15th Anniversary Berlin & Beyond Film Festival

The fact that the festivals is sponsored by the Goethe-Institut San Francisco, and that the website is exclusively in English does give a clear indication of who the target audience for Berlin & Beyond is. Germans might already be familiar with at least some of the scheduled movies, but Left Coast dwellers are offered a rare chance to thoroughly catch up on German cinema here. I've had to grudgingly admit that due to lingering flu symptoms I better keep a low profile for yet another weekend. No Roller Derby bout for me, no Berlin & Beyond in San Francisco. So I'm very happy that for the first time in its history the festival moves to San Jose for an Encore Day on October 30th (Camera 12 Cinemas). Not only do we get a second chance to see Endstation der Sehnsüchte, und Giulia's Verschwinden, San Jose's Encore Day offers the only festival screening of Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen. I really liked his previous film Auf der anderen Seite. I did not catch Soul Kitchen when it played in the theater, so I look forward to watching it on the big screen now.