com / Prime Video (In English or in German with English subtitles)

► ON DVD: Deutschland 83 Deutschland 83 is an eight-episode German television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who in 1983 is sent to the West as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. It is a co-production of AMC Networks, SundanceTV and RTL Television by the production company, UFA Fiction. The series premiered on 17 June 2015 on the SundanceTV channel in the U.S., becoming the first German-language series to air on a U.S. network. Available on DVD at

→ www.kinolorber.com

► ON DVD: Lou Andreas-Salomé Recently selected Grand Prize Narrative Feature at the 5th Socially Relevant Film Festival (NYC), the award-winning German arthouse film, LOU ANDREAS-SALOMÉ, THE AUDACI- TY TO BE FREE, directed by Cordula Kablitz-Post, opened in theatres in the U.S. in April and is available on DVD or by video streaming as of July 2018. The award-winning film shines a light on the trailblazing life of the world’s first female psychoanalyst, author, and protofeminist, Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861 – 1937), at a time when Hollywood is waking up to women’s successes. Available on → www.cinemalibrestudio.com

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