Other Films and Events Accessible to Non-German Viewers

Since childhood, Lara has lived in a world between two languages: sign language, which she uses to communicate with her deaf parents, and spoken language, which her aunt introduces her to when she teaches Lara to play the clarinet. Music becomes a gateway to a new world for Lara—and a source of tension between her and her parents, who cannot understand what fascinates her so much about music. When Lara wants to begin studying music in Berlin, the conflict comes to a head.

The film received several German Film Awards, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Editor: Patricia Rommel. Director: Caroline Link. Screenplay: Caroline Link, Beth Serlin. Cinematography: Frank Griebe. Music: Niki Reiser. Production: MTM Medien & Television München, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, SDR, ZDF. Cast: Sylvie Testud, Tatjana Trieb, Howie Seago, Emmanuelle Laborit, Sibylle Canonica, Matthias Habich. Distributor: Buena Vista International.

Note: The film talk after the screening will be in German, with translation available via headset.

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A life that defies norms: Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, born in Hamburg in 1932, grew up as a member of the Hitler Youth, became a lawyer and prosecutor, brought Nazi criminals to justice – and at the same time began playing their roles in the theater. His life story is one in which postwar Germany and counterculture, jurisprudence and anarchy, collide. As an actor in films by Christoph Schlingensief and Lars von Trier, he throws himself into absurd excesses; encouraged by his school friend Ulrich Gregor, he fights the mainstream as a critic. As a widower, he fondly remembers his wife's intellect and independence; as a family man, he reflects on his own fractures. Between old Super 8 recordings, private and contemporary historical fragments, ironic memories, media perspectives, and quiet observations, a stream of consciousness unfolds that refuses to be brought into line.

Editor: Andrea Schumacher. Director: Arne Körner. Cinematography: Max Sänger, Elias Müller, Arne Körner. Music: Helge Schneider. Production: Kinoscope Film. Distributor: Missing Films, Berlin.

The film talk after the screening will be in German.

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With film excerpts from Khartoum (Sudan, UK, DEU, Qatar 2025) and in dialogue with editor Yousef Yubeh, co-producer Frank W. Albers will provide insights into why the documentary film project became a hybrid film project, how the dramatization changed, but the message of the film remained the same, despite the new artistic form. The war and new realities led to the Sudanese directors taking innovative approaches which are now capturing the attention of the global documentary industry.

Despite the outbreak of the devastating war in Sudan during production – the team managed safely to relocate to a neighbouring country and continued working with editor Yousef Yubeh on site. The Sudan War forced the whole team to find more innovative and creative ways to represent the new realities of a destroyed Khartoum and the subject's new interior and exterior realities. Working together to break storytelling boundaries through VFX, graphic animation, green screen, alongside observational documentary, the wohole team entered an unknown creative frontier. The completion of the work is a cinematic testament to the importance of culture, lived experience and memory at a time when it is testament to the importance of culture, lived experience and memory at a time when it is under the greatest threat.

Yousef Jubeh is a Palestinian-Irish editor. He has over a decade of experience editing in film and television, which includes work for the BBC, Al-Jazeera, ARTE, Lorton Entertainment, M&C Satchii, Burst Pictures and Native Voice Films. Some of his recent feature work includes Detained under the Houthis, The Salon and Khartoum.

Frank W. Albers studied German and Scandinavian as well as cultural science. During his studies he already worked as an editor for a television production company in Berlin and for the Berlinale. In 1998 he switched to the Goethe Institute and managed the Goethe Center in Rekjavík/Iceland until 2001. After his return to Germany, he took over the international promotion of culture at the Robert Bosch Foundation. In addition to promoting literature, he built up the international film funding here, with a regional focus on co-productions with Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Arab world and East Africa. In summer 2022 he started his own production company.

