From the producers of September 5 and based on the bestselling novel by Caroline Wahl, Mia Maariel Meyer’s 22 Laps is a touching and tender coming-of-age drama about love, loss and the unbreakable bond between two sisters. Tilda's (Luna Wedler, The Forger, Biohackers) days are strictly regimented: studying mathematics, working at the supermarket, swimming, looking after her little sister Ida (Zoë Baier, also in Sound of Falling) and on bad days, her alcoholic mother too. Together, they live in a small town that Tilda hates and which her friends have all left, moving to exciting places like Amsterdam or Berlin instead. But Tilda remains to take responsibility for the family, looking after Ida, and earning money, yet only finding peace while swimming laps in the pool. When Tilda is offered the prospect of a PhD position in Berlin, she begins to dream of freedom and a promising future. However, the moment she begins to believe that everything could turn out well, the situation at home spirals completely out of control.

Directed by Welf Reinhart in his debut feature film, A Fading Man is a touching story about love and friendship, forgetting and remembering, and finding the courage to start again. Artist Hanne (Dagmar Manzel) and retired pastor Bernd (August Zirner) have a happy marriage that has slipped into routine after years living on the edge of a German village. One day, out of nowhere, Hanne's former husband Kurt (Harald Krassnitzer) arrives at their door. However, Kurt has no memory that he and Hanne have been divorced for 20 years, so his arrival upends Hanne and Bernd’s orderly lives. When the couple takes him in temporarily, a lightness they thought was lost returns to their marriage, and what begins as an uneasy coexistence gradually opens up unexpected possibilities for love and life. With sensitivity, nuance and quiet humour, this is a tender drama about getting older and staying young and the comical moments that make our lives what they are.

The celebrated new film from multi award-winning director Fatih Akin (In the Fade), Amrum is a deeply moving and poignant historical drama about a 12-year-old boy who, in the shadow of the fading German regime, discovers the true enemy is far closer than he imagined. Spring 1945, the remote island of Amrum in the North Sea. In what will become the final days of World War II, big-hearted student Nanning (exceptional newcomer Jasper Billerbeck) goes fishing at night and works the nearby farm run by Tessa (Diane Kruger) to help his pregnant mother Hille (Laura Tonke) – a fervent Nazi loyalist - feed the family. But after news of the fall of Hitler, Nanning’s mother refuses to eat anything other than white bread, butter and honey. Craving her affection, the enterprising Nanning embarks on a quest across the island to obtain these rationed, near-impossible to find items. Based on the childhood experiences of screenwriter Hark Bohm, Amrum beautifully captures a place out of time, gracefully confronting the cruelty of the Third Reich through the eyes of a child.

A breathtaking live-action adventure inspired by the legend of Switzerland’s most famous rescue dog, Barry & Me is a moving and timeless story of friendship, bravery, and survival in late 18th century Switzerland. High in the snowy and picturesque Swiss Alps, 12-year-old Georg finds himself stranded with the monks on the Great St. Bernard Pass after being left behind at a mountain infirmary. Everything is new to the young boy in this cold, silent place, but he soon discovers that it is full of unexpected wonders. When Georg rescues a weak St. Bernard puppy and secretly raises it, an unbreakable bond grows between him and the dog, Barry. Together they experience unforgettable moments, but when others try to take Barry away and Georg is in danger of losing his faithful companion, he must summon his courage and risk everything to protect his best friend.

The final film from Wolfgang Becker (Good Bye, Lenin!) who died shortly after completing filming, and adapted from the 2022 novel by Maxim Leo, Berlin Hero is a bittersweet tragicomedy about the power of collective memory, featuring an all-star ensemble cast. Berlin, 2019: 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Micha Hartung (Charly Hübner) is a video rental shop owner in Berlin with a struggling business and beleaguered personal relationships. When an ambitious journalist arrives in Micha’s store, requesting an interview about his alleged involvement in the biggest mass escape in the history of the German Democratic Republic, Micha senses an opportunity for some easy money. But, when Alexander’s story is published, Micha unwittingly becomes an overnight media sensation. Declared a hero, Micha is caught in the uncomfortable glare of fame, but it also has its perks, as he meets his dream woman, Paula (Christiane Paul). However, like the rest of his life, this budding love story is threatened as the half-truths and lies begin to mount.

