I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (35mm, OmU)

In the organizer's words:

Director: Patricia Rozema | Canada 1987 | 81 min | 35mm | original version with German subtitles | with Sheila McCarthy, Paule Baillargeon, Ann-Marie MacDonald

Polly is in her early thirties, but far from being an adult. She spends her days strolling through Toronto and taking photographs. While she develops her photos in the bathroom, she disappears into the black and white worlds. Here she can float on the water or listen to mermaids singing. Although the temporary employment agency warns against hiring Polly, the curator Gabrielle takes her on. In her gallery, Polly begins to think about what it means to create and whether she might have fallen in love with her boss. As in her award-winning debut, Patricia Rozema has repeatedly managed to approach profound and dark themes with humor and a certain naivety. Having grown up in a homophobic environment, it is important for her to bring queer perspectives to cinema. As she has constantly reinvented herself over the almost four decades of her work, it remains difficult to pigeonhole her.
Film print from the collection of Kino im Blauen Salon (HfG KA) Supporting film: Ono No Kochami Director: Mascha Dilger | Germany 2020 | 3 min | HD Video | German original version with English subtitles

Ono No Kochami is a homage to Japanese poetry reflected in simple and poetic images. Mascha Dilger's Ono No Kochami is a cinematic approach to the poem of the same name by Clara Sondermann. The contemporary poem deals with relationships and family and their transience and is also a homage to the ancient Japanese poet Ono No Komachi, who lived and worked as a court poet around 830 AD in the Heian era. The film was also made for Stephan Krass' Poetry Film Seminar.

Film copy from the collection of the Kino im Blauen Salon (HfG KA)

Click here for the screening:
https://kinoimblauensalon.de/de/events/ive-heard-the-mermaids-singing-2026-04-24

Price information:

Free admission | Donation requested