4.29（Sat）13:00-15:30 Barbara

4.29（Sat）16:00-18:05 The Wasted Times

4.29（Sat）19:00-21:02 The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

4.30（Sun）10:00-12:30 The Sea Knows

4.30（Sun）19:00-22:30 Banana Paradise

Barbara

Director: Christian Petzold

Starring: Nina Hoss / Ronald Zehrfeld / Rainer Bock

Genres: Drama

Country: Germany

Runtime: 105 min

Summer in the GDR in 1980. Barbara, a doctor, has submitted an application to emigrate to the West. She is punished by being posted away from the capital to a hospital in a small town. Jörg, her lover in the West, is busy planning her escape via the Baltic Sea. It’s a waiting game for Barbara. Her new flat, the neighbours, summer and the countryside no longer hold any charms for her. Although she is attentive to her young patients in the department for paediatric surgery under her new boss, André, she is deliberately cool to her colleagues. Her life, she thinks, will begin later.

André confuses her. First there’s his unshakable faith in her professional abilities, then there’s way he cares, and his winning smile. What makes him cover up for her when she helps Stella, a young runaway? Is he spying on her? Is he in love? Barbara begins to lose her grip on herself, her plans and her heart. The day of her planned escape approaches.

The Wasted Times

Director: Er Cheng

Starring: You Ge/Ziyi Zhang/Tadanobu Asano/Chun Du/Gillian Chung

Genre: Drama/Action/Suspense

Country: China

Runtime: 125 min.

Set against a chaotic, war torn Shanghai, The Wasted Times follows a local crime boss at the receiving end of the Japanese army's attempt to forge a dubious alliance. Spanning three separate times during the period, the story details mindsets from various perspectives, all culminating in a suspenseful and tense finale.

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

Director: Kazuo Hara

Starring: Kenzo Okuzaki, Riichi Aikawa, Masaichi Hamaguchi

Genres: Documentary / War

Country: Japan

Runtime: 122 min

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On is a brilliant exploration of memory and war guilt. The documentary follows Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old World War II veteran notorious for his protests against Emperor Hirohito, as he tries to expose the needless executions of two Japanese soldiers during the war.

The Sea Knows

Director: Ki-young Kim

Starring: Woon-ha Kim / Sang-sa Lee / Ye-chun Lee

Genres: Drama / War

Country: South Korea

Runtime: 117 min

A Korean man, forced into service in the Japanese army during World War II, marries his Japanese
girlfriend despite everyone’s objections. Later, he becomes the sole survivor
when the Americans attack.

Banana Paradise

Director: Toon Wang

Starring: Shih Chang / Kai-Chun Chen / Lung Fang

Genres: Drama

Country: Taiwan

Runtime: 148 min

Banana Paradise follows the path of a young man named Door Latch and his friend who move to Taiwan in 1949, believing it to be a land of opportunity. Door Latch meets a woman who he marries, taking on her late husband’s name and diploma to help him find employment and help care for her son. This eventually leads to complicated, embarrassing, and comedic situations as he wants to travel back to Mainland China decades later.

Goethe-Institut

Beijing College Student Film Festival

BARCO