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Fourteen-year-old Lea is torn from her familiar teenage environment when her parents take her and her mentally disabled brother on a hastily planned trip into the wilderness. In a remote mountain camp, they are welcomed by members of a sect where Lea's parents have long sought hope and meaning in life. The group believes that the origin of humanity lies on the planet Jupiter. Under the guidance of their guru, they prepare for a passing comet, whose trajectory is supposed to carry them spiritually to higher spheres. Lea, who used to defend the sect's beliefs against the ridicule of her classmates, is disturbed by the elaborate preparations for the cosmic event.

Editor: Valesca Peters. Director: Benjamin Pfohl. Screenplay: Benjamin Pfohl, Silvia Wolkan. Cinematography: Tim Kuhn. Music: Gary Hirche. Production: Dreifilm. Cast: Mariella Aumann, Laura Tonke, Andreas Döhler, Ulrich Matthes. Distributor: Missing Films, Berlin.

Note: The film talk after the screening will be in German.

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September 5, 1972, is the tenth day of competition at the Summer Olympics in Munich. At 4:40 a.m., the early shift at the American broadcaster ABC hears gunshots coming from the Olympic Village. Palestinian terrorists have taken eleven members of the Israeli team hostage. Against the resistance of its own news department, ABC's sports team begins to report live on the hostage-taking. Ambitious producer Geoff wants to prove himself to his boss, the legendary Roone Arledge. With the help of German interpreter Marianne, the team tries to understand the escalating situation amid conflicting speculation – and is confronted with the dark side of live broadcasting a terrorist act.

The film won nine German Film Awards, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay.

Editor: Hansjörg Weißbrich. Regie: Tim Fehlbaum. Screenplay: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum. Cinematography: Markus Förderer. Music: Lorenz Dangel. Production: BerghausWöbke Filmproduktion, Projected Picture Works. Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch. Distributor: Constantin Filmverleih, Munich.

Note: The film talk after the screening will be in German.

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A few months after September 11, 2001, Claude, a typographer from Lausanne, embarks on an improvised trip to Afghanistan with a fake press pass. His ambitious reporter friend Serge wants to distract him from his recent loss. The third member of the group is Paolo, a war photographer with a less Protestant outlook, who immediately senses competition in Claude, who has spontaneously equipped himself with a camcorder. From now on, still images and moving images travel as a pair, with artistic black-and-white shadows competing with the amateurish charm of spontaneous snapshots. The three quickly leave the alternative reality of the US military base and, with more luck than sense, seek out the real Afghanistan in bazaars, in the living rooms of warlords, on paths marked with mine warning signs, and among gangs in no man's land. At the Boom River, necessity once again brings them together before the camcorder tapes finally run out. Two decades later, the material believed to be lost reappears—dusty and scratched, telling the story of a friendship and our awkward view of foreign wars.

Editor: Kevin Schlosser. Director, Cinematography: Claude Baechtold. Production: Intermezzo Films. Distributor: First Hand Films, Zurich.

Note: The film talk after the screening will be in English.

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Summer 1992: Peru is in the grip of hyperinflation; unrest and curfews dominate life in the capital Lima. Elena, who comes from a middle-class family, decides to accept a job offer in the USA and emigrate with her daughters Aurora and Lucía. To do so, however, she needs the signature of her ex-husband Carlos, the girls' father. He is a charming dreamer and teller of tall tales, who has hardly been seen for a long time. Now, however, he wants to spend some time with his daughters and uses beach trips to gauge their mood. In fact, the impending departure to a foreign country triggers mixed feelings in the girls – especially the older Aurora, who has reservations about leaving her friends in Peru.

CH, PER, ESP 2024. Editor: Paola Freddi, Francesco de Matteis. Director: Klaudia Reynicke. Screenplay: Klaudia Reynicke, Diego Vega. Cinematography: Diego Romero Suarez Llanos. Music: Klaudia Reynicke, Gioacchino Balistreri. Producion: Alva Film(CH), Maretazo Cine (PER), Inicia Films (ESP). Cast: Abril Gjurinovic, Luana Vega, Jimena Lindo, Gonzalo Molina, Susi Sánchez, u. a. Distributor: Filmcoopi, Zurich).

Note: The film talk after the screening will be in Italian, with German translation.

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