by colonial powers through poetry and song. and in the germans my colleague rachel stewart gives us a quick tour of the fairy tale world of german castles. in the venice film festival unveiled its official selection in late july the competition roster with over 40 percent of films directed by women was heralded as progress great progress in fact considering the event had come under fire in recent years for lack of gender parity with social distancing protocols firmly in place some 90 percent of this year's festival will go ahead in person a breath of fresh air for cinema despite the masks. to says he'll ford as it's rarely been seen with only a handful of tourists due to the pandemic the usual crowds have been staying away but people have shown up for the most track the city's famed festival which opens

today along with films comfort cautionary measures social distancing mandatory mask wearing and temperature taking. this podium we hope everything will go well we hope that this mosque can be fruitful we will be in with. it for easter and might see fewer hollywood stars in attendance but one silver lining is that the festival has done better in terms of gender parity 8 out of 18 films in competition directed by women. actress cate blanchett leads the jerry. was to the swinton receives a lifetime achievement award the competition runs for 11 days before we find out who will take home the series coveted golden lion. 8 out of 800 films by women directors and i'm joined by my colleague melissa horrid melissa some

pretty impressive gender parity there for venice so finally we might say is there did dare we hope that the golden lion might be taken home by a woman well yes it could well be taken home by a woman couldn't i mean if we think about the comparison with great recent years this is a massive massive jump it's a huge difference phil festival director alberto bobber a said that the films were selected though exclusively on the basis of quality and didn't have anything to do with gender protocols interesting we do have we do have a i think you are going to tell me about a couple of those yes one film that is directed by a woman and is getting a lot of bars and is also in competition is bodies i.e. down where are you going i you don't it's by well established bosnian filmmaker spawn each the film is based on real events from the bosnian war in the summer of 1995 it follows aida who works at a camp as a translator for the united nations and we do have

a clip of that one from let's just take a quick look. you know what of the birds and there. was no record of anything that you carried. out. what. are your what you say and what you're saying to the older girls when they played back in town plays a. very intense looking film there and it's interesting that jury president cate blanchett also said that they've included a great strides in terms of more diverse voices this year so what else can we look forward to well a film that is not in competition but one i think that is a very very exciting and interesting film is called afterwards its 1st feature film it's by crystal sneak it's going to premiere in the horizon section of the festival so yeah it's not in the main selection but it's very very timely apple says the story of a solitary man who falls victim to an unexplained pandemic that causes sudden amnesia he decides to take part in an experimental treatment to create new memories

and take photos of these experiences so he has to have a one night stand and take photos of bat we spoke to the director and he said it's an allegorical story that has a lot to do with technology and social media and how we are forced more and more to live that our lives have become less and less important and the documentation of our lives become more and more important so the photos become much more important than the actual experience it's also about identity and how selective our memories are very timely stuff. at a very different festival thanks to this corona pandemic let's hope it all goes as planned with no new infections and the venice film festival going on until september the 12th we'll keep following that story obviously and thanks very much melissa holroyd for coming in and speaking bringing us those insights. all this week we're featuring artists whose work deals with colonialism particularly with

germany's colonial past and spent her early childhood in in cameroon which was an african colony of the german empire from 884-2916 well today as an author performer and a musician it's the complex experience of living as a black woman between 2 worlds that take center stage. sound art slam poetry. is a tale of heartbreak and can. you. see. the same time. she says women in africa used to have more respect for european colonisers brought their sex is. such an impact but also people mentality they were purposely raising

also the culture of the people stumbling over imaginary of a black man in the 21st century. i couldn't swallow my pride i trust. in africa you know as a woman need to step back and not say so much but just be smiling and cooking and helping those whose structures i was not used so. well there was 10 when she 1st left cameroon for germany one of cameron's former colonizers. mother moved with her and her brothers to pursue a ph d. at a german university. here it was a dream les's child white culture is a no it's everywhere it's the norm it's the standard so when you know as a 10 year old that you're going to europe it's like the show look at the place. but as the only black girl experience not just racism but. how to explain

africanus to europeans she felt even her mother's generation had lost the answers. back to cameroon singing in english french and german. and. there is. a let's. clear. that kind of music she says couldn't keep up with the energy of cameroon. she went electronic and experimental the style she still creates an now as a mother and berlin. this piece of sound art includes recordings of ghana's 1st independence leader kwame nkrumah. and conversations mahler recorded in shared

taxis and camera. since moving back to germany says she's stopped taking responsibility for others' ignorance and now we need a new not to intervene and not here in germany i have called this nation more we people like jim need to. and that. the legacy of colonialism is written into berlin's african quarter and the 19th century zulu was planned here that would exhibit african animals and humans to. today by chance many africans live here comes here for cameroon and for. these days she says she's more at ease navigating her complex identity is. what i discovered with. that important it's ok.

