To Sing to an Old Tune: “Parasite” and the Academy Awards

It was perhaps the universality of themes and experiences in Parasite that resonated with audiences of many languages and cultures, leading the film to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Best Picture at the Academy Awards. That Parasite would win the Palme d’Or was an expectation of many. The Oscar, however, was unprecedented and therefore unexpected, at least in the beginning.

[Kulturbahn #41] May 8th – May 14th

► Monday: Between Spaces – Art, Urbanism & Public Space Space only ever exists with a context, charged with socio-political and socio-economic interests, shaped by power structures and defined by boundaries. The 15 artists featured in this exhibition explore issues in urban life from 1970s New York to 1980s East Berlin through the mediums of

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[Kulturbahn #38] April 17th – April 23rd

► Monday: Black German Cinema: “Sankofa – Return and get it” Jump right back into Berlin’s cultural scene by attending the film series In-between Performative Films, which focuses on artists trying to break away from patriarchal and national production contexts. This month’s movie premier follows artists and curators from Ghana. It raises various questions: Does the

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[Kulturbahn #36] March 27th – April 2nd

► Monday: Gritty Glamour – a Queer Intervention  This performance not only teleports the audience to Berlin’s nightlife and queer scene, but it also sheds light on the personal stories of queer and drag artists, who constantly negotiate their identity and explore their boundaries. The artists represent a wide range of Berlin’s nightlife figures, from

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[Kulturbahn #34] March 13th – March 19th

► Monday: Populism, Politics & Propaganda  This debate and panel talk questions the role of media and press in today’s rise of right-wing populism. On the one hand, the trend of “fake news” or alternative facts undermines the reliability of the media, especially in Trump’s America. On the other hand, journalists who want to uncover

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[Kulturbahn #33] March 6th – March 12th

► Monday: One Year Home Initially intended as a short-term project, the intensity of the encounters and photographs shot for ‘One Day as a Refugee’ resulted in a long-term collaboration between the photographer Lorenz Kienzle and the Syrian filmmaker Omar Akahare. Using photographs and film representations, the two arists document and explore the daily lives of refugees in

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BCB Goes Berlinale

I only went to see two films at the Berlinale International film festival, and I only stayed awake for one and a half of them. Despite the negative review my nap seems to suggest, the effort with which I attempted to keep my eyes open tells a different story. Both films, Centaur and Railway Sleepers,

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