Faculty Colloquium

Friday, September 18 at 4 pm - CNS Andersen Auditorium

"Eco-Eschbach: VIsions of German Third Way Sustainability in "A Trillion Euros" by Sonja Fritzsche, Associate Professor of German and Eastern European Studies

Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Talk: Thursday, October 8 - 4 pm in Beckman Auditorium

“Context, Graffiti & Art of the Berlin Wall” by Bill Brown, Visiting Assistant Professor of German, IWU
Film Series: All films are shown in Beckman Auditorium, Ames Library at 7 pm

Sunday, October 4

One, Two, Three Directed by Billy Wilder (USA, 1961)

The cast of this Cold War comedy includes Horst Buchholz and James Cagney. It is a farce about a Coca Cola executive in West Berlin who will be fired if he can't keep his boss's daughter from marrying a communist while she is on a tour of Europe. The film received an Oscar nomination. The film was made immediately before the construction of the Berlin Wall. This film is the first in a series this week celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago on Nov. 9, 1989 followed by German reunification on Oct. 3, 1990. Although the film was made by a U.S. Company, the film was filmed entirely in West Berlin and Wilder is a German émigré.

Tuesday, October 6

The Promise (Das Versprechen) Directed by Margarethe von Trotta (Germany, 1995)

Immediately after the construction of the Berlin Wall, teenagers Konrad, Sophie, and their friends plan a daring escape to West Berlin. Konrad must remain behind and so ensues the love story between Konrad and Sophie who pursue lives on either side of the Iron Curtain. The film follows the development of this relationship and how it is affected by historical circumstances, including the Prague Spring in 1968 and, finally, the fall of the Wall in 1989. The film was Germany's entry for the Oscar that year in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Von Trotta is one of Germany's best known feminist film directors.

Wednesday, October 7

The Wall (Die Mauer) Directed by Jürgen Böttcher (Germany, 1991)

A documentary about the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, which relies more on visual imagery than narration. Scenes capture a variety of perspectives from between Potsdamer Platz, the Brandenburg Gate and beyond. Böttcher is the well-known director of DEFA film Born in '45 (Jahrgang '45), which was banned by East German officials in 1965. He was not allowed to finish the film.
Thursday, October 8

Berlin is in Germany (Berlin ist in Deutschland) Directed by Hannes Stöhr (Germany, 2001)

Martin, a former GDR citizen is released from jail, and must come to terms with the consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Director Stöhr was born in 1970 in West Germany, and thus is part of a new generation of German film directors who came of age just as the Wall fell. The film won the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2001 and the German Critics Association Award in 2002.

Films: IWU Community - Please feel free to bring a friend!