"Garten der Sterne" (screening and discussion)
Friday, October 6, 2017 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm EDT/GMT-4Bard College Berlin, Lecture Hall Platanenstrasse 98a, 13156 Berli
A screening of Stéphane Riethauser's 2016 documentary "Garten der Sterne", followed by a discussion with the audience.
On Friday October 6, 2017 Bard College Berlin will host author and director Stéphane Riethauser for a screening of his 2016 documentary "Garten der Sterne" (co-directed with Pasquale Plastino), followed by a discussion with the audience.
Synopsis:
Once upon a time, there was an old cemetery in Berlin, where the Grimm Brothers are resting in peace. In this enchanted garden, Ichgola Androgyn (alias Bernd Bossmann, man/woman cabaret artist, gay/AIDS activist) runs Germany's first cemetery café. As an undertaker, Ichgola focuses on stillborn babies. For these so-called "Star Kids", he created a corner with thousands of flowers, pinwheels, elves, fairies, angels and teddybears watching over the graves, where parents can find an individual spot for their lost child. Next to them, many men who wrote key chapters of the Berlin gay liberation movement are resting, victims of the AIDS epidemic. In one of Europe's most colorful cemeteries, the funerary culture suddenly takes a new dimension, and life is celebrated with all its mysteries. In counterpoint to the story of the Garden of Stars, the legendary transsexual voice of Zazie de Paris tells us Grimm's famous fairy tale "Godfather Death".
The film received the Award for Best Picture at the Florence Queer Festival 2016 and the Award for Best mid-length documentary at Achtung Berlin Festival 2017.
Stéphane Riethauser was born in 1972 in Geneva, Switzerland. He holds a law degree from the University of Geneva. Journalist and director at Swiss Radio Television RTS (2003-2008), for which he directed dozens of documentaries. Since 2009, he has lived and worked as an independent filmmaker in Berlin. His first fiction short film “Prora”(2012) was selected at more than 120 festivals and has won 15 awards.
Official film website:
Admission free
Website: https://www.gartendersterne.com