''Schwarzfahrer'' (also known as ''Black Rider'') is a 1993 German 12-minute short film directed by . It won an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

for Best Short Subject. The topic of the film is the daily

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

a black man endures in a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

. The title is a word-play: "''Schwarzfahrer''" usually means "fare-dodger" in German, but can be literally translated as "black traveler". This word-play forms the

punch line A punch line (also punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people Laughter, laugh. It is the third and final part of the Joke#Telling jokes, typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and th ...

of the short film.

Plot

A motorbiker (Stefan Merki), who early in the film was unable to start his motorcycle, boards a tram in Berlin, and witnesses a black man (Paul Outlaw) sitting down next to an elderly white woman (Senta Moira). In the entire 12 minutes, the old woman racially abuses the black man, stating that blacks stink, are unintelligent, criminal and the perfect carrier for

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. The biker feels uncomfortable, but does not dare to interrupt. The black man stays quiet for the entire film, until a ticket inspector boards the tram. When the old woman readies her ticket for inspection, he grabs and swallows it. When the old woman accuses the black man of eating her ticket, he coolly shows his valid ticket to the inspector; the latter nods at him and detains the old woman. The

is that both the black man and the old woman are "Schwarzfahrer" now: the black man who rides a train, is a non-offensive "black rider", while the old woman now is a ''real'' law-breaking Schwarzfahrer (i.e. fare dodger). The one passenger the viewer knows who never possessed a ticket, the motorbiker, escapes without the controller checking his ticket.

Cast

* as the Old Woman *Paul Outlaw as the Black Man * Stefan Merki as the Biker * Klaus Tilsner as the ticket controller * Andreas Schmidt as passenger with walkman

Acclaim

* 1993

Academy Award for Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under numerous names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, ''Best Short Subject, On ...

— won * 1993

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

Best Live Action Short Film — won

References

External links

* * 1993 films 1993 short films German drama short films 1990s German-language films Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners Films about racism German black-and-white films 1990s German films Films set in Berlin {{1990s-Germany-film-stub