Tom Sawyer (2011, Unclassified 15+)

Dir: Hermine Huntgeburth, Germany / Romania, 110mins, digital

Just as with Italian cinema, German cinema and culture has its own local tradition of tales of the American West, going back to the 19th century novels of Karl May. So it’s just right for German filmmaker Hermine Huntgeburth to rework Mark Twain’s iconic tale of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and their river journey into the heartland of America. With the great river valleys of Germany and Romania standing in the Mississippi, it’s an adaptation that proves the timeless and global meanings of Twain’s wisdom, his character’s modest dreams of travel and their conflicts with adult rules. Presented by the Goethe-Institut Australien. Special screening for schools, open to the public. Educational inquires on 6248 2000.