not knowing uncertainty while enjoying the journey to may be called the closer. well for visitors from abroad europe is known as the land of fairy tales and many of those tales took place of course in a castle germany has its fair share of these and my colleague rachel stewart has visited a few. welcomes else costs that used to be featured on the back of the 500 bill i mean days it's a big hit on instagram not bad for a nearly 900 year old cars and. there are an estimated 20000 cars in gemini. some of them little westaway the weather remounting ruins a very tail section and you'll never get spoiled for choice is. this even a route called costal road that stretches all the way from mannheim to by foot and

takes you past some 60 castles the glorious ross noise from shining varia is one of the most visited castles in the whole of europe and it's even said to have inspired well disney. ok time for a quick language check on a fairy tale sightseeing tour through germany you're probably going to see 2 different words being used book and shots in general a book is fortified protected by a wall or a marriage a schloss is closer to the english word potus and would have been billed as a luxurious residence but some medieval books have been converted and sometimes the words he used interchangeably even doubt just take both names like transfer of installing. that does seem to be quite an appetite for royal gossip here in germany i definitely know more about the british royal family now than i did when i lived in the u.k. perhaps that's because the germans no longer have rules of the writing at the end of the 1st world war all official royal titles and associated legal privileges were abolished however it was permitted that some titles could be merged into the family surnames and that's why we're now able to talk to

a real life count. with. dr carl graf for not going on to force from storm back before she informed on to this in its visit to the us of its 42 apart from counts and tourists who else might you find in a castle. there are plenty of scooby legends surrounding germany's castles a popular apparition is the vice of white lady whose appearance was often thought to signal the imminent death of someone in the family. here it's castle it's agnes who said to haunt the whole. the story goes that in the 15th century the counts rather of any stores are supposed to marry disquiet brownsburg who by all accounts was a bit of a jerk she refused to kiss him and their engagement to how do you think into the ground not so well he disappeared for a year and then finally returned to attack the cops agnes donned her brother's

armor and joined the battle but she was killed by her would be fiance. the legend goes that agnes is close to some time scene in the car so called yeah well after midnight. gives new meaning to the term damsel in distress well that's all for this time so until we meet again stay safe and bye bye.

conflicts these days america's religious rights are in the spotlight few worse groups are active in europe and elsewhere seeking to overturn a whole lot of the rules for the legalized among other things abortion and gay marriage the world congress osama is provides a call for platform for such groups for this week one of its fund those aluko joins me from rockford illinois a conflict zone. 30 minutes d.w. . summer 2050. 2 lost his family. the kong spontaneously offer to home. took a selfie with on the american. tour all of them doing today. refugee destinies. to dan charles on the beach. in 75 minutes on t w. where

the real power resides. when i come. there are lots of people in fact more than a breed in the do too but not this democracy to me that's one reason why i'm passionate about people and aspirations and they can send. the troops in the mission reporters fried chicken by name after the floor of the burning one and i remember thinking at the time if the barley in broken forward anything could happen if people come together and unite for a pool. but i do the news i often confront the current situations for conflicts being discussed and i see to sponsor my child to confront what he does on policies and development to put the spotlight on the issues that matter most. to security

a precious national nice. to not have to cheat but so much more needs to be done and i think people have to be a concrete solutions money. and. this is news and these are our top stories german chancellor angela merkel has called for answers from moscow over the poisoning of a russian opposition leader alexei know about me tests in berlin where mr obama is being treated found that he was poisoned with the chemical nerve agent number chalk the chancellor has described the attack as an attempted murder. the trial has opened in paris of 14 people accused of aiding the 25th.