The Academy Award-nominated film “Toni Erdmann” is opening Feb. 17 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. Continuing to show are “I Am Not Your Negro” and the Oscar-nominated short films.
In contention for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann” pairs dynamic characters in a tenderly funny character study that is moving and ambitious.
Winfried, a suddenly student-less music teacher, doesn’t see much of his working daughter Ines. He decides to surprise her with a visit after the death of his old dog. Because Ines, a serious career woman, is working on an important project as a corporate strategist in Bucharest, Winfried’s visit creates tension.
Winfried loves to annoy his daughter with corny pranks. However, his little jabs at her routine lifestyle of long meetings, hotel bars and performance reports are worse. They reach an impasse, so Winfried agrees to return home to Germany.
However, instead of going home, Winfried dons a tacky suit, bizarre wig and fake teeth to become Toni Erdmann. As Erdmann, Winfried barges into Ines’ professional life, claiming to be her chief executive officer’s life coach.
As Toni, Winfried is bolder and does not hold back, but Ines is up to the challenge. The harder the two push each other, the closer they become. And, in all their combined madness, Ines begins to understand that her eccentric father might deserve some place in her life.
“Toni Erdmann” is rated R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language and brief drug use. It shows at the Ross through March 2.
“I Am Not Your Negro,” which is rated PG-13, and the Oscar-nominated short films play at the Ross through Feb. 23.
In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, “Remember This House.” The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends – Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only 30 pages of his manuscript.
In “I Am Not Your Negro,” filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material. The film is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to Black Lives Matter.
ShortsHD and Magnolia Films are once again bringing an Oscar-nominated short film program to theaters.
The short films feature four categories: Animated Shorts (run time of 92 minutes), Live Action Shorts (132 minutes), Documentary A (72 minutes), and Documentary B (82 minutes).
For more information, including show times, click here or call 402-472-3535.
