Afire (German with Eng Subs)) Sun Matinee Oct 8 Drama-Comedy Straight from Berlin FF.

Afire Movie Trailer HERE 

Afire is a very enjoyable, award winning and fine piece of German Cinema from Christian Petzold and its straight from the Berlin Film Festival of this year. A drama-comedy, it  finds twenty something friends Leon (the wryly hilarious Thomas Schubert) and Felix (Langston Uibel) at an idyllic family seaside home for the summer. They look forward to relaxation, but must also work on their creative projects. Leon has to finish the manuscript of his anticipated second novel, while Felix has to complete a photography portfolio. Felix is as relaxed as Leon is tense.

On arrival they find an unexpected guest Nadja (Paula Beer, Undine), whose romps with a local lifesaver Devid (Enno Trebs) elicits irritation from Leon but acceptence from Felix. But there is more to Nadja than what she lets on. And to Felix and Devid. Only when Leon's publisher appears do we find out what Nadja is hiding and what Leon is really feeling.

All the while the forest fires, once distant, encroach and grow, leading to a shocking climax. And then a surprise ending.

Following Undine, in which water and architecture were pivotal, Petzold now grapples with fire, literature and photography. Filled with mischievous humour, attempts at workartistic value and creation, ultimately Afire is preoccupied with love.  CHRISTIAN PETZOLD is a German director who won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale for Barbara (2012) and Afire (2023) and has had six films in Competition there. He has won the German Film Critics Association Award for Best Film several times, and his most celebrated films include Wolfsburg (2003), Ghosts (2005), Yella (2007), Phoenix (2014) and Transit (2018).

"Outstanding." New York Times

"Witty, awkward and surprising."  The Times. U.K.

" Afire is an entertainment with spark and philosophical insight — and a reminder that, as we contemplate apocalypse, we’d better learn to start understanding each other, and ourselves, a little more." UK Financial Times

"Christian Petzold is one of the greatest working filmmakers in the world today." San Francisco Chronicle