A charming comedy about the search for happiness and the self-discovery along the way, VINCENT tells the story of a 27-year-old man suffering from Tourette Syndrome. When Vincent experiences the trauma of his mother’s death, his self-interested politician father drops him off at a rehabilitation clinic to get him out of the way. There he meets obsessive-compulsive Alex and the frail yet feisty anorexic Marie. When crafty Marie steals car keys belonging the clinic’s therapist, Vincent gets the chance to escape his miserable reality and, with his new friends in tow, sets off on a comic journey to the Italian sea where he wants to spread his mother’s ashes. As they travel through gorgeous landscapes (Bavaria to Trieste), they come to discover much about their lives and how much they actually need one another. Winner of the Best Film prize at the German Film Awards, this quirky, endearing coming-of-age story is full of rich, memorable characters. (96 mins.)

Co-sponsored by Zeitgeist Northwest.

Based on Martin Suter’s bestselling novel about a literary lie of mammoth proportions, Gsponer’s film is a playful romantic comedy about trying to have your cake and eat it too. David is a shy, hapless waiter in love with Marie, an attractive literature student. One day he happens to find an apparently abandoned manuscript for a romance novel and, trying to impress her, claims to be its once down-and-out bohemian author. She’s impressed but a bit too much so, secretly sending it off to a publisher. In no time, the book is on the bestseller list. Without having written a single word, book tours and celebrity signings ensue, but it is not long before brutal facts catch up with the ruse, including the appearance of the real author. (104 mins.)

Sebastian Helduschke, Ph.D., Professor of German at Portland State University, will introduce the film.

Please join us in the Portland Art Museum’s Andrée Stevens Room after the screening for a reception hosted by Zeitgeist Northwest.

On the eve of World War I, 14-year-old Oda Schaefer (Paula Beer)—soon to grow into the real-life German poet—journeys by train to live with her estranged and discredited doctor father at their family home on the Baltic coast, a place uneasily shared by Germans, Russians, and Estonians. She brings with her two “gifts”: her dead mother’s body and a strange, two-headed fetus. So begins Kraus’ strange, deeply affecting drama that examines the chaotic home life of the poetess-to-be against the backdrop of civilization coming apart at the seams. Oda’s father has little regard for human life—he is more concerned with furthering his disturbing studies on biology and destiny. Her stepmother is carrying on an affair. A wounded anarchist brings out Oda’s maternal side as she secretly nurses him back to health. Meanwhile, Archduke Ferdinand has been shot and the world is sliding inexorably into war. Observant and profoundly humanist in belief and act, Oda serves as the audience surrogate, allowing us entry into a harsh and mysterious time when the sacred sat alongside the profane, when the bizarre and gory were countered by the beautiful and the deeply felt. (134 mins.)

Special Jury Award at the Rome Film Festival and winner of German Film Awards for Best Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, and Supporting Actor.

Steven Fuller, Ph.D., Professor of German at Portland State University, will introduce the film.