German Cinema Now - Distant Lights (Lichter)

Winner of the 2004 German Film Critics Association award for Best Picture, Distant Lights is an ensemble drama telling the interconnected stories of several people whose lives are influenced above all by their location: the German-Polish border towns of Frankfurt an der Oder and Slubice (which was part of the former until 1945), then the barrier between a no longer political but economic "east" and "west"

"After re-unification, Germany's eastern border..[became] a dividing line between two worlds: the rich west and the poor east. The wealthy countries in the area covered by the Schengen agreement, an area without internal borders, barricaded themselves against the less affluent countries around them. And consequently also against people who often take major risks to better their own situation just a little and who see no future for themselves or their children in the countries from which they have fled." -director Hans-Christian Schmid

Events that have transpired since the film's release would give a sequel a different tone entirely: Poland joined the European Union in 2004 and became part of the Schengen Area in late 2007, which abolished border controls between the countries. Today it is Poland that must confront the issues related to border crossing with its eastern neighbors, Belarus and Ukraine and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Popcorn $2, Pretzel $2, Landjaeger $3. Cash bar.
FREE parking at MB Financial Bank at Western and Gunnison.