Schwarzfahrer

Schwarzfahrer (also known as Black Rider) is a 1993 German 12-minute short film directed by Pepe Danquart. It won an Academy Award in 1994 for Best Short Subject. The topic of the film is the daily racism a black man endures in a tram. The title is a word-play: literally, "Schwarzfahrer" means "fare-dodger" in German, but is also translatable to "black rider". This word-play forms the punch line of the short film. A motorbiker (Stefan Merki) boards a tram, 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 they stink, are unintelligent, criminal and the perfect carrier for AIDS. The biker feels uncomfortable, but does not dare to interrupt. The black man stays quiet for the entire film, until the tram controller arrives : when the old woman produces her ticket, he grabs and swallows it. When the old woman accuses the black man for eating her ticket, he coolly shows his valid ticket to the controller; the latter nods at him and arrests the old woman. The punch line 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).