Maja Oelschlägel is principal of the German International School of Silicon Valley, Mountain View. She will lead a discussion following the film.

(Stilles Land). Set in the waning days of the GDR, Andreas Dresen's debut feature offers a droll take on turbulent times. Into perhaps the least charming of East German industrial port cities-the kind of place where you get a black eye for ordering tea-arrives an idealistic young director fresh from drama school and determined to turn things around at a bedraggled provincial playhouse. With a drunken cast, a disinterested audience, and half the crew gone with the Wende to the other side, he strives to introduce absurdism to a crowd that already knows it well from their daily lives. They may be waiting for Godot, but what they really want is a good TV antenna so they can watch the action unfolding in Berlin. Despite the pineapples and promises tempting them to the West-and a Pozzo who can't perform without his lucky hat-in this small theater the show must go on, even as the Wall comes down.