my colleague david levitt will be telling us all about one hundred must read steve w.'s definitive list of german books available in english. but first the coleman show. was voted best opera house in the world a couple of years back its artistic director barry kosky best director a year before that and the accolades keep coming now koskie has a brand new production of what must be one of the most popular operas in the repertoire puccini's love it premieres sunday nights. nineteenth century paris a group of crazy artists enjoying life the setting for puccini's masterpiece labo m. . when the seamstress mimi arrives on the scene

a sweet and tragic love story begins. it's now being staged by the artistic director of berlin barry kosky when you take a piece that's completely unknown it's it's always much easier to do a production because the audience and the artists and the critics they don't know it so it's the complete opposite because it's one of the top three was played in five times the piece drips with nostalgia and the piece drips with expectation. and kosky satisfies those expectations his puccini is quite traditional. the cooper show is one of berlin's big three opera houses because he has been at the helm for ten years he transformed the rather conventional commercial and put it on the world map in twenty fourteen the ultimate accolade the international op. award.

the. inventive staging of mozart's the magic flute first got the world's attention. the director went on to rediscover berlin's roaring twenty's. and he brought leonard bernstein west side story to the co michelle. six seat. today a coalition without kosky is almost unthinkable. in his latest production desire and demise are bedfellows as is so often the case with put cine. in the d.n.a. of all right operas that are dealing with the subjects that the erotic and and

death of a walk hand in hand was. so it's inevitable that in lebanon and mimi must die in the most dramatic way it's the female character is mimi and who is etta who set the tone here with the cheney there is no question he's on the side of women we've tried to present to me that's not this do move fragile little flower she's just this young girl. kosky needs puccini. and once again. it's a grand opera. that is definitely an opera house with a difference now moving of the world of literature if you're not sure what book to read next d.w. has the one hundred says in fact my called david leavitt's is the result of all

series one hundred german must read stated welcome now we'll be featuring a different book from the list every week this must be conclusive reading madness it was you know i was i was pinching myself thinking i've got the best job ever can this be real on the one hand and on the other hand i was worried that i was going to go permanently cross eyed. literature team and i read tens of thousands of pages for this project and we came up with a reading list that could keep the average reader busy for maybe a few decades but don't let that intimidate you because we've made it very easy to pick and choose with one hundred short videos each about a different book all the books are translated into english and there's something here for everyone whether you're new to german lit or you're an expert already we've got page turners for your next trip to the beach we've got literary heavyweights the whole spectrum of german history two world wars the berlin wall

we've got crime novel side fight dancing polar bears it is all there around the. one of the books on the list is exist hand view at berlin of the one nine hundred twenty s. this very wild period right before the nazis take power this is a period of time actually that still fascinates filmmakers and writers today that may be one of the reasons that it's one of our top most feared videos on social media so far ok ok so let's have a look. hardly anywhere in berlin has seen as much transformation as the area around i think summed up lights today it's a living monuments of the cold grey architecture of communist east germany but before world war two it was filled with narrow crowded streets in the roaring one nine hundred twenty s. it was the center of night life riddled with crime. berlin aleksandar plots but i do believe it is the story of an ex convicts named france be

called who's just served time for beating his girlfriend to death not a great guy when he gets out of prison berlin is no longer the city he once knew it's the one nine hundred twenty seven his neighborhood has turned into a frenzied cesspool of parties and sick how's it got to keep his nose clean in a place like. the book is a tour through rowdy bars and dance halls like this one fashions funhouse where the author himself was known to have a good time now keeps getting into a brawl as he keeps getting knocked down over and over and so finally he gets some sense knocked into so much misfortune comes of walking alone if there are several of you that is already better you have to get used to listening to other people because what others say concerns me when i see who i am and what i can take on author i've played to glean worked as a neurologist so he had some pretty good insight into the darker sides of humanity

