Friday, March 16 | 8 pm
Saturday, March 17 | 5:30 pm
Sunday, March 18 | 2 pm
A decade after her critically beloved festival-circuit breakthrough, Longing, Berlin School filmmaker Valeska Grisebach returns to cinemas with a remarkable new film. Western centers on a group of German construction workers who have traveled to a remote corner of rural Bulgaria to install a hydroelectric plant. When soft-spoken newcomer, Meinhard, begins developing a rapport with the local villagers, he finds himself at odds with his more brutish coworkers. Drawing inspiration from Hollywood’s mythical vision of the West, the film conjures an austere, elemental universe where serene beauty and latent violence exist side by side. Eliciting assured performances from a cast of charismatic nonprofessionals, Grisebach skillfully balances clear-eyed cultural and socioeconomic observation with rich emotional nuance and sumptuous visual texture. A major work from an emerging master, Western is one of 2017’s most exquisite hidden gems.
Director Valeska Grisebach | 2017 | In German, Bulgarian, and English with English subtitles | 119 minutes | NR | DCP
