** This film is accompanied by a prerecorded discussion between Program Curator Martin Schwartz of <a href="https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/sta/gps.html" target="_blank" class="ql-size-large" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Goethe Pop Up Seattle</a> and Dr. Richard Block, Associate Professor of German at the University of Washington and author most recently of Echoes of a Queer Messianic: From Frankenstein to Brokeback Mountain. **Sliding scale admission: $5–25. Please pay what you can! Still images courtesy of <a href="https://www.sixpackfilm.com/en/catalogue/2674/" target="_blank" class="ql-size-large">sixpackfilm</a>. About this series:<a href="https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/sta/gps/ver.cfm?event_id=21789270&amp;fuseaction=events.detail&amp;" target="_blank" class="ql-size-huge">GERMAN CINEMA NOW!</a>, a celebration of the bold, new, and fantastic in German and transnational cinema, is a monthly film series presented by <a href="https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/sta/gps.html" target="_blank" class="ql-size-huge">Goethe Pop Up Seattle</a>. In 2022, GCN! explores states of (apparent) stasis, sameness, and standstill, inviting viewers to look closely at the countless dynamic processes that are always underway, just beneath the surface.

It’s quite a gathering at the corner tables at Diener Tattersall in Berlin. Iconic queer performers like Vaginal Davis and Susanne Sachsse, scholars like Marc Siegel, cultural overlords like Rene Pollesch, and great actors of every living generation are drinking heavily and filling up the ashtrays at their late friend Volker Spengler’s favorite bar. But this is not a funeral party. It’s not even funereal. It’s a smoky, raucous wake for an actor of shocking force and dedication; a crude, intense, and untamable lover and joker, and the strangest, funniest person they ever knew. Immortalized in the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, especially through his unforgettable performance as Elvira Weishaupt in In a Year of 13 Moons, Spengler emerged from a murky boyhood and an apprenticeship at sea to become one of Germany’s most prolific actors. In the grand theatres of Berlin, famed and feared directors ate out of his hand. And indeed, in the Diener, his friends share stories of his professionalism and his humble, all-out approach to acting. But what they wonder at most is the man’s truly overwhelming warmth and joie de vivre. The way he invariably answered the door naked. The way he always smelled nice. The photos of lovers’ faces and other body parts he kept. His loud and foul-mouthed quips at every bar in town. His high-decibel cackle and his massive fleshiness. The dirty jokes he told to old ladies. The way he effortlessly and contemptuously dispelled false seriousness and the way he made his friends feel loved. Shot over the course of a few gatherings, Hans Broich’s film is put together in the eternal present tense of the corner booth, registering waves of jollity and exhaustion. With glimpses of European theatre culture, Fassbinder’s core ensemble, and the radical camp that originated in 1960s New York, Highfalutin circles around a character who hated conventionality and probed anarchic, Dionysian ways of life and of acting. Is it possible to offend without being “offensive”? Can resistance be a matter of the body and not of the intellect? Is it a good idea to pour gin in an IV? Volker Spengler was a white, European man. But as Highfalutin shows us, the way he lived gives us a taste of universal liberation. (Martin Schwartz) Still images courtesy of <a href="https://www.sixpackfilm.com/en/catalogue/2674/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sixpackfilm</a>. “In what may be the most beautiful moment in Highfalutin, a throaty laugh suddenly breaks out from the off… A laugh that seems to respond to everything said about the man, but that betrays nothing, that presents itself as a riddle. In response, the group pauses, smokes, and reflects. The séance for Volker Spengler as Eurydice figure, called from the kingdom of the dead, seems complete.” – Daniel Moersener, Die Tageszeitung (Berlin) About the filmmaker: Hans Broich, born in 1991, has been studying production and directing at the Vienna Film Academy since 2017. During this time he produced the debut feature film Die Ängstliche Verkehrsteilnehmerin by Berlin director Martha von Mechow and together with editor Felix Leitner his first own film Highfalutin. He is a founding member of the Berlin-based theater and film production company Tentakel Industries.

Highfalutin

A lively document of a smoky, raucous, very queer wake for Volker Spengler, one of Germany's most prolific actors. Features a discussion on Spengler and the film with Dr. Richard Block, Associate Prof. of German at the UW.

A prerecorded discussion between Goethe Pop Up Seattle Program Curator Martin Schwartz and Dr. Richard Block, Associate Professor of German at the University of Washington and author most recently of Echoes of a Queer Messianic: From Frankenstein to Brokeback Mountain.

Interview: Dr. Richard Block & Martin Schwartz

A prerecorded discussion between Goethe Pop Up Seattle Program Curator Martin Schwartz and Dr. Richard Block, Associate Professor of German at the University of Washington and author most recently of Echoes of a Queer Messianic: From Frankenstein to Brokeback Mountain.

California

Washington

Oregon

Highfalutin & Interview: Richard Block & Martin Schwartz

Sliding Scale

Community Ticket

Northwest Film Forum1515 12th Ave.Seattle, WA 98122 No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and our tax ID number is 91-1702331. Please contact your employer to inquire about corporate matching.

Support Northwest Film Forum!

Gift Cards

These are all the passes tied to your account. Now, use our online schedule to reserve tickets. You can access your tickets via {{my_tickets_link|"My Tickets"}} or via the PDFs attached to each ticket order confirmation email. {{buy_pass_link|Looking to buy more passes?}}

These are all your purchased tickets. All programs in this festival will be screened virtually at their corresponding showtimes, and these tickets grant you access to them. (Unless explicitly stated, film screenings will not take place at Northwest Film Forum.)

NWFF Members: $50

General Engauge 2020 Pass

NWFF Member Pass

Sliding Scale: $100

Sliding Scale: $125

Sliding Scale: $75

Travessias 2020 General: $50

Travessias 2020 NWFF Member: $35

None available

Passes

The monthly film series GERMAN CINEMA NOW! is curated by Goethe Pop Up Seattle. In 2021, the series explores themes of disruption and continuity to inspire public dialogue about the ways in which the past shapes our present moment and can inform a radically different future. — The film screenings are presented in partnership with Northwest Film Forum. Tickets to all screenings are pay-what-you-can; we encourage viewers to give within their means! All ticket proceeds will benefit Northwest Film Forum and other local organizations.

This pay-what-you-can monthly series of contemporary German films is curated by Goethe Pop Up Seattle and presented by Northwest Film Forum in Seattle. In 2021, the series will be dedicated to exploring themes of disruption and continuity.