Germany
Ethics in the News 2: Another News Story
In 2015, as refugees wind their way across Europe they are accompanied by a pack of fellow travellers – reporters, camera-operators, producers and news vans. British director, Orban Wallace, turns the camera in a new direction: the world’s 24-hour news gatherers in pursuit of the breaking story.
The Soft Power of Diasporas
When people think of diaspora populations, their first thought tends to be of refugee populations, the migrant crisis, and communities fleeing conflict as a result of what’s reported in the media. However, this is only part of the story. Often these scattered populations across the globe continue to have an enormous impact on their homelands. The European Research Council has sponsored 5 years of extensive research and close to 500 first-hand interviews of displaced peoples in Europe, and what influences and impacts they continue to have on their homelands.
The Girl from Aleppo: Responding to Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis
Acclaimed journalist Christina Lamb joins as she shares the powerful story of Nujeen Mustafa, a teenager who travelled 3,500 miles from Syria to Germany in a wheelchair. With her quirky observations on the world, Nujeen illustrates the people behind the numbers crossing Europe on a journey that Lamb has followed in person. Unable to be present in person, Nujeen will be joining the discussion over Skype.
BBC Storyville Preview: The Great European Disaster Movie + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Annalisa Piras and executive producer Bill Emmott.
Following the success of Girlfriend in a Coma, director Annalisa Piras brings us an artfully constructed depiction of how Europe is sleepwalking toward disaster, starring Angus Deayton in fiction scenes from a post-EU future. Piras pairs an imagined view from a dystopian future with insightful analysis on how and why things are going so wrong by ordinary Europeans and economic and political experts.
First Wednesday Screening: 1989
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Frontline Club is pleased to be part of a pan-European simultaneous screening of the new documentary 1989 by award-winning director Anders Østergaard. The creative documentary 1989 is a high-politics drama about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Iron Curtain. Østergaard recreates the events of 1989 and invites the audience into the secret meeting rooms through a mixture of testimonials, archive material, recreation and reconstructed dialogues of the key political players.
Night Will Fall: “Bearing witness to atrocity”
By Phoebe Hall On Tuesday 16 September, the Frontline Club hosted a preview screening of Night Will Fall, followed by an insightful Q&A with director André Singer and producer Sally Angel. The powerful film interweaves eyewitness testimony and original archive footage in order to chronicle the process of the filming, by American and British and Soviet […]
Summer Screening: Rabbit à la Berlin, EXIT & Oxygen
Three short films explore life on the other side of the Iron Curtain, before the fall of the Berlin Wall:
Academy Award-nominated documentary Rabbit à la Berlin uses the Berlin Wall rabbit population as a metaphor for the huge transition post-communist societies underwent.
Through exceptional and rare footage shot between 10 and 20 October 1989, EXIT shows East German refugees who managed to cross the Polish border in order to reach the West German embassy in Warsaw. They talk openly about life in East Germany, not knowing the world is about to change.
During the communist dictatorship in Romania (1945-1989), thousands of people risked their lives attempting to flee their country, often inventing the most incredible methods to cross the border illegally. Oxygen is a free re-enactment of a real case.
