The Kitchen Stove Film series is back with five exceptional films in the winter/spring 2013 season.
The first to be shown in this series, Barbara, is set in East Germany in the 1980s. The intelligent drama is about an accomplished young physician who is reassigned, as punishment, from a prestigious position in Berlin to an under-funded rural hospital after she applies for an immigration visa to the West.
In her new post, Barbara resentfully isolates herself from her colleagues and maintains a clandestine relationship with her West German lover who continues to plan for her defection. Working as a paediatric surgeon she is attentive to her patients but distanced towards colleagues because she feels her future will begin later. However, her devotion to her profession and her genuine concern for a young, pregnant patient soon draws the attention of the chief physician, Andre, and the two begin to closely bond. As the day of her planned escape approaches, Barbara starts to lose control over herself and her plans, over love.
Described as subtle and compelling, the incisive character study delicately weaves attraction and distrust into a profoundly personal and socially complex fabric.
"We didn't want to film a portrait of an oppressed nation and then juxtapose it with love as this innocent, pure and liberating force. We didn't want any symbols. you just end up decoding them and what's left is what you knew all along," said the films director Christian Petzold in his directors statement.
The film features a cast of Nina Hoss (Barbara), Ronald Zehrfeld (Andre), Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Mark Waschke and Rainer Bock. This film is rated PG.
The Kitchen Stove Film Series is an income development initiative of the Penticton Art Gallery. Broadening the definition of the visual arts to include the medium of film, the series aims to inspire, challenge, educate and entertain while showcasing excellence in the cinematic arts. The series is affiliated with the Toronto International Film Festival Circuit Group.
Barbara screens on Jan. 31 at the Landmark Cinema 7 at 4 and 7 p.m. Also showing as part of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Student Showcase is TAM by Toan Nguyen from Emily Carr University of Art & Design.
The Royal Affair screens on Feb. 21, Rust and Bone on March 14, A Late Quartet on April 4 and The Angles' Share on April 25. Series tickets for all five films are $48 for Penticton Art Gallery members and students, $55 for non-members. Single tickets can be pre-purchased for $13 at the art gallery or at The Book Shop. All the films will be shown at the Landmark Cinema 7 in Penticton. Limited single tickets may be available at the door for $15.