Join us for a screening of Berlin Alexanderplatz

in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut

A contemporary take on Alfred Döblin's modern classic from 1929, this film does not begin in Berlin, not at Alexanderplatz, but in the water. Francis, a refugee from Guinea-Bissau bound for Europe, struggles for his life in the waves. Then we see him on a construction site in Berlin. He did it, he survived. From here the film goes on to tell if he will continue to make it, if he will have a good life, money, love and recognition, and if he will be a good person as he swore he would be in the face of death. A lot stands in his way, especially Reinhold, a manipulative drug dealer who takes advantage of the situation of undocumented workers and promises them quick money.

When turning Döblin's main character, Berlin worker and petty criminal Franz Biberkopf, into an undocumented African refugee named Francis, filmmaker Qurbani was not only concerned with a story about refugees, but also with showing structures of racism, unequal power relations and underlying oppression.

Germany 2020, colour, 183mins. With English subtitles.

Dir: Burhan Qurbani

When? 23 February, 7pm

Where? Goethe-Institut London, 50 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, SW7 2PH London

How Much? £5, £3 concession

Where can I get a ticket? Here!