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Erich Kästner (1899-1974) is one of the most popular German-language authors. His books have been adapted for the stage, produced as radio plays and repeatedly turned into films. In the last ten years alone, three feature films have been made based on his novels. It is not only his children's and young adult stories that have fascinated cinema audiences for generations and motivated directors to create new adaptations. Kästner's works written for adult readers also live on in the cinema, most impressively in Dominik Graf's Fabian or Der Gang vor die Hunde. What characterizes his characters, conflicts and narrative styles? What is timeless about them, what is contemporary? Why are they so inspiring? The retrospective of Kästner's cinema brings together first film adaptations in which the writer himself took part, as well as remakes from the 1970s onwards. Also on show are films from the National Socialist era whose screenplays were written by Kästner, who was banned from publishing in Germany after 1933 and from 1943 onwards, under a pseudonym or completely unnamed.

There is a reduced admission price of €2.50 for children.

Review