Bad Girl. Open-Air-Kino und Gespräch. Box Office Around The World 2025

In the organizer's words:

On two weekends in August, the Schlüterhof becomes a meeting place for film enthusiasts from all over the world - with summery drinks and snacks. The open-air festival presents six current cinema productions that are box office hits in their countries of origin but have not yet been shown on the big screen in Germany. Before the screenings, the Humboldt Forum invites you to get in the mood with thematic spotlights - with prominent guests!

The release of every major film production is accompanied by great anxiety and guesswork: will the audience buy into the story told, the star constellation and the film language and flock to the cinema en masse?

Box Office Around The World is a film festival that aims to unravel this mystery from the audience's perspective. Unlike Hollywood productions, which are designed for the global market, "box office hits" from other regions of the world often provide surprising insights into what moves people in Lagos, Buenos Aires or Bangkok. The Schlüterhof is located in the heart of Berlin - and surrounded by collections from many cultures around the world.

Over two weekends in August, the Box Office Around the World festival presents six current cinema productions that are audience successes and box office hits in their countries of origin, but have not yet been shown on the big screen in Germany.

Representatives of the Berlin communities from Thailand, Argentina, Nigeria, Vietnam, Brazil and India have selected the films together with curator Dorothee Wenner and developed an accompanying program: Before the open-air screenings, the team - with a star-studded line-up - will shine a thematic spotlight on each film.

Curator of the film program

Dorothee Wenner is a freelance filmmaker, curator and author based in Berlin.

Since 1990 she has worked in various positions for the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, currently as the festival's delegate for the Sub-Saharan Africa region. She has been a member of the board and jury of the African Movie Academy Awards in Lagos since its inception in 2005. Her latest work as a filmmaker is the web series Kinshasa Collection. Since 2020 she has been working as a consultant for film/cinema at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and initiated the Cinema Spaces Network.

Dorothee Wenner curated the Box Office Around The World 2025 festival for the third time with representatives from the communities.

Bad Girl. Varsha Bharath / India 2025 / 115 min. / Drama

At the beginning of the film, Ramya is still at school. Her rebellious daughter's conservative parents allow her to do so. However, when she falls in love with a classmate from a different caste, the family conflict escalates. Ramya, the daughter of a Brahmin family, just wants to break out of the prison of traditions and rituals. She wants to dance, have fun and love whoever she wants.

As a student and later as a young woman, she remains true to her love of freedom. She doesn't care how often it offends her or who she provokes. On her way to finding herself, Ramya experiences enormous stress, but also passionate affairs and finds friends who accompany and strengthen her. In the end, some girls at her old school whisper to her that she is secretly revered as a legend.

The mix of genres from Tamil Nadu also formally reflects the non-conformity of its protagonist. In BAD GIRL, Varsha Bhararth plays masterfully with the elements of her homeland's male-dominated superhero action cinema and translates them into a feminist film language. In one scene, admittedly drunk, Ramya even throws a punch.

Program

20:00 Discussion with Dorothee Wenner (moderator) in German

21:00 Film screening

Participants

Dorothee Wenner is a freelance filmmaker, curator and author based in Berlin. Since 1990 she has worked in various positions for the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, currently as the festival's delegate for the Sub-Saharan Africa region. She has been a member of the board and jury of the African Movie Academy Awards in Lagos since its inception in 2005. Her latest work as a filmmaker is the web series www.kinshasa-collection.com. Since 2020 she has been working as a consultant for film/cinema at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and initiated the Cinema Spaces Network. Dorothee Wenner has curated the festival "Box Office Around The World" 2025 for the third time with representatives from the communities.

Further information:

- 10 EUR, reduced 5 EUR

- FSK 18

- Schlüterhof Entrance: Portal 5

- Tamil with English subtitles

- Belongs to: Box Office Around The World 2025