Franco-German Film Series: The Strange Little Cat

Siblings Karin and Simon visit their parents and little sister Clara. A family dinner has been planned for the evening, and other relatives have been invited. While the meal is being prepared, everyday scenes from a seemingly ordinary life are shown: the brother-in-law repairs the washing machine, the daughter writes a shopping list, the mother prepares the meal, two household pets romp about the flat – and yet, below the surface, the mood is aggressive.

Premiered at 2013's Berlin International Film Festival, The Strange Little Cat is a true find among German films. In a highly unique way, the film plays with everyday situations such as sausages squirting grease and turning bottles, as informed standards of familial communication are combined in an original way; reminiscent of the causal chain formed by everyday objects arranged by the Swiss artists Fischli and Weiss in The Way Things Go. Despite this, or perhaps precisely because of this, countless meanings can be found in this film. The mundane may very well be the strangest subject of all.

'It's like reading a short story by Chekhov or Ionesco, that was translated by Kafka and staged by Bertolt Brecht' - Rogert Ebert

Dir. Ramon Zürcher, Germany 2013, 72 mins, German with English Subtitles. With: Jenny Schily, Anjorka Strechel, Mia Kasalo, Luk Pfaff.

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Goethe-Institut and Alliance Française's upcoming winter screenings explore the borders between reality and fiction. We present modern fairy tales, set within contemporary society, which feature the bizarre and fabulous alongside the ordinary and well-known. Meet sinister, illusive and fantastic characters and explore their stories in these gems of European independent cinema.

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