So German!
Directed by: Caroline Link
Based on a famous life story and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Caroline Link (Nowhere in Africa), All About Me is both a wildly entertaining and poignantly serious coming-of-age story about one of Germany’s most beloved comedians and television personalities, Hape Kerkeling. We begin in the Ruhr Valley in 1972. Hape is known then as Hans-Peter, a seemingly ordinary, slightly overweight nine-year-old. His home life, however, is anything but ordinary. His mother, having endured a botched surgical procedure, plunges into a deep depression that drives her to suicide. If this tragedy wasn’t enough, his shattered, despondent father decides to leave, putting Hans-Peter in the care of his two kindly and compassionate grandmothers. Their love and support make it possible for young Hans-Peter to find a way to survive the emotional trauma of his young life: humour. Little by little, he begins to explore his apparently natural (and vast) comedic talents to not only help heal his own wounds, but also to make other people laugh, too. And so, from the heaviness and darkness of his childhood, Hans-Peter recognizes laughter to be an exciting and liberating escape route upon which to drive. Now that he has found the keys, he promptly puts them in the ignition. An inspiring tale of human resilience, All About Me is based on Kerkeling’s best-selling autobiography.
Extraordinary circumstances, such as those we are living in today, call for new and creative ways to experience life and the arts — and cinema is no exception.
The Canadian Film Institute, the European Union Film Festival in Toronto, and The Cinematheque in Vancouver have joined forces with the Delegation of the European Union and the Embassies and Consulates of EU Member States to present the first-ever online edition of the European Union Film Festival (EUFF) in Canada.
We are delighted to be able to continue the decades-long tradition of presenting European cinema in Canada despite the challenges of this new COVID-19 age.
This year’s festival represents an unprecedented collaboration aimed at rewarding our devoted fans for their support over the years while, at the same time, providing cinéphiles across Canada an opportunity to explore the best of contemporary European cinema.
The program includes an exclusive collection of recent films from across the European Union.
The German film All About Me is being presented by the Embassy and Consulates of the Federal Republic of Germany in Canada and Goethe-Institut.
