In our Monthly Film Series, we will show a variety of GERMAN or GERMAN language films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On the 2nd Wednesday of each month, audiences will now have a chance to see these films on a regular basis at the CLINTON STREET THEATER. (Children movies will be playing on Sunday afternoons – please check our website.) All films are with English subtitles.

WED. AUGUST 14, 2019 – 7:00 PM

Germany 2011, 113 min.

Director: Sebastian Grobler

Cast:  Daniel Brühl (Konrad Koch), Burghart Klaußner (Schuldirektor Gustav Merfeld), Kathrin von Steinburg (Klara Bornstedt), Justus von Dohnányi (Richard Hartung)

The young teacher Konrad Koch is hired to teach English at a strictly-run German school for boys in 1874. The reform-minded headmaster von Merfeld has hired Koch as one of the very first English teachers of all at a German secondary school in order to let a fresh new wind into his musty institution. Koch sees how badly this is needed in his very first class. Everything that the boys know about England is common prejudices handed down from one generation to the next. In order to stir up some enthusiasm for the foreign language, Oxford graduate Koch resorts to unusual means and introduces his students to a curious sport that comes from Britain: football. Unfortunately, Koch’s unconventional ways soon make him many enemies: influential parents, local dignitaries and, above all, his colleagues, who only believe in Prussian drills and discipline. They all want to get rid of Koch at any price. But then his students take the initiative…based on the true story of the teacher and football pioneer Konrad Koch.

 

Filmography – Sebastian Grobler

1993: WUNDERWELT (short film)
1996: ICH KOMMA LIEBE (short film)
1997: DIE POSEIDON (short film)
1998: BIS ANS ENDE DER NACHT (short film)
1999: FISCHEN (short film)
2000: BEZIEHUNGSWEISE
2003: MORGEN FRÜH IST DIE NACHT RUM
2011: LESSONS OF A DREAM (DER GANZ GROßE TRAUM)

 

3 nominations at the German Film Awards 2011

Best film
Best cinematography
Best costume design