Stranger Than Paradise - 35 mm special screening

This screening is part of Höfekino’s 35 mm special series “A Sad & Beautiful World: The Cinema of Jim Jarmusch”, giving audiences the chance to see this iconic independent film in its authentic, analog format. At 89 minutes with original language and German subtitles (OmU), the film reminds us of the textures of celluloid — grain, light, and the particular rhythm projected only from traditional film print. Whether you’re revisiting this classic or seeing it for the first time, this presentation promises something intimate: the cinematic experience as it was meant to be felt.

“Stranger Than Paradise” is a quietly mesmerizing portrait of dislocation, connection, and the unexpected poetry in life’s ordinary moments. Directed by Jim Jarmusch in 1984, the film follows Willie Molnar, a disaffected New Yorker of Hungarian descent, through three episodic chapters: first his cousin Eva’s visit, then their journey away from home, and finally a road trip towards Lake Erie. The shifts are subtle, the pace languid, but in that leisurely unfolding the film captures how small interactions, long silences, and place shape who we are. It’s minimalist in dialogue, abundant in atmosphere — moments where “nothing” seems to happen but feel entirely full.