Zeitgeist Northwest will present the 10th Annual Portland German Film Festival from Oct. 4 – 8, 2019 @ at Cinema 21. Stay connected with us and get updates on the films we are showing with facebook.
Over the next month we will release our upcoming schedule, here are this year’s children’s movies. (All films are in German with English subtitles.)
SAT. OCT. 05, 2019 @ 3.00 PM
ALFONS JITTERBIT – COUNTDOWN TO CHAOS (ALFONS ZITTERBACKE – DAS CHAOS IST ZURÜCK)
Germany 2019, 103 min.
Directed by: Mark Schlichter
Cast: Tilman Döbler, Alexandra Maria Lara, Devid Striesow
What would Alfons Zitterbacke give to be a great athlete, a super student 
and an astronaut, just like Alexander Gerst. But that isn’t what his world looks like. The 11-year-old stumbles from one mishap to the next. Everyone seems to gang up on him. Unfair teachers, vicious classmates and a very strict father generally make life miserable for him – when out of the clear blue an aircraft competition offers the opportunity to participate in an astronaut camp and Alfons sees his chance: At last he can show the world what a brilliant inventor he is – particularly Emilia, the new girl in class. The only trouble is that Alfons’ rival, Nico, also decides to take part in the competition and challenges him to a dual: Are you chicken or what? In his dilemma, Alfons drags his best friend Benni, into the affair, and now there’s no way out: They have to win the competition. But how?
ALFONS ZITTERBACKE is an action-packed comedy about friendship, outer space, fathers and sons and the best plans for building rockets.
Director
MARK SCHLICHTER was born in 1962. Initially he studied Acting and worked as an actor in several feature film and theater productions. After working as a unit and production manager on various feature film productions he studied Directing at the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) in Berlin. In addition to numerous theater productions and short films, his award-winning feature films as a director include: EX (1995), DER AUSBRUCH (1997), SCHIMANSKI – MUTTERTAG (1997), DER ELEFANT IN MEINEM BETT (1999), COWGIRL (2004), TATORT – STRAHLENDE ZUKUNFT (2007), ZORN – VOM LIEBEN UND STERBEN (2015), and ALFONS ZITTERBACKE – THE RETURN OF CHAOS (2019).
SUN. OCT. 06, 2019 @ 3.00 PM
ROCCA CHANGES THE WORLD (ROCCA – VERÄNDERT DIE WELT)
Germany 2019, 100 min.
Directed by: Katja Benrath
Cast: Luna Maxeiner, Barbara Sukowa, Fahri Yardim, Mina Tander, Volker Bruch, Detlev Buck, Cordula Stratmann
With never-ending optimism Rocca proves together with her friends, that even a child has the power to change the world.
Brave, funny, and one of a kind: that’s Rocca. Rocca is elven years old 
and lives a rather unique life. While her dad is watching over her as an astronaut from outer space, Rocca lives alone with her squirrel and is attending a normal school for the first time in her life. 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. That’s why she makes friends with the homeless Caspar and tries to help him. All the while she is also attempting to win over her grandmother’s heart.
This is the feature film debut by Katja Benrath whose graduation project WATU WOTE: ALL OF US won a Student Academy Award® last year and was then nominated for the Academy Award® as Best Live Action Short Film.
German Film Awards 2019 – Outstanding Children or Youth Film (Bester Kinder- und Jugendfilm)
Both films will be also playing at KINOFEST Seattle, Oct. 17-20, 2019.
