The Consulate General of Germany and the Consulate General of Italy cordially invite you to the free screening of the movie Solino on May 15, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. at the Rice Media Center on the Rice University Campus. Consul General Klaus-Jochen Guehlcke of Germany and Consul General Fabrizio Nava of Italy will introduce the film.
Solino tells the story of how the Amato family brought pizza and pasta to Germany’s Ruhr area in 1964. Swept along with the first wave of immigration to the “economic wonder-land” of West Germany, the Amato family leaves their hometown, an idyllic Apulian village, Solino, for Duisburg, a city depicted in the oppressive gray of an industrial landscape. With picturesque and nostalgic images coupled with a light and humorous language, Director Fatih Akin recounts an epic family tale spanning 20 years, a story of homesickness and coming of age, of professional success and personal unhappiness.
Solino received the Bavarian Film Award in 2003 for Best Screenplay (Ruth Thoma) and for Best New Actor (Barnaby Metschurat); it was nominated as Best Film for the German Film Price; and won the Gilde Film Price in Silver (Guild of German Art Movie Theaters) in the category Best German Film.
Many of you will remember Director Fatih Akin– last summer his film Im July/In July enthralled and delighted our Houston-Leipzig audience. Akin was born 1973 in Hamburg to Turkish parents and is one of Germany’s most internationally known and multi award-winning directors. He studied Film at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, Sensin – You’re The One!/Sensin – Du Bist Es!, which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. His second short film, Weed/Getuerkt, 1996), received several national and international festival prizes. His first full length feature film, Short Sharp Shock/Kurz und Schmerzlos, 1998) won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award (Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include: In July/Im Juli, 2000), Wir Haben Vergessen Zurueckzukehren (2001), Solino (2002), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and winner of the German and European Film Awards Head-On/Gegen Die Wand, 2003), and Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul (2005).
Rice Media Center is located on the Rice University campus, and can best be reached by entering the campus at entrance #8 at the corner of University Boulevard and Stockton. Parking may be a problem due to construction, so come early. Here is a map to the Rice campus; University Boulevard is on the left boundary of the campus, and Stockton at about the middle of University. Close by is Rice Media Center, building #54, and public parking is available on the beige-colored lots.