Presented in tribute to Udo Kier, 1974’s Blood for Dracula remains one of the great delirious artefacts of cult cinema: obscene, elegant, perverse and unexpectedly fragile. Directed by Paul Morrissey and originally released in some markets as Andy Warhol’s Dracula, the film casts Kier as an aristocratic, visibly wasting Count who travels to Italy in search of virginal blood, only to find a world already rotten beneath its Catholic surfaces. Opposite Joe Dallesandro’s earthy peasant and a household of daughters poised between innocence and performance, Kier turns Dracula into something both monstrous and pitiful: a creature of appetite, exhaustion and aristocratic decay. What makes the film unforgettable is not simply its gore or satire, but Kier’s singular control of tone. His Dracula is camp and tragic at once, absurdly theatrical yet genuinely doomed. Shot in Italy soon after Flesh for Frankenstein, the film fuses Grand Guignol horror, sexual farce and political provocation into a wickedly stylised attack on class, purity and repression. Few performers could make such sickness feel so exact, strange and sublime, or so piercingly funny in collapse itself.

Presented for its 45th anniversary in Wolfgang Petersen’s Director’s Cut, Das Boot remains one of the defining achievements of modern war cinema: immersive, unsentimental and almost unbearably tense. Adapted from Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s novel, the film places us inside the steel claustrophobia of U-96, following a German submarine crew through the monotony, terror and moral exhaustion of wartime patrol in the Atlantic. What emerges is not a tale of heroism, but of endurance: men crushed by machinery, weather, command and history itself. Petersen’s great accomplishment is to strip war of spectacle without sacrificing suspense, creating a film that is at once technically astonishing and deeply human. The 1997 Director’s Cut, supervised by Petersen, expands the original 1981 theatrical version into a 208-minute experience that restores character development from the miniseries while preserving the propulsive force of the feature. Shot with extraordinary physical realism and nominated for six Academy Awards, Das Boot endures as a monumental anti-war epic and a masterclass in cinematic pressure.

Direct from the 2026 Berlinale, this deeply emotional drama and ode to precious memories directed by Adrian Goiginger (The Fox) is based on the bestselling novel and incredible true story of Barbara Pachl-Eberhart, featuring an outstanding performance from Valerie Pachner (A Hidden Life). Barbara and her partner Heli (Robert Stadlober, Das Boot series) are professional clowns, leading a joy-filled, alternative lifestyle with their two children. They do not take life too seriously and try to laugh whenever things fail to work out. But when Barbara faces an unimaginable tragedy, her world falls apart. In the face of unspeakable loss, her belief in humour, hope, and humanity is put to the ultimate test, but, courageous and unconventional, Barbara finds her own way of dealing with her grief. Her unique way of seeing the world, with both its light and shadow, helps her find a way back; step-by-step she will realise that life and laughter do go on, if she dares to embrace it anew.

From acclaimed director Ulrich Köhler (In My Room, Sleeping Sickness), this metacinematic drama stars Maren Eggert (I’m Your Man, Not a Word) and Jean-Christophe Folly (Triangle of Sadness) in a fascinating exploration of moral crises and social prejudices. On the set of a modern movie adaptation of Medea in Senegal, Maja (Eggert) seeks solace in a love affair with her co-star Nourou (Folly). Embodying Jason and Medea on-screen, off-screen they tussle with the film’s anxious director (Nathalie Richard) on a shoot that is marked by conflicts and cultural misunderstandings. Months later, Maja and Nourou meet again at the film’s premiere in Berlin. Old feelings resurface, but an incident unsettles their reunion and tensions begin to rise. While the ancient tragedy plays out on screen, a contemporary drama unfolds. Referring to a philosophical thought experiment about translation and cultural context, Gavagai is a politically relevant and thought-provoking study of identity, privilege, racial tensions, filmmaking and power dynamics.

