DIE STILLE NACH DEM SCHUSS (THE LEGEND OF RITA)

Co-presented by the students of Collège Maisonneuve and the Goethe-Institut Montreal.

The film students of Collège Maisonneuve are inviting you to a benefit screening, the proceeds of which will fund a trip to Berlin as part of the Berlinale International Film Festival.

Die Stille nach dem Schuss
Director: Volker Schlöndorff
Germany, 1999/2000,102 min
With: Bibiana Beglau, Nadja Uhl, Martin Wuttke, Harald Schrott, Alexander Beyer
- Original version with French subtitles

West Germany in the 1970s. The time is marked by a spirit of anarchy and rebellion. Rita Vogt is seduced into the terrorist movement through her sense of justice and her love for Andi. A few years later, realizing that the movement is falling apart, she goes underground, hiding out in East Germany. With the help of the Stasi Secret Service Agent, Erwin Hull, she assumes a new identity amidst the everyday world of the working class where she is befriended by a young co-worker, Tatjana.

As much as Rita wants to fit into her surroundings, Tatjana yearns to get out, to escape to the West. Nonetheless, they form a deep friendship, which is brought to an abrupt end when a report on West German television blows Rita's cover. Rita must disappear again, but this time a new name and a new city bring her luck. While on vacation, Rita meets Jochen, a university student working as a lifeguard. When he is posted to Moscow, he asks her to come with him, to be his wife and raise a family. But in the end Rita’s past catches up with her - 1989 brings the fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germany is gone, and with it, her new life.

At the Berlinale 2000, the film was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Bibiana Beglau and Nadja Uhl as well as the Blue Angel.

- Free of charge. Suggested donations of $5