HFA Features Rising German Star

Not a fan of German film? Does spending two hours watching a group of conquistadors drift down a river, dying off one by one (the plot of Werner Herzog’s classic “Aguirre, Wrath of God”) fail to inspire you? Fear not, Herzogophobes, because there is life after his brand of New German Cinema.

The Harvard Film Archive (HFA) recognizes this salvation in an upcoming series: “Growing Up: The Films of Hans-Christian Schmid,” running from Nov. 18 through 21.

The series, co-presented by the Goethe Institut Boston, aims to introduce an American audience to the varied oeuvre of Schmid.

Though his work is highly-regarded within German-speaking countries, it remains internationally obscure when compared to the few recent German breakthrough films such as Tom Twyker’s “Run Lola Run” or Wolfgang Becker’s “Good Bye, Lenin!”

After graduating from the Academy of Television & Film in Munich in 1992, Schmid began his career with several short documentaries and TV movies before gravitating towards narrative filmmaking.

His first fiction feature, “It’s A Jungle Out There,” (“Nach fünf im Urwald,” screening Tuesday, Nov. 21, at 9 p.m.) casts “Run Lola Run” star Franka Potente as a rebellious teenager who runs away from home to Munich’s big-city “jungle.”

Schmid would revisit the drifting-teenager theme with 2000’s “Crazy” (screening Sunday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m.), a well-crafted story of boarding school angst, based on an autobiographical novel by Benjamin Lebert.

In the eleven years since “Jungle” opened in Germany, Schmid has attracted stateside attention for “Requiem” (screening Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.), his 2005 film that debuted in America last month.

Based on the same events that inspired the 2005 Hollywood horror film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” Schmid’s adaptation is widely regarded as more consistent and careful with the true story of the possibly-possessed and now-deceased Anneliese Michel. Nevertheless, the plot has a tendency to lag behind the overblown concept, suggesting that Schmid’s most renowned film might not be an ideal starting point for American viewers.

His 2003 film “Distant Lights” (“Lichter,” screening Saturday, Nov. 18, at 9 p.m.) illustrates the many interwoven threads—including smuggling and romance—connecting the lives of people living on either side of the Polish-German border.

Critics have lauded the ensemble cast—featuring both German and Polish actors—and verité-infused cinematography for casting light on the complexity of international relations in the burgeoning EU.

Schmid’s early work is also some of the most idiosyncratic material in the series, though it is equally critically-acclaimed.

His 1988 film “23” received a Special Mention at the Locarno Film Festival, and picked up several German Film Awards to boot. The film, about a the attempts of a West German computer hacker to connect with the KGB in East Berlin and to decipher a global conspiracy, will screen on Tuesday, Nov. 21, at 9 p.m.

Those who prefer Schmid’s nuanced earlier films to one-trick outings like “Reqiuem” should take heart. In his latest project, “Sturm,” Schmid turns to “Requiem” screenwriter Bernd Lange for a taut political thriller.

In an interview with Austrian film website SkipWebWorld, Schmid said that the film focuses on a young Croatian woman who recognizes an unpunished war criminal, and a lawyer who helps to bring him to justice at the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague. Though not showing at the HFA’s festival, the film is due to hit German screens in 2007, and American independent theaters shortly thereafter.

All films at the festival will screen with English subtitles. Admission is $8, $6 for students and senior citizens.

—Staff writer Will B. Payne can be reached at payne@fas.harvard.edu.