Denver Film Festival Must-See Pick for November 7: In the Fade

Again this year, Denver Film Festival artistic director Brit Withey is offering his must-see picks for each day of the fest – including many flicks that movie lovers might otherwise miss amid the flood of silver-screen goodies. Today he spotlights a selection for November 7: In the Fade.

In the Fade
Directed by Fatih Akin
4 p.m. Tuesday, November 7, and 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, November 8
Sie FilmCenter
“It’s a German film made by a famous German-Turkish filmmaker,” says Denver Film Festival artistic director Brit Withey of In the Fade, “and it’s a very timely story.”

Diane Kruger, who was named Best Actress at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for her work in the picture, “plays a German woman who’s married to a Turkish man,” he goes on. “One day, she drops their son at their office, and as she’s leaving later that day, a bomb goes off and it kills her husband and their little boy.”

Here’s the trailer for In the Fade:

Withey points out that the perpetrators “get caught, and at the trial, it’s revealed that the bomb was planted by neo-Nazis because this guy was Turkish and they’re against immigration – and there’s a huge Turkish population in Germany. That’s the timely part.”

The movie isn’t a courtroom drama in the classic sense. Indeed, Withey notes, the trial is resolved toward the midpoint of the movie.

The lion’s share of the narrative “is about [Kruger’s character] coming to terms with this pursuit of justice and the immigration problem in Europe and her mourning the loss of her husband and little boy,” he says. “It’s a really intense, heartbreaking drama, and she’s incredibly good in it. Just amazing.”

Click to access all the film festival’s selections and to purchase tickets.