Sunday, November 19 at 1 PM

KINOFESt Seattle introduces the first film in their newly CLASSIC GERMAN MOVIE series.

“Die Mörder sind unter uns” was one of the first post-World War II German films and the first Trümmerfilm. It was produced in 1945 and 1946 in the Althoff-Atelier in Babelsberg and in Jofa-Ateliers in Johannisthal, written and directed by Wolfgang Staudte.

In German; English subtitles

Synopses:

In 1945, after three years in a concentration camp, the artist Susanne Wallner (Hildegard Knef) returns to a Berlin in ruins. Despite Susanne’s unspeakable experiences, she is filled with a renewed desire for life.

When she goes back to her old apartment, she learns Dr. Hans Mertens (Ernst Wilhelm Borchert) has taken up residence there. He is a physician and a former officer in the German army, who is haunted by the memory of the execution of 121 Polish civilians, which he did nothing to prevent. Under Susanne’s care, the broken man gathers new strength and courage. Then, by chance, Mertens meets his former captain and decides to take the law into his own hands.

The film was shot in the ruins of Berlin.

The Murderers Among Us debuted on October 15, 1946 in the Admiralspalast, which was at the time the home of the Berlin State Opera, in the Soviet sector. The television debut in the German Democratic Republic was on November 1, 1955 and in the Federal Republic on November 18, 1971.

International focusing on the years immediately following World War II, THE MURDERERS ARE AMONG US is also a classic FILM NOIR.