28/03/2014 - The first female armed robber to target German banks is in good company on the silver screen, including an Oscar-winning film and a host of festival favourites

While Warner is pinning its hopes on the recent Oscar-winning comedy Her by Spike Jonze, Studiocanal is releasing a local production (from Berlin-based outfit Syrreal Entertainment) on German screens, which is arousing a great deal of excitement thanks to its fascinating subject matter. The film is Banklady [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Christian Alvart, which recounts the true story of Gisela Werler, the first female bank robber, who between 1965 and 1967 robbed 19 banks before being arrested. This person, who immediately enthralled the public (the media were in fact the ones who gave her the nickname of “Banklady”) and has already been portrayed several times on screen (including in an animated film: Gisela by Katja Baumann), is played this time by actress Nadeshda Brennicke, who gives the cues to Charly Hübner in his role as her lover and accomplice, Hermann Wittdorf. 

Via Majestic, German audiences can also discover the new film by Feo Aladag (When We Leave [+see also:
film review
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interview: Feo Aladag
interview: Feo Aladag
film profile]), Inbetween Worlds [+see also:
film review
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interview: Feo Aladag
film profile], which was in competition at the latest Berlinale (read the review). In this Independent Artists production, the superb director takes a subtle and deeply human look at the relationship between a German officer (Ronald Zehrfeld) in Afghanistan and his local interpreter.

For its part, Senator is distributing West [+see also:
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film profile] by Christian Schwochow (the noted director of Cracks in the Shell [+see also:
trailer
film profile], whose career has now truly taken off), with Jördis Triebel playing the role of an East German at the end of the 1970s who decides to cross over to West Berlin with her son, but once there, she finds herself face to face with the past and with an interrogation about her late partner Wassilij, the father of her child. The film sees the combined efforts of zero one, ö-Film and TERZ Filmproduktions. 

The list of the week’s major German releases does not stop there: distributor Daredo is offering the interesting comedy Love Steaks [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the feature debut by Jakob Lass. It tells in a rather direct, and sometimes even raw, manner an unlikely love story that develops behind the scenes of a five-star hotel. On the other hand, Rapid Eye Movies is releasing the delightful Franco-German-Iraqi co-production My Sweet Pepper Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Hiner Saleem, starring Golshifteh Farahani and presented at Cannes last year in the “Un Certain Regard” section (read the review).

Three other new European releases are also of note: the Danish comedy Antboy by Ask Hasselbalch, which is about a 12-year-old superhero (distribued by MFA); the documentary Deutschboden by André Schäfer, which is concerned with the clichés surrounding alcoholism and the extreme-right views of the provincial inhabitants of Brandenburg (W-Film); and the Austrian documentary Population Boom by Werner Boote (mindjazz).

(Translated from French)