Next week in Munich – FilmFest, Ger Van Elk, Kabaret Warszawski

It half feels like Munich’s swapped cultural events for football (perhaps that explains the sparsity of concerts recently), but this week is jam packed with arts and culture – Friday especially.

The Reithalle is a much smaller venue for operatic productions than the Nationaltheater, which lends shows a level of intimacy. On Tuesday, as part of the Munich Opera Festival 2014, the Poles are in town. Kabaret Warszawski is a Polish vaudeville with German subtitles, based on Christopher Isherwood’s book Cabaret. The show is also influenced by John Cameron Mitchell’s sex-fuelled 2006 film Shortbus. The show is a melee of word, dance and music – and sounds like it’s fantastic fun to watch. Tickets are available for 35 € (1o € for students) and it starts at 7pm.

On Tuesday, the HFF are showing their film of the month – which coincides nicely with the World Cup in Brazil. In the shadows of the Copacabana portrays blogger Ricardo Gama, who takes a critical standpoint when it comes to Rio de Janeiro’s politics. In 2011 he survived an assassination attempt – and came back stronger than ever, even running for election for the city council. The film is showiung at 7:30pm and is in Portuguese, with English subtitles.

Also on Tuesday, Poliça are at Strom. They’re on tour promoting their latest album Shulamith, an ode to the Canadian feminist Shulamith Firestone. Tickets cost 18 € and the gig starts at 9:30pm.

The Amerika Haus is hosting a fascinating talk on Thursday – focusing on privacy in both the USA and Germany. The talk focuses on how the US can reconcile its opposites – the land of freedom and individualism countered by the expectations of the masses. To take part, you have to register – otherwise just pop along from 3pm. Plus, it’s early enough for you to be finished before the Germany game starts at 6pm.

Should you be one of the few people in Germany not watching the game on Thursday, you can visit the Pinakothek der Moderne – for a large exhibition on Joseph Beuys’ works. If you’re a fan of Beuys’ work, you can catch a film about his life and artistic obsession with fat and felt on Sunday at 11am.

Friday is full of delights. The Kunstverein will be hosting Germany’s first institutional solo exhibition by Dutch artist Ger Van Elk since 1988, whose work is exhibited in the Tate Modern in London, among others. The exhibition will feature both recent and older work from the artist’s private collection and the vernissage (at 7pm) will be followed by an after-party.

Also on Friday, the Ampere is hosting Mondo Exotica, featuring burlesque performances by Bettie Berlin and Lilou Frou Frou. As for the music, vintage fusion will be played alongside jazz and electro swing. The show starts at 11pm.

The FilmFest Munich kicks off on Friday too. I’ll be posting a proper post on this in the coming days, but if you’re wanting to plan your weekend already, you can take a look at the timetable here.

The Bayerische Staatsoper are hosting an “opera for all” on Saturday, with a new adaptation of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell. The opera will be in French with German subtitles, which could cause something of a brain freeze on a Saturday night, but the whole event is entirely free and the opera will be broadcast across the Max-Joseph-Platz. It’s worth going just to soak up the atmosphere – watching an opera beneath the stars with the stunning neo-classical architecture of the Nationaltheater as your backdrop isn’t half bad. Should you want to pay for tickets to watch the opera inside the theatre, you can do so here, but be warned – the cheapest tickets left are all over 100 €.

Last but not least, something for the mums – Rod Stewart’s at the Olympiahalle on Sunday.