Meet-Up at Goethe

GDR, August 1989: Hanna and Andreas became a target of the secret police and had to give up their plans for their future studies and desired professions. Instead, they face arbitrariness, mistrust and reprisals. Their only chance for a self-determined life lies in fleeing across the Baltic Sea. Fifty kilometers of water separate them from freedom – and only a thin connecting rope around their wrists saves them from absolute loneliness.

Germany 2024
Writer & Director: Sarah Neumann
102 min, DCP.

Screenings will take place at 8 pm in the Goethe Backyard, off the Back Alley (third courtyard from Clarendon Street). All films in German with English subtitles. Feel free to bring friends, snacks and BYOB.

Day 1
Co-presented with the Boston Public Art Triennial.

6:00 PM: I like America and America likes me
From May 23 to 25, 1974, the action “I Like America and America Likes Me” took place at the René Block Gallery in New York, which is documented in this film. On his arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport, Joseph Beuys is immediately wrapped in a felt cloth and driven to the gallery in an ambulance. A coyote awaits him there in a room cordoned off by bars. Beuys will live with him for several days and nights, observable by the audience at all times through the bars. In addition to the felt blanket, his props include a walking stick, a triangle, a flashlight, gloves and 50 copies of the “Wall Street Journal” every day. After the action, Beuys is transported back to the airport in the same way as he arrived.

Germany 1974, color and b/w, 37 min.
Director: Helmut Wietz

7:00 PM: Beuys
Thirty years after his death, Joseph Beuys still feels like a visionary and is widely considered one of the most influential artists of his generation. Known for his contributions to the Fluxus movement and his work across diverse media — from happening and performance to sculpture, installation, and graphic art — Beuys’ expanded concept of the role of the artist places him in the middle of socially relevant discourses on media, community, and capitalism. Using previously untapped visual and audio sources, director Andres Veiel has created a one-of-a-kind chronicle: Beuys is not a portrait in the traditional sense, but an intimate and in-depth look at a human being, his art and ideas, and the way they have impacted the world.

Winner of the 2018 German Film Award for Best Documentary
Germany 2017, 1‘47”.
Director: Andres Veiel