Alaaf - 200 Jahre Kölner Karneval

Freaks

January 1932 •English

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

Nightmare Alley

October 1947 •English

Roustabout Stanton Carlisle joins a traveling carny and unsuccessfully schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena and her alcoholic husband, Pete.

The Rum Diary

October 2011 •English

Tired of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, itinerant journalist Paul Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local San Juan newspaper run by the downtrodden editor Lotterman. Adopting the rum-soaked lifestyle of the late ‘50s version of Hemingway’s 'The Lost Generation', Paul soon becomes entangled with a very attractive American woman and her fiancée, a businessman involved in shady property development deals.  It is within this world that Kemp ultimately discovers his true voice as a writer and integrity as a man.

Casanova

December 2005 •English

With a reputation for seducing members of the opposite sex, regardless of their marital status, a notorious womanizer discovers a beauty who seems impervious to his charms. However, as he continues to pursue the indifferent lady, he finds himself falling in love.

Kehraus

November 1983 •German

Ferdinand Weitel, a forklift driver, is desperate: Insurance agent Arno von Mehling, a true sales talent, has had contracts signed in record amounts. Now Weitel is wandering through the corridors of the insurance company trying to save what can still be saved - on Shrove Tuesday of all days. The department for customer service and complaints is in a colorful mood and has no ear for Weitel's worries. Finally, secretary Annerose Waguscheit takes heart and tells him about the evening carnival ball "Traum-Police", where he can safely find Mr. Mehling.

Paper Moon

May 1973 •English

A bible salesman finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership as a money-making con team in Depression-era Kansas.

An American Crime

July 2007 •English

The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.

Carnaval

February 1990 •Portuguese

Cart Pushers

March 2025 •English

Raymond, a maladjusted cart pusher at a dying grocery store, has a brief yet confusing romance with an underage cashier during the final months of a suburban New Jersey summer.

Two Moon Junction

April 1988 •English

A young Southern débutante temporarily abandons her posh lifestyle and upcoming, semi-arranged marriage to have a lustful and erotic fling with a rugged drifter who works at a local carnival.

Carny

June 2008 •English

CARNY is an intimate, gritty and poetic adventure following the lives of 'carnys' - traveling fairground workers whose experiences are outside the normalcy of most North Americans.

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

January 1975 •German

After a chance encounter with a wanted man, a woman is harassed by the police and press until she takes violent action.

The Nyons Carnival

Invalid date •English

Some Came Running

December 1958 •English

A former novelist returns to his small Midwest town after serving in the Army during WWII, to the chagrin of his social-climbing brother, and becomes close with an easy-going professional gambler and torn between two very different women.

Drama in the Desert: The Sights and Sounds of Burning Man

December 2002 •English

Drama in the Desert: The Sights and Sounds of Burning Man is a full-color book (which includes a DVD) based on the captivating images of Holly Kreuter, with contributions from an additional 90 Burning Man participants, offering the reader a taste of the Burning Man experience. The DVD includes an original Score by Sean Abreu, seven slideshows featuring 560 Kreuter photographs and video interviews with 8 artists including Larry Harvey.

Confessions of a Burning Man

October 2003 •English

The experience shared by four first-timers demonstrates how Burning Man dissolves the barriers between races, nationalities and economic classes. A beautiful piece of film-making which inspires and entertains as it provides some understanding about why people return year after year.

Lili

March 1953 •English

Members of a circus troupe "adopt" Lili Daurier when she finds herself stranded in a strange town. The magician who first comes to her rescue already has romantic entanglements and thinks of her as a little girl. Who can she turn to but the puppets, singing to them her troubles, forgetting that there are puppeteers? A crowd gathers around Lili as she sings. The circus has a new act. She now has a job. Will she get her heart's desire?

Carny

May 1980 •English

Tired of being a small-town waitress, Donna departs with the latest carnival show, living with entertainers Frankie and Patch in a tense, emotional triangle.

Carnival Story

April 1954 •English

In search of a better life, a German girl named Willi joins an American carnival passing through Munich. While traveling from town to town, she is torn between two suitors: cruel carnival barker Joe and kindhearted high-dive artist Frank. Frank gets the upper hand when he asks Willi to join his act. The partners soon become the most popular attraction at the carnival. But tragedy is only a slip away.

Sixteen

June 1972 •English

Hickspoiltation film from the early 1970s ostensibly starring Oscar nominee Mercedes McCambridge, but really more a film looking for an excuse to show off Simone Griffeth's beauty. She plays a daughter of a swamp family. The whole family goes to a carnival where she is seduced by an older male performer, while her teen brother is seduced by an older female performer.