Press Release – Closing Night 2023: All Quiet on the Western Front 35mm
Four-time Academy Award® winner “All Quiet on the Western Front” is Closing Film of the 27th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival, on March 28 at Roxie in special 35 mm presentation
Festival Official Selections screen March 23-28, 2023
Media Contact: Steve Indig PR, steve@steveindigpr.com
(March 13, 2023) Newly honored as one of the two big winners at the 95th Academy Awards®, All Quiet on the Western Front will screen as the Closing Night Film of San Francisco’s 27th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival, presented by the Goethe-Institut San Francisco, in a very special presentation in 35 mm film, courtesy of Netflix, at the Roxie Theater, on March 28, 2023, 6:30 PM. Tickets are on sale at berlinbeyond.com.
Nominated in nine Academy Award® categories, the German anti-war film by Edward Berger took the coveted trophy in four categories, including International Feature Film, Cinematography, Original Score and Production Design. Earlier acclaim and honors for the film include its seven BAFTA (British Academy Film & Television) Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.
“This means so much to us,” writer-director Edward Berger said in his acceptance speech, before turning his attention to star Felix Kammerer. “This was your first movie, and you carried us on your shoulders as if it was nothing,” Berger said. Kammerer plays the film’s lead protagonist, Paul, a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I as he and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches.
Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel. It is the fourth German international feature Oscar® winner, after The Tin Drum in 1979, Nowhere in Africa in 2001 and The Lives of Others in 2006.
Berlin & Beyond Film Director Sophoan Sorn: “Our most heartfelt congratulations to the film team of All Quiet on the Western Front on this monumental accolade. It is an honor for us to continue the celebration in San Francisco with this special celluloid projection for our beloved Bay Area audience. Looking back on our festival history with the other three winners of Best International Feature Film (formerly Best Foreign Language Film): The Lives of Others was shown in 2008 as part of a posthumous Berlin & Beyond Lifetime Achievement Award in Acting tribute to Ulrich Mühe, accepted on his behalf by daughter, actress Anna Maria Mühe; a digital projection of the 4K restoration of The Tin Drum was shown in 2011 as part of a 3-film tribute to Berlin & Beyond Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Mario Adorf; a 20th anniversary drive-in screening next to San Francisco Bay of Nowhere in Africa was shown in tribute to Berlin & Beyond Career Achievement Award honoree, Director Caroline Link in 2021, amidst the COVID-19 global pandemic.”
The 1930 American adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front also won several Oscars®. A famous work of anti-war sentiment, the novel has remained a fixture of World War I storytelling for nearly a century, but until now has never been adapted in its native language.
The 27th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival takes place March 23-25 and 28, 2023 at the historic Roxie Theater in San Francisco, March 26 virtually, and March 27 at the Rialto Cinemas Elmwood in Berkeley. All details are at berlinbeyond.com.
BERLIN & BEYOND
Since 1996, the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival has been the leading festival of contemporary German cinema in the Americas, and has presented over 500 motion pictures, along with the presence of celebrated film figures, including Fatih Akin, Moritz Bleibtreu, Daniel Brühl, Lars Eidinger, Hannelore Elsner, Florian David Fitz, Bruno Ganz, Werner Herzog, Frederick Lau, Maria Schrader, Dan Stevens, Barbara Sukowa, and Wim Wenders.
The 2023 sponsors and partners include: the Goethe-Institut San Francisco as Presenter; San Francisco Grants for the Arts, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in San Francisco, the Excelsior German Center, and DW (Deutsche Welle) as Premiere Sponsors; the Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco, German Films / German Film Office, and The Orchard Hotel as Signature Sponsors. Full list of sponsors and partners are listed at BerlinBeyond.com
Official Website: berlinbeyond.com
Social Media: @berlinbeyond #BerlinBeyond2023
THE GOETHE-INSTITUT
The Goethe-Institut is Germany’s official cultural center comprised of 157 institutes in 98 countries. The Goethe-Institut exists to promote art and films from Germany, the study of the German language, and encourage the international cultural exchange with Germany. Having celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2017, the San Francisco branch has been promoting German culture and language since 1967. Its year-round cultural activities include art exhibitions, film screenings, and special events with local cultural institutions.
Official Website: goethe.de/sf
Social Media: @sfgoethe
BerlinBeyond.com
@BerlinBeyond
#BerlinBeyond2023
