The Old Continent’s most diverse, refreshing and exciting edition of curated films is back, this time with a selection of 20 classics from 20th century Europe. This includes well-known and instantly recognisable classics such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s WW2 drama Lili Marleen (1981; pictured above) and Jens Ravn’s avant-garde horror The Man Who Thought Life (1969) all the way to lesser-known (and no less impressive) gems such as Louis Dauin’s realist coal-mining fable Day Break (1949) and Marta Mészáros’s protofeminist, lugubrious The Girl (1968).
The pool of actors includes familiar names such Fassbinder’s favourite Hannah Schygulla, Franco-German icon Romy Schneider, and German chanteuse Hildegard Knef starring in different roles as well as overlooked talent such as Albanian comedian Albert Vërria and Hungarian singer Katalin Kovács.
Films come from countries as diverse as France, Germany, Hungary, Tajikistan, Albania and more. ArteKino pays tribute this year to German filmmaker Konrad Wolf, who boasts four film on the list: Stars (1959), Divided Heaven (1964), I Was Nineteen (1968) and Solo Sunny (1980; directed alongside Wolfgang Kohlhaase, and pictured below). This is not a random choice: the helmer would have celebrated his 100th anniversary this October 20th. His films will be available in autumn, in order to coincide with the centennial event.
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One continent, many voices
We asked ArteKino Project and Editorial Manager Eszter Kocsis about the curatorial secrets of ArteKino Classics. She reveals that the process includes multiple programmers from multiple nations: “there is a consortium behind the ArteKino initiative, which includes: Arte Geie, Arte France Cinéma, and the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes. Arte Geie connects Arte Deutschland and Arte France. Editors from both Germany and France contribute to the selection process. They can submit proposals, and the final decision on which films are included in the selection is made during a programming conference with the channel’s directors”.
She also explains that the selection is staggered throughout the calendar year: “we broadcast one film per month as part of the ArteKino initiative on air in both France and Germany. We don’t have the exact number of hours dedicated to programming, as it’s spread out over the year and involves several teams in both countries”.
Classic is not synonymous with established male filmmakers. ArteKino sets out to capture European film from various perspectives. Kocsis clarifies: “we aim to offer rarely shown and significant titles from Europe’s rich film heritage, providing a fresh perspective on European film history from 1945 to 1995. We also focus on female directors and overlooked or forgotten films”.
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Twenty films for the 20th century
The 20 dirty classics are listed below. Click on the film title in order to accede to our review, where available:
Arte.tv is also currently showing a small selection of movies by late centenarian Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira and three Italian film classics. Arte.tv is a European streaming service available across Europe in 6 languages. These films were made available before the 20 titles listed above, and they remain streamable for the rest of the year.
Click here in order to watch your favourite classic for free, and right now!
