Film Countries Archives: Germany

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A young person sits at the edge of a body of water, looking over their shoulder at something unseen.

New Directors Competition OutLook

Strange River Estrany Riu

Directed by Jaume Claret Muxart

Countries Spain, Germany Run Time 105 minutes

Synopsis

It’s summertime on the Danube River, and teenager Dídac and his tight-knit family are enjoying the pastoral beauty on a bicycle trip together. Memories swirl in the river’s waters, as Dídac’s parents reminisce over their first trials with love in their youth. Dídac’s own curiosity around romance and desire begins to stir when he encounters a mysterious boy who seems to appear and disappear from the river’s waters. As the two boys circle into closer and closer orbit, the growing pains of young love begin to widen the emerging cracks between Dídac and his family.

The boundaries between the waking world and dreaming flow freely like the river itself in Jaume Claret Muxart’s sensuous and ethereal feature debut, where longing conjures the ghosts of past and future. Set against a sunny, verdant landscape shot on 16mm, Strange River explores the freedom of blossoming youth with remarkable tenderness.

Genres Coming of Age Family Affairs LGBTQ Road Movie

Language Catalan, German, English with subtitles

Screenings & Events

There are currently no upcoming screenings of this film.

Media

Film Credits

Producers Xavi Font, Andrea Vázquez
Screenwriter Jaume Claret Muxart, Meritxell Colell
Editor Maria Castan de Manuel, Meritxell Colell
Cinematographer Pablo Paloma
Principal Cast Jan Monter, Nausicaa Bonnín, Francesco Wenz, Jordi Oriol, Bernat Solé, Roc Colell
Music Nika Son
Production Company ZuZú Cinema, Miramemira
Website https://filmsboutique.com/film/strange-river/

Sponsors

Program Patron

Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation

With support from

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A group of people clad in black walk single file into a room. A young girl glares at the camera.

International Competition

Sound of Falling In die Sonne schauen

Directed by Mascha Schilinski

Countries Germany Run Time 149 minutes

Synopsis

An eerie, unsettling century-spanning saga, Sound of Falling collages together the stories of four generations of farmworking women living on the banks of Germany’s Elbe River. In a region historically defined by decades of turmoil—two world wars and Germany’s East-West divide—the film’s ghostly farmhouse setting breathes a sense of profound disquiet as the events that unfold there are echoes of the violence around them.

Connecting characters across time—from Alma in the early 20th century to Lenka in the present day—director Mascha Schilinski observes moments of poetry, horror, and grace. As we observe each woman bearing up with her lot in life, this year’s Grand Jury Prize winner at the Cannes Film Festival offers a profound and moving reflection on resilience and the ripple effects of inherited trauma.

Genres Drama Family Affairs Historical Women-Centered

Language German with subtitles

Content Considerations

Screenings & Events

There are currently no upcoming screenings of this film.

Media

Film Credits

Producers Maren Schmitt, Lucas Schmidt
Screenwriter Mascha Schilinski, Louise Peter
Editor Evelyn Rack
Cinematographer Fabian Gamper
Principal Cast Hanna Heckt, Lena Urzendowsky, Laeni Geiseler, Susanne Wuest, Luise Heyer, Lea Drinda
Music Michael Fiedler, Eike Hosenfeld
Executive Producers Lasse Scharpen
Production Company Studio Zentral, ZDF

Sponsors

Program Patron

John and Jacolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation

With support from

Film Patron

Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation

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A man in a suit stands under a large and knotty tree, looking up at it. His hands are clasped.

International Competition

Silent Friend

Directed by Ildikó Enyedi

Countries Germany, Hungary, France Run Time 147 minutes

Synopsis

Nestled in the heart of a university campus in Germany, a majestic gingko tree stands tall. Bearing silent witness to the school’s history and the lives of the people that have passed through its halls, the stately plant serves as a kind of nexus that connects three characters across time: in 1908, the college’s first female student observes hidden patterns in plant life through photography; in 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by observing and cataloging the behavior of a geranium; in 2020, a neuroscientist (Tony Leung) in Covid lockdown begins a series of unexpected botanical experiments. Could the trees be watching us?