his nine hundred twenty nine novel paints berlin as the home of crooks pimps and prostitutes berlin aleksandar plots was a huge success but being jewish and a socialist had to flee germany for his life when the nazis took over after world war two he came back to germany from the us but he couldn't stand it so he left again this time for friends of the berlin like found out parts has been turned into some pretty good movies but none of them. matches the book. i reckon you have got the best. this is this project is the first of it's come on and it's a chance for readers all over the world to get to know german language also is now why should we be reading german the literature in translation gives a deep insight into places that we personally may never go to people we may or may never get to meet and germany in particular isn't all the headlines today german

history people see in hollywood movies they read about it from now on german authors but you're not going to get to really know these topics until you see them from an insider's perspective so why not go straight to the source i have to say that i've been really it's been really wonderful to see the global interest in german literature my colleagues have been accused of both and i got to meet with readers in india recently she hosts the german versions of the videos and the readers we met at our presentations in delhi told us they actually thought the books on our list were relevant to their own country to their own lives how amazing is that but you know that's what good literature does it's local in scope but it's human enough to resonate with the whole world so now we're looking forward to taking this project to book fairs in london and san francisco and in taipei and seeing how people there react it's been really refreshing so far to see how excited people still are about books very briefly have you got

a favorite. i do but will have to show it another week but that's blood brothers buy a house now also takes place in berlin in the one nine hundred twenty s. it's rough i decided we'll take it david thank you and we'll be looking at a classic every week as david said culture now all on sunday night the screen actors guild awards were held in los angeles and it's continuing to be a highly unpredictable. the ward season was the big winner this time was black panther with the top prize of outstanding performance by cast in a movie. best actor went to remy malik for bahamian rhapsody and a stack tryst was glenn close the amazing and close for a fantastic performance in the wife. and nothing incidentally for a star is born which should lead the way with four nominations so how important are

these awards to the sags as they're known and which are only for actors we asked our film expert scott rocks for that and also his favorites for the oscars. sag award doesn't guarantee an oscar but suppose you can get because you see the group the votes for the oscars the academy the largest voting bloc within the academy are actors so if they pick a sag winner it tends to go on to win the oscars and you can see last year that was the case all four of the actors who won last year one oscar last year one of sag before for the same role you had frances mcdormand and sam rockwell bidding winning best actress and best supporting actor for their roles in three billboards i was there but what we still don't know is who's going to win the oscars this year and if i had to place a bet i go with a film it's got ten nominations. roma black and white spanish language film from mexico that recreates the director's childhood in the one thousand seventies mexico

city. there's another black and white four language film of i think could have a good chance at the oscars it's called cold war it's a polish movie from the director who won an oscar a couple of years ago with eva for my money this is maybe the little bit better than roma it's a beautiful love story told over a couple of decades crossing the borders of the cold war. with. interesting text from scott to black and white movies not really mainstream anyway that's it for this first edition of office and culture don't forget to check out web sites and. culture and hopefully join us again so the next edition we leave you with pictures from the coma show.

claiming. that she rode bloody but really in the junkyard in germany over a million diesel vehicles could be banned from the run because they emit too much

toxic in a class antigen dioxide. but do the admission limits really have a scientific basis and how reliable and quality data. the diesel design stuff. close up ninety minutes on w. . stop. the music so long gets enough to. make groups with the good morning stephanie stop. the party and chat with musicians from around the world. other live. groups starts feb second. serial killers take us to see. violent robber gangs. and ugly and omnipresent feature of

life in one thousand nine hundred twenty. played almost weekly date find corpses in the muck and the river spray sometimes just body parts. violent crime as the judge in a chokehold the police force can't cope. but the criminals don't reckon with him detective superintendent. revolutionizes forensic procedures and establishes the extensive record system laying the foundations for modern police as much as what diligence was doing backflips was basically the same students could find the. metropolis of crime. starts january twenty ninth. t w.

this is a newsletter from pope francis warns of a bloodbath and. president. calls for fresh street protests against president with dora. growing as israel and australia join other countries in recognizing his rival also on the program of course in china's sentences a prominent rights no.