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New German Cinema

Opening Night

A man’s double life as an underground poet and a Stasi agent in East Berlin in the 1980s comes back to haunt him 30 years later in this comedy starring David Kross and Tom Schilling.

Australian Premiere

In this clever comedy, a law student prepares for a debating competition with the help of a cynical professor, who has been given a final chance to redeem himself after a video of him insulting a student goes viral.

Australian Premiere
Special Presentation

This historical monochrome biopic of East German writer and filmmaker Thomas Brach, starring Albrecht Schuch, reveals a deeply subversive artist who finds comfort on neither side of the Wall.

Australian Premiere

Based on the bestselling book, this wickedly funny comedy follows a couple approaching their 50s who set out to regain their long-lost youth.

Australian Premiere

Love and loss are closely linked in My Son, an emotional drama about a young man and his mother who go on a journey together after nearly losing one another.

Australian Premiere

In this crime-comedy caper starring Bernhard Schütz and Sandra Hüller, two art thieves who have stolen a famous painting plan to meet their clients on a cruise ship, but things do not go as planned.

Australian Premiere
Centrepiece

An illuminating drama that follows the true story of Samson “Cioma” Schönhaus, a Jewish graphic artist who hid in plain sight in 1940s Berlin, moving freely about the city using fake documents, while secretly forging IDs to help hundreds of others.

Australian Premiere

While in a juvenile detention centre and tasked to write an essay on duty, a young man's memories of his childhood during the Second World War come flooding back to him in this compelling drama.

Australian Premiere

Set in the near future, in this gripping AI thriller a journalist and his wife retreat to their high-tech holiday home, but the smart home's artificial intelligence soon develops a life of its own.

Australian Premiere
Festival Guest

Tempted by the offer of a prestigious professorship, ambitious scientist Franz Walter is convinced to work for the GDR's Stasi in 1981 East Berlin but is soon accused of espionage in this gripping historical drama starring Lars Eidinger.

Australian Premiere

In order to escape the Nazi occupation in France, a journalist father, two children and a dog must navigate a hazardous path through the Pyrenees and into Spain in this tale of courage and solidarity.

Australian Premiere

An accomplished and gritty drama about a building site manager who toils day to day for the survival of his family and becomes involved in a struggle for social justice.

Australian Premiere