Seamlessly toggling between time periods, Silent Friend is a century-spanning exploration of humanity’s fascination with nature’s greatest mysteries. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast and a winsome sense of wonder, the film is a thoughtful meditation on longing, belonging, and what it means to be human.

Genres Art Drama Environmental

Language German, English with subtitles

Screenings & Events

There are currently no upcoming screenings of this film.

Film Credits

Producers Reinhard Brundig, Monika Mécs, Nicolas Elghozi
Screenwriter Ildikó Enyedi
Editor Károly Szalai
Cinematographer Gergely Pálos
Principal Cast Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm, Sylvester Groth, Martin Wuttke, Johannes Hegemann, Rainer Bock, Léa Seydoux
Music Gábor Keresztes, Kristóf Kelemen
Production Company Pandora Film, Inforg-M&M Film, Galatée Films

Sponsors

Program Patron

John and Jacolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation

With support from

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A woman lays in a bed, with a young girl resting her head on the woman's lap. The woman pets the girl's hair and shoulder.

Best of the Fest New Directors Competition

Short Summer

Directed by Nastia Korkia

Countries Germany, France, Serbia Run Time 101 minutes

Synopsis

Eight-year-old Katya is spending the summer with her grandparents in the Russian countryside. She and her friends play soccer, hide and seek, and roam the nearby fields, their lives adopting the languid rhythms of the season. Amid the rolling hills and serene landscapes, time seems to stand still. Yet all the while, a war is raging on the periphery, intruding on daily life in ways both large and small.

Drawing on real-life memories from her upbringing in the early 2000s during Russia’s Second Chechen War, director Nastia Korkia carefully crafts a picture of a childhood coexisting with chaos and conflict in which violence seems to lurk around every corner. Featuring some of the year’s most stirring, thought-provoking images and a textured, earth-toned visual palette, Short Summer is an unforgettable, atmospheric vision of growing up in the inescapable shadow of war.

Genres Coming of Age Drama Historical Social Commentary

Language Russian with subtitles

Screenings & Events

There are currently no upcoming screenings of this film.

Media

Film Credits

Producers Dirk Decker, Andrea Schütte, Natalia Drozd
Screenwriter Nastia Korkia, Mikhail Bushkov
Editor Benjamin Mirguet
Cinematographer Evgeny Rodin
Principal Cast Maiia Pleshkevich, Yakov Karykhalin, Aleksandr Karpushin, Vesna Jovanović, Alexander Feklistov
Executive Producers Tamtam

Sponsors

Program Patron

Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation

With support from

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Two women lay in a bed, with one woman cradling the head of the other.

Best of the Fest Special Presentation

Sentimental Value Affeksjonsverdi

Directed by Joachim Trier

Countries Norway, France, Denmark, Germany Run Time 134 minutes

Synopsis

In the wake of their mother’s passing, sisters Nora and Agnes are reunited with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned filmmaker. Never without an agenda, Gustav offers Nora, a talented but tortured stage actress, a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. After Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given the part to an eager young Hollywood star. As the film takes shape, the two sisters begin to see the echoes of their own stories in this work of supposed fiction, and they must confront their family’s complicated past before they can move forward.

Continuing to explore the emotional depths of human relationships with signature grace, Joaquim Trier (The Worst Person in the World) returns with this poignant family drama that draws the very best from its veteran cast, which includes Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning. Within the bright rooms of the family home—a protagonist in itself—Trier crafts a living stage in which cinema and the performance of generational wounds might offer hope of healing.

Genres Drama Family Affairs Film on Film Women-Centered

Language English, Norwegian with subtitles

Screenings & Events

There are currently no upcoming screenings of this film.

Film Credits

Producers Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
Screenwriter Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt
Editor Olivier Bugge Coutté
Cinematographer Kasper Tuxen Andersen
Principal Cast Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas
Executive Producers Eva Yates, Tom Quinn, Jeff Deutchman, Alexandre Mallet-Guy, Fridrik H. Mar, Magnus Thomassen, Kristina Börjeson, Anders Kjærhauge, Ola Strøm, Solène Léger, Nancy Grant, Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt

Sponsors

With support from

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