Cinema at the Center: Štěpán Altrichter - "Schmitke"

Altrichter’s darkly funny, quasi-mystical take on the mystery film is equal parts Kafkaesque and quixotic. The film follows the inauspicious quest of hapless German engineer Julius Schmitke into the heart of the historically charged Sudetenland borderlands, where is tasked with repairing a creaky wind turbine. Like Kafka’s land surveyor, the engineer must negotiate perplexing customs and formalities as well as a deeply mysterious forest that is impervious to technology such as GPS. The trees cover an old Nazi iron mine, where the layers of history and nature intertwine to create unsteady footing and treacherous conditions. Altrichter’s film is a comedic yet bleak meditation on the inescapability of history, the unpredictability of nature, and the shortcomings of technology.

About the 2019 UC European Film Festival

The 2019 UC European Film Festival, which runs between January 18 and March 13. The theme of the festival – the “Limits of European Cinema” – underlines the aim to bring films to local audiences that are the unique, inventive, and timely. The selection features an innovative live film presentation, the latest works from European festivals (all local or regional premiers), and carefully selected classics. Made by directors from Portugal to Ukraine and telling stories that span from the Adriatic to the Baltic, these films consider the natural mysteries of remote borderlands, re-stage history with an eye firmly on present tragedies, and offer (sometimes darkly) comedic and transformative voyages to escape the drudgery of contemporary life.

Screenings are held at the Esquire Theatre, The Mini Microcinema, and The Contemporary Art Center.
UC European Film Festival at the Mini Microcinema: January 26-February 23
CAC: January 31 and March 13
The Esquire: February 28-March 10