Top picks from home and abroad: The Festival of German Films Ludwigshafen

In Greek mythology Styx is the river boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The film follows the story of a woman (Susanne Wolff) who comes across a sinking boat full of refugees while on a solo sailing trip. It premiered at the Berlinale this year and has been invited to take part in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

Director Robert Schwentke is no stranger to Hollywood and his latest film, The Captain, had its international premiere in Toronto in 2017. Yet back home in Germany, the film has received little exposure. Nevertheless, The Captain is one of the outstanding examples of German films dealing with the delicate topic of National Socialism.

This is another film that will be making its way to Toronto later this year, but viewers in Ludwigshafen can get an earlier glimpse of the cinematic dystopia created by German director Ulrich Köhler. This hugely original parable follows a man (Hans Löw) who finds himself, all of a sudden, alone in the world.

At a time when most cinema programs offer wall-to-wall American blockbusters, film festivals can and should offer an alternative selection. That's especially important when it comes to covering taboo topics and representing foreign cinema. Tehran Taboo, from Iranian-German filmmaker Ali Soozandeh, is an animated drama exploring the double standards within Iranian society.

This is the first year that Ludwigshafen will host an international film selection. The festival organizers say this is a reaction to a recent rise in xenophobia worldwide, which is largely fueled by "ignorance of 'the other.'" Therefore the international program centers around films that deal with the other — including the excellent French film Ava, directed by Lea Mysius.

How often do you get the chance to watch a film from a Bulgarian director that was filmed in the icy wilderness of the Sakha Republic in the northeastern Asian part of Russia? Nanouk, which portrays the meager existence of an ice fisherman and his wife, is another international offering at Ludwigshafen.

In a documentary entitled Film Beyond Cinema: The Dumpster Kid Experiment and Other Utopias, German directors such as Werner Herzog and Alexander Kluge discuss their visions for the future of cinema. The title is taken from a series of short films made in the late 1960s by Edgar Reitz (pictured) and Ula Stöckl, both of whom appear in the documentary.

Of course festivals are also there to bestow prizes upon filmmakers. This year for the first time there will be an award for best director at Ludwigshafen, and Austrian director Hans Weingartner will be the first recipient. He made his directing debut in 2001 with The White Sound. Weingarten's new film, a road movie entitled 303, will be shown at Ludwigshafen.

German actress Iris Berben will also be honored at this year's festival. Politically engaged Berben is somewhat of a German cinema institution — she has had countless film and TV roles and has been President of the German Film Academy since 2010. Her new film, Hanne, will be shown at Ludwigshafen.

The heart of any good film festival is a commitment to the simple idea of a big screen and a joint experience. In an age when many people are more used to consuming films on their smart phones than in a cinema, Ludwigshafen is making the most of its riverside location for the open air program, which includes such gems as the French offering titled C'est la vie!