The Canadian Centre for German and European Studies is pleased to present the film screening of Etwas Besseres als den Tod (2011) (English translation: “Beats Being Dead“), directed by Christian Petzold, at the Nat Taylor Cinema on Saturday, February 23rd, 3:00pm.

Dreileben is a trilogy to which German directors Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf, and Christoph Hochhäusler each contributed one movie. Presented for the first time at the 2011 Berlinale, the three movies function as a collective as they are connected through time, place, characters, and events: in order to say goodbye to his foster mother, convicted sexual criminal Molesch finds himself in a hospital in a forest in Thüringen; unobserved for a minute, he manages to break away. His escape and the city of Dreileben’s hunt after him is the core of the trilogy. However, each movie offers another perspective and narrative.

Petzold’s movie Etwas Besseres Als den Tod (2011) is the first part of the trilogy, dealing with the romance between civilian servant Johannes and Bosnian maid Ana. Abandoning Ana, Johannes falls in love with Sarah, and the two of them pursue their studies in Berlin. Meanwhile, Ana encounters Molesch on his escape.

Christian Petzold was born in Hilden, Germany. He studied at the Free University of Berlin before graduating from the German Film and Television Academy. His feature films are The State I Am In (2000), Wolfsburg (2002), Ghosts (2004), Yella (2006), Jerichow (2008), Dreileben: Beats Being Dead (2011) and Barbara (2012). He has received several renowned film awards, and is a leading artist in contemporary German‐language cinema.