Multinational film production ‘The Fencer’ to screen at Cinemaverse Film Series
The Goethe-Institut Namibia is bringing back its popular Cinemaverse Film Series. On Tuesday, it will screen ‘The Fencer’, a joint production between Estonia, Finland, and Germany, directed by Klaus Härö.
‘The Fencer’ will be screened at 18:00 Goethe-Institut Namibia. Entry is free with complimentary popcorn.
The plot focuses on Estonian sportsman and coach Endel Nelis (1925-1993) and is partly based on true life events. In the year 1952, Endel arrived in a small Estonian town called Haapsalu. He is a young fencing champion at the time and is working as a physical training teacher. Despite the opposition of the principal of the school, Endel manages to get a permit to teach fencing for children.
Slowly it becomes a therapy for the children as well as the teacher himself – a way to deal with everyday struggles. However, the defeated principal holds a grudge and starts to investigate why this fencing champion of the Soviet Union really came to the small town of Haapsalu.
In an interview with the Estonian public broadcaster ERR, Härö described the story as “something people could understand on a more general, human level.“ Referring to the top athlete Nelis’ step back to working in a school, he called it a universal theme: “Many of us have done things at first unwillingly, yet along the way we might find a path, a key, an opportunity that eventually gives us something valuable in return.“
‘The Fencer’ was nominated for the Golden Globe Awards in the category Best Foreign Language Film and won numerous other international film awards.
‘The Fencer’ will be screened at 18:00 Goethe-Institut Namibia. Entry is free with complimentary popcorn.
The plot focuses on Estonian sportsman and coach Endel Nelis (1925-1993) and is partly based on true life events. In the year 1952, Endel arrived in a small Estonian town called Haapsalu. He is a young fencing champion at the time and is working as a physical training teacher. Despite the opposition of the principal of the school, Endel manages to get a permit to teach fencing for children.
Slowly it becomes a therapy for the children as well as the teacher himself – a way to deal with everyday struggles. However, the defeated principal holds a grudge and starts to investigate why this fencing champion of the Soviet Union really came to the small town of Haapsalu.
In an interview with the Estonian public broadcaster ERR, Härö described the story as “something people could understand on a more general, human level.“ Referring to the top athlete Nelis’ step back to working in a school, he called it a universal theme: “Many of us have done things at first unwillingly, yet along the way we might find a path, a key, an opportunity that eventually gives us something valuable in return.“
‘The Fencer’ was nominated for the Golden Globe Awards in the category Best Foreign Language Film and won numerous other international film awards.
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