Berlin & Beyond Film Festival - San Francisco

Thursday January 6, 2005 -- Opening Night -- photos here

This evening, the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival opened its 10th annual event. Film buffs came to the landmark Castro Theater to celebrate and view the first movie in a week's worth of new films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Castro's mezzanine, capacity 200, highlighted with rare film posters and tapestries from France, usually an elegant lounge, was jammed with film buffs enjoying salads, pastas, soup, cheeses and sushi. Wine, beer and coffee kept the social wheels lubricated as fans met, greeted and chatted with each other. A luscious German chocolate cake, created for the tenth anniversary celebration, delighted chocoholics still in a Holiday mood. Castro's Wurlitzer Organ entertained a full house audience before the screening of THE EDUKATORS.

Ingrid Eggers, Program Coordinator for the Goethe - Institut, welcomed the crowd. The film, shown at the Cannes Film Festival, written and directed by Hans Weingartner, has been picked up for distribution and showing in the United States. Mr. Weingartner, who made his feature debut in THE WHITE ROSE (2001), had a clear vision of what he wanted to do right from the start, said Burghart Klaussner, one of the film's stars, in response to an audience question in the Q & A after the screening. Young idealists, the Edukators, Jan, Peter and Jule, united to change the world are diverted from their mission when complications arise. Jule falls in love with both Peter and Jan and a failed operation leads them to unexpected adventure. Daniel Bruhl, one of Europe's rising stars, Julia Jentsch and Strlipe Erceg round out the cast. Watch for this in your local theatre.