At this year’s festival we will present So ein Mädel vergisst man nicht. (Vienna, – Monaco di Baviera, 22 july 1970)įritz Kortner was one of the prominent personalities of the German theatrical scene of the 1920s, both as an actor and as a director. The actor managed to resume his career appearing in a string of Swedish films throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. There he was able to survive the German occupation and the Second World War thanks to a forged ‘Aryan certificate’ – the identity of his Jewish father was kept hidden even from Hansen’s own children. Hansen resettled first in Austria and later in his mother’s homeland of Denmark. After the Nazi takeover, his career in German cinema quickly dissipated. His multiple talents are also evident in his sound films of the early 1930s, which often have him singing his popular tunes and engaging in unscripted comedy routines. Max Hansen grew to prominence as a stage actor, comedian and singer in the 1920s. (Mannheim, 22 december 1897 – Copenaghen, 12 november 1961) Here are the stories of some of the artists whose work we will be able to admire during the festival. Some managed to escape, others, tragically, did not make it out of Europe in time and were killed in the concentration camps. Their fate mirrors the fate of German Jewry in general.

Even more than other genres of German cinema of the Weimar Republic, the Tonfilmlustspiel is inextricably linked to the work of Jewish directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and actors, who had found the blossoming cultural metropolis Berlin to be a welcoming place during the 1920s. The musical comedies of the late Weimar Republic are some of the hidden gems of that era, presented at this year’s festival.

For a few precious years, a decidedly light-hearted, sensual and frivolous spirit swept through German movie theatres.

Only the brave movie 1930