Zeitgeist Northwest will present the 10th Annual Portland German Film Festival (PGFF) October 4-8, 2019 at Cinema 21.
Our annual festival showcases feature films, documentaries and short films that represent the state-of-the-art in German film making. We are also delighted to include films from Austria and Switzerland to give our audience the chance to experience the diversity, history and progress of German-speaking countries in Europe. All films are shown in German with English subtitles to allow a broad audience access to these German-language movies.
PGFF opens with TRAUMFABRIK, which will have it’s International Premiere at this year’s festival. They fall in love as extras on a movie set and play the leading roles in the love story of their lives against the turbulent backdrop of history. The opening night party will follow directly after the film at Cinema 21.
BALLOON (Ballon), based on the true story of one of the most spectacular escapes from communist East Germany, in which two families sailed over the heavily fortified border in a homemade balloon. This film mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (#Mauerfall30).
DIRECTOR AND MEDIA ARTIST LUTZ DAMMBECK will be showing two of his films at PGFF, THE NET and BRUNO & BETTINA and he will be there for a Q&A after the screenings.
Bertholt Brecht is looking back on his life in 1956, the year of his death, in East Berlin: from provocations in the Augsburg of the First World War, to the early poetic and amorous height flights in Munich and Berlin in the 1920s, his escape from Hitler and US exile in BRECHT.
Switzerland is represented by the bio epic The Reformer. ZWINGLI: A Life’s Portrait (Zwingli) portraying Huldrych Zwingli, the main proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland and the eco movie FAIR TRADERS , a true story of ethical business following the story of three entrepreneurs.
The Austrian highlight of the festival is Bruno Ganz’s last movie The Tobacconist (Der Trafikant), based on the international bestseller by Robert Seethaler. A tender, heart-breaking story about one young man and his friendship with Sigmund Freud during the Nazi occupation of Vienna. As well as two wonderful documentaries about VIENNA’S CINEMAS and THE CASTLE.
In addition, there are family-friendly favorites, including; ALFONS JITTERBIT – COUNTDOWN TO CHAOS (Alfons Zitterbacke: Das Chaos ist zurück), the story of a very unlucky boy. Even when he means well, everything is going wrong, so his life is full of various mishaps. This is a remake of the East German classic from 1966 and ROCCA CHANGES THE WORLD (Rocca verändert die Welt), which received the German Film Award 2019 for Outstanding Children or Youth Film (Bester Kinder- und Jugendfilm), telling the story of 11 year old Rocca, who lives a rather unique life and at school her carefree and non-conformist way of life instantly stands out. She fearlessly confronts the class bullies, because first and foremost Rocca stands up for justice.
