Event
GERMAN CINEMA NOW! Pankow '95 [In-Person Only]
Wed Feb 23: 7.30pm PDT
Thu Feb 24: 7.30pm PDT
Sliding scale ticketing: $5-25
** Public safety notice **
NWFF patrons will be required to wear face coverings while in the building. To be admitted, patrons ages 12+ will also be required to present EITHER proof of COVID-19 vaccination OR a negative result from a COVID-19 test administered within the last 48 hours by an official testing facility.
NWFF is adapting to evolving recommendations to protect the public from COVID-19. Read more about their policies regarding cleaning, masks, and capacity limitations at http://bit.ly/nwffcovidsafety.
Gábor Altorjay
West Germany
1983
1h 28m
Series - GERMAN CINEMA NOW!
About
GERMAN CINEMA NOW!, a celebration of the bold, new, and fantastic in German and transnational cinema, is a monthly film series presented by Goethe Pop Up Seattle. In 2022, GCN! explores states of (apparent) stasis, sameness, and standstill, inviting viewers to look closely at the countless dynamic processes that are always underway, just beneath the surface.
The place is East Berlin and the year is 1995. Sort of. In Gábor Altorjays campy, deliriously extra sci-fi romp, the capitalist system collapsed six years ago, and refugees are streaming into the newly ascendant Eastern Bloc. Less than thrilled with the triumph of socialism is the sensitive musicologist Johann Wolfgang Amadeus Zart (Udo Kier, in vintage pulpy form), whom the powers that be have locked up in a Cuckoos Nest-y insane asylum to silence his dangerous discoveries about the cyclical nature of pop culture and youth rebellion. With the ticking time bomb of the lobotomy planned by the evil Dr. Frisch (played by Dieter Thomas Heck, known to most Germans as a genial TV presenter), Zart plots an escape with fellow misfits and undesirables, including a South American general (played by the Hamburg porn impresario Rene Durand) and Germanys first test-tube teenager (punk musician Tom Dokoupil, painted bright green and dubbed over with the voice of a small child).
In Pankow 95, Altorjay, a filmic outsider better known as an artistic companion of the Fluxus group, has created a fruitcake of early 80s paranoia. Gleefully picking at East/West division, artificial insemination, technological mind control, radical youth, and political collapse, Pankow 95 is punched up by a bizarrely catchy synth score by Tom Dokoupil (of band Der Wirtschaftswunder) and held together by a vintage turn from Udo Kier, alongside an extraordinary supporting cast that includes Germanys equivalent of Dick Clark and rock star Nina Hagen. Remastered and re-released, the film is finally available in the US, nearly 40 years late. But the delay doesnt matter much. As Altorjay says, Pankow 95 is a film about the future of the past, says Altorjay. As such, it is always current. (Martin Schwartz)
(Gábor Altorjay, West Germany, 1983, 88 min, in German with English subtitles)
Credit for all images on this page: ©PandoraFilmproduktion.
Socialist freakshow Pankow 95 is a treasure trove of images, sounds, and faces from the 1980s. Die Tageszeitung
A 1983 curiosity of German film history that begs to be rediscovered Film Festival Cologne
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LocationNorthwest Film Forum (View)
1515 12th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122
United States
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Accessibility
Ticketing, concessions, cinemas, restrooms, and our public edit lab are located on Northwest Film Forum's ground floor, which is wheelchair accessible. We have a limited number of assistive listening devices available for programs hosted in our larger theater, Cinema 1. These devices are maintained by the Technical Director, and can be requested at the ticketing and concessions counter.
The Forum does NOT have assistive devices for the visually impaired, and is not (yet) a scent-free venue. Our commitment to increasing access for our audiences is ongoing, and we welcome all public input on the subject!
If you have additional specific questions about accessibility at our venue, please contact our Executive Director Vivian Hua at vivian@nwfilmforum.org
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