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 7 – 13 May
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 7 to Sunday, 13 May from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt Given the ongoing violence and international concern over Syria, it’s hard to believe (‘ridiculous’, even) that parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on Monday, but President Bashar al Assad has insisted they will go […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 9 – 15 January
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 9 to Sunday, 15 January from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt Monday looks to be the biggest day of what should be an interesting week internationally. Kicking off with the ongoing EU debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin to […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 7 – 13 November
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 7 November to Sunday, 13 November from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, goes on trial in Paris on Monday accused of complicity in the deaths of 11 people. The charges relate to bombings in France in 1982 and 1983. […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 26 Sep – 1 Oct
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 26 September to Sunday, 1 October from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero is scheduled to request the dissolution of Parliament on Monday to make way for early elections on 20 November. Spain was not due to hold elections until March next year, but […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 12-18 September
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 12 September to Sunday, 18 September from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meets in Vienna on Monday, with Iran likely to be high on the agenda following last week’s report expressing increased concerns over ‘undisclosed nuclear related activities’ […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 29 August – 4 September
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 29 August to Sunday, 4 September from ForesightNews By Allan Williams Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has until Monday to appeal against his extradition to Panama. The 77-year-old is currently serving a prison sentence in France after being convicted of money laundering in July 2010. On Tuesday […]
The Minister formerly known as “Doktor” zu Guttenberg
Yes, Germany’s Minister of Defence, Dr. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, has been previously mentioned in Frontline blog dispatches. However the latest scandal to dog the defence minister is his doctorate, or more specifically, large slabs of his doctor of laws dissertation that he is accused of cutting and pasting. Minister zu Guttenberg has denied the claims […]
Deaths in the Military, Mutiny, Mail and the Minister
To put it mildly, Germany’s Minister of Defence, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, will be facing a hostile parliamentary and media environment this week. Three military episodes are dominating headlines following reports from the German parliamentary ombudsman to the military. – The treatment of officer-cadets onboard the German Navy tall ship Gorch Fock, including events surrounding the […]
Guido’s Pakistan Road Trip and Afghan ‘Outdoor Look’
Journalists accompanying Germany’s Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, on his trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan this week had a few surprises. Thick fog prevented Mr Westerwelle’s plane from landing in Islamabad, forcing Germany’s top diplomat and journalists in tow to land 400 km away in Lahore. To keep to schedule, Plan B was to pile everyone […]
Don’t mention anything about the war
Given the euphoria over Germany’s Eurovision win, it was probably only an event of the magnitude of the German President resigning that could bump Lena off the headlines… But as tabloid Bild shows not by much… The surprise resignation of President Horst Köhler has both politicians and the media playing over and rewinding the tape […]
What to do about Greece?
It wasn’t so long ago that the Germans adored the Greeks. Cast your mind back to 2004 and the European football championship. It was a fairy tale football finale for Greece, cheered on whole heartedly by Germans, who though a tad shocked after their national side was knocked out, were elated that Greece was guided […]
The beginning of Germany’s other season
While Britain, France, Belgium and Commonwealth countries commemorate Remembrance Day and the end of WWI on November 11, something quite different happens in Germany. At 11 minutes past 11 am on November 11, the traditional celebrations begin for Carnival (Karneval) or the "Fifth Season" as it’s known in Germany. You either love Carnival or you […]
Lone Wolf by Ed Vulliamy
John Kay, the singer who gave us ‘born to be wild’, left east Germany and the Berlin wall behind in 1944. He has not forgotten his roots or the flight that brought him to the west. Anyone who has not heard – and felt the impact of – the primal anthem of rock music, ‘Born […]
Germany’s grand colour coalition election
It’s supposed to be a Superwahljahr – a super election year in Germany. Yes, we’ve seen many elections of the state and city variety, but you could hardly describe the campaign leading up to Sunday’s general election as "super". And why? Well your correspondent wonders if anyone in Germany is potentially excited about casting their […]
#Winnenden and Twitter: German media’s conversation of a shooting
"Kein zweiter Hudson-River-Tweet" (Stefan Winterbauer, Meedia.de) "Not a second Hudson River tweet" Two months have past since Germany was stunned by a killing spree in which 15 people died in Winnenden, just north of Stuttgart. At about 0930 on March 11 a former pupil of the Albertville Secondary School walked into the school and […]
The Business of the Baron
German media got itself into a little bit of muddle over the past week covering the appointment of Karl-Theodor von und zu Guttenberg as Germany’s new Minister of Economics, following the surprise resignation of Michael Glos. The media all seemed to be asking themselves: who is this 37 year old Freiherr (Baron) from Bavaria, and […]