Goethe-Institut Chicago

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Daniel, a young man from the provinces, moves to Berlin and navigates gay relationships, subcultures, and everyday survival in a hostile social environment. Blending staged scenes with an assertive voice-over, the film examines how social repression, conformity, and internalized shame shape gay life. It offers a sharp, confrontational portrait of queer existence in early 1970s West Germany.

Rosa von Praunheim (born Holger Mischwitzky, 1942–2025) was a German filmmaker, writer, and one of the most influential gay rights activists in German-speaking Europe. His artist name Rosa refers to the pink triangle (rosa Winkel) that homosexuals were forced to wear in the Nazi concentration camps. A central figure of New German Cinema and queer counterculture, he made more than 150 films over five decades, consistently combining art, provocation, and political activism.

His international and political breakthrough came with the 1971 film IT IS NOT THE HOMOSEXUAL WHO IS PERVERSE, BUT THE SOCIETY IN WHICH HE LIVES. The film caused a nationwide scandal for openly criticizing both oppressive heterosexual norms and what Praunheim saw as the gay community’s internalized shame and political passivity, calling instead for visibility, solidarity, and collective action. The reactions were explosive: television debates, public outrage, and—most importantly—the formation of dozens of new gay activist groups across West Germany and beyond. The film is widely credited with triggering the modern gay liberation movement in Germany and Switzerland and remains a rare example of a film that directly produced lasting social and political change.

Throughout his career, Praunheim remained a fierce advocate for queer visibility, addressing topics such as AIDS, historical repression, gender nonconformity, and aging. His confrontational style made him controversial, but his influence on LGBTQ+ politics, media representation, and queer cinema is unmatched.

Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public, but please register in advance and bring a state- or federally-issued photo ID for check-in in our lobby.

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Hilarious, raunchy, and completely ahead of its time, CITY OF LOST SOULS captures the gender-defying American exiles who sought refuge in the 1980's Berlin club scene. Featuring star turns from trans icons Jayne County and Angie Stardust, this rock musical extravaganza follows a group of eccentrics and outcasts - including an erotic trapeze artist duo, an occultist spiritual therapist, and a nymphomaniac giving English lessons- who live and work at Berlin’s Hamburger Queen diner and connected boarding house. A major influence on HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, CITY OF LOST SOULS is a cult classic of queer no-budget filmmaking from iconoclastic auteur Rosa von Praunheim, one of the most prominent gay rights activists in the German-speaking world.

Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public, but please register in advance and bring a state- or federally-issued photo ID for check-in in our lobby.

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Join us for an artist talk by Maya Nguyen, whose exhibition LATERAL ENTRANT is currently on view at the Goethe-Institut Chicago.
Light refreshments will be served. Please register in advance and bring a state- or federally-issued photo ID for check-in in the 150 N. Michigan building lobby.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Maya Nguyen is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on sound and diasporic making. Marked by migration from Hanoi, to Moscow, and now Chicago, her practice develops formal strategies to articulate experiences of lived ambiguity. Nguyen incorporates disparate (and often clashing) material sources into forms that remain conceptually indeterminate, such as performance-lectures, sound improvisation, and collaborative sculptures. Some favored materials include: speech fragments, mistranslations, body glitches, migratory routes, urban recordings, sounds imitating nature sounds, internet debris, baby babble, breast pump parts, and videos of daily life, among others. Her works are presented internationally, moving fluidly between galleries, sound venues, pop-up shows and universities, with recent shows at Watershed Art & Ecology (Chicago), Jack Straw New Media Gallery (Seattle), Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (Berlin), Saari Residency (Mynämäki, FI), Manzi Art Space (Hanoi), and recognition as Arts Club of Chicago Fellow 2025-26 and Karl Sczuka Radio Art Research Prize 2024 (SWR/Goethe Institute). Nguyen holds a BA in Philosophy/Comparative Literature from The University of Chicago and MFA in Sound from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.