Schwarzfahrer

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Schwarzfahrer
Schwarzfahrer poster 1993.jpg
Poster
Directed by
Written by
Produced byAlbert Kitzler
Starring
  • Senta Moira
  • Stefan Merki
  • Klaus Tilsner
CinematographyCiro Cappellari
Edited byMona Bräuer
Music byAlbert Kitzler
Production
company
Trans-Film
Distributed byDer KurzFilmVerleih
Release date
Running time
12 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

Schwarzfahrer (also known as Black Rider) is a 1993 German 12-minute short film directed by . It won an Oscar in 1994 for Best Short Subject.[1] The topic of the film is the daily racism a black man endures in a tram. The title is a word-play: "Schwarzfahrer" usually means "fare-dodger" in German, but can be literally translated as "black traveler". This word-play forms the punch line of the short film.

Plot[]

A motorbiker (Stefan Merki), who early in the film was unable to start his motorcycle, boards a tram in Berlin, and witnesses a black man () sitting down next to an elderly white woman (Senta Moira). In the entire 12 minutes, the old woman racially abuses the black man, stating that blacks stink, are unintelligent, criminal and the perfect carrier for AIDS. The biker feels uncomfortable, but does not dare to interrupt. The black man stays quiet for the entire film, until the tram controller arrives: when the old woman produces her ticket, he grabs and swallows it. When the old woman accuses the black man of eating her ticket, he coolly shows his valid ticket to the controller; the latter nods at him and arrests the old woman. The punch line is that both the black man and the old woman are "Schwarzfahrer" now: the black man who rides a train, is a non-offensive "black rider", while the old woman now is a real law-breaking Schwarzfahrer (i.e. fare dodger). The one passenger the viewer knows who never possessed a ticket, the motorbiker, escapes without the controller checking his ticket.

Cast[]

  •  [de] as the Old Woman
  • as the Black Man
  • Stefan Merki as the Biker
  • Klaus Tilsner as the ticket controller
  • Andreas Schmidt as passenger with walkman

Acclaim[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "The 66th Academy Awards (1994) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2018.

External links[]

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