DIRECTOR: Jan-Ole Gerster
PRODUCERS: Marcos Kantis, Martin Lehwald, Michal Pokorny
PRODUCTION CO: Schiwago Film, Chromosom Filmproduktion
SCREENPLAY: Jan-Ole Gerster
PHOTOGRAPHY: Philipp Kirsamer
EDITOR: Anja Siemens
MUSIC: The Major Minor, Cherilyn MacNeil
WITH: Tom Schilling (Niko Fischer), Friederike Kempter (Julika Hoffmann), Marc Hosemann (Matze), Katharina Schüttler (Elli), Justus von Dohnányi (Karl Speckenbach), Andreas Schröders (Psychologist) 

​FESTIVALS: Karlovy Vary

REVIEWS

“This funny, jazz-inflected account of a bad day in the life of an über-cool young Berliner has snapped up audience prizes at European festivals and trounced all comers to carry off a load of Lolas at the German Film Awards. Niko (Tom Schilling) wakes up to what looks like the scruffy last goodbye of an exhausted relationship, and spends the rest of the day finding he’s slipped a few other moorings as well. He screws up a bizarre psychological test to reclaim his driving licence, his bill-paying father figures out that he’s not been to college in two years and a promising encounter with an old schoolmate gets very weird. And he really needs a coffee. Shooting in lustrous black and white, debut director Jan Ole Gerster guides us from ironic hipster comedy into a poignant ode to today’s Berlin, wryly placing Niko’s troubles alongside those of a handful of other Berliners who mistake him for a good listener and accost him with theirs.”

– Bill Gosden, New Zealand International Film Festival 2013

“Gerster’s decision to film in black-and-white lends a melancholy romance to Niko’s various encounters, infusing even a scene where he’s seen flushing leftover meatballs down the toilet with a measure of introspection. Between humorous episodes, the director gives Niko time to reflect, lingering on cigarette breaks and that ongoing search for a coffee he can’t afford. (At one point, in a scene worthy of Buster Keaton, he considers nicking some change from a sleeping beggar.) While Berlin affords Niko the unique privilege of leading a reasonably comfortable life on very little money, his kind can be found all over the world, and in that respect, the film feels like a late, lost chapter from the French New Wave or a kindred spirit to so many DIY indies, served up with a wry smile and a German accent.”

– Peter Debruge, Variety

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS*

Westport  
Wednesday, 09 July, 7.00pm

Whanganui   
Monday, 21 July, 7.00pm

Queenstown
​Tuesday, 29 July, 8.00pm

Bigger Picture Ōamaru
​Thursday, 07 August, 7.00pm

Dunedin  
Wednesday, 20 August, 7.30pm

Nelson 
Wednesday, 27 August, 6.00pm

Canterbury  
Monday, 08 September, 7.00pm

Auckland  
Monday, 15 September, 6.15pm

Carterton  
Friday, 26 September, 7.00pm

Palmerston North
Wednesday, 08 October, 6.00pm

Timaru    
Tuesday, 21 October, 6.30pm 

Hamilton  
Monday, 03 November, 6.30pm

Tauranga
Wednesday, 12 November, 6.00pm 

​*Non-members welcome by donation (notes only please)​
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German Cinema selection presented in
co-operation with the Goethe-Institut