This warm, offbeat coming-of-age road film follows two teenage outsiders on an impulsive summer journey across eastern Germany. Maik, quiet and isolated, is pulled out of his stagnant world by Tschick, the rebellious new boy at school, who turns up with a stolen car and the promise of escape. Their aimless trip unfolds through sunburnt landscapes, comic detours, and unexpected encounters, gradually becoming a tender portrait of friendship, adolescence, and the strange freedom of being briefly lost. With humour, melancholy, and a lightness of touch, the film captures the awkwardness of youth alongside deeper currents of loneliness, social difference, and emotional longing. Adapted from Wolfgang Herrndorf’s beloved novel and directed by Fatih Akin, it brings together the energy of a road movie with the sensitivity of a character study. At once funny, restless, and unexpectedly moving, Goodbye Berlin is a vivid celebration of youthful mischief and self-discovery.

Written and directed by Fatih Akin, this arresting drama follows Cahit and Sibel, two troubled strangers whose lives intersect at a moment of crisis. What begins as a practical arrangement, with Sibel asking Cahit to marry her so she can gain some independence from her conservative family, slowly develops into something far more complicated and volatile. As their relationship deepens, the film unfolds into a raw and emotionally charged story shaped by desire, instability, and loss. The film’s power lies in how it ties romance to questions of identity, gender and belonging. Akin uses the couple’s self-destructive behaviour not just for shock, but to explore the pressure of living between cultures, especially for second-generation Turkish immigrants in Germany. It is equally about freedom and punishment, desire and shame, and the search for a home that feels emotionally possible. Produced as a low-budget German-Turkish co-production, with Birol Ünel and Sibel Kekilli in the lead roles, the film mixes raw realism with a striking music-driven kinetic style. Its impact was widely recognised when it won the Golden Bear at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival.

Set in 1956, this heartfelt and inspiring dramedy from Swiss director Pierre Monnard tells the incredible true story of visionary advertising pioneer Emmi Creola (played by Sarah Spale). A talented copywriter, Emmi defies her male-dominated workplace by inventing fictional housewife “Betty Bossi” in order to promote a major client’s food products. Many people believe that Betty Bossi is a real person, and as Betty’s popularity skyrockets, Emmi unexpectedly finds herself in the spotlight. But as she pushes back against the expectations that defined a woman’s place in 1950s Swiss society, Emmi soon struggles to balance the expectations of her public persona with her professional success and family obligations. Betty Bossi went on to become Switzerland’s culinary icon and a household name across generations, as she shaped the nation’s cooking and views on modern domesticity. A warm and humorous portrait of the 1950s, Hello Betty explores women navigating ambition, identity, creativity and the timeless tension between public image and private life.

Direct from the 2026 Berlinale, this intriguing multigenerational portrait of a family, the third film from writer-director Eva Trobisch, delivers a thoughtful and poignant exploration of the tensions between generations in provincial former East Germany. When sixteen-year-old Lea is asked at the audition for a TV talent show, “Who are you and what makes you special?”, she is at a loss as to what to say, forcing her into an identity crisis. Back home in the Thuringia region, things are complicated. Lea’s parents are newly separated, and while the town’s museum is being lavishly renovated, Lea’s grandparents are struggling to keep the family hotel afloat. Her aunt Kati is her role model, but Kati’s work makes her unpopular in town and Lea also misses her best friend Bonny, who only has eyes for Lea’s cousin Edgar. As her TV appearance approaches and a camera crew comes to town to shoot the introductory reel, Lea must decide who she is and what home story she can create from her family's history.

Starring Albrecht Schuch (All Quiet on the Western Front), I'm Not Stiller is a psychological mystery about a man accused of being someone he insists he is not, exploring how identity is shaped by memory, relationships, and the stories we tell about ourselves. Switzerland 1950s. While traveling by train, American man James Larkin White is arrested on his arrival at the Swiss border. He is suspected of being Anatol Stiller, a missing Swiss sculptor accused of being involved in the dubious political “Smyrnov affair”. Everyone seems to think he is Stiller, even Stiller’s estranged wife Julika (Paula Beer). The examining magistrate, the public prosecutor and even White's public defender doubt his identity. But he rejects them, repeatedly insisting that he is not Stiller. He claims he is a victim of mistaken identity, but is he, or is he deliberately trying to assume a new identity? Directed by Stefan Haupt and based on the classic novel by Swiss novelist Max Frisch, this gripping mystery is a journey into tangled relationships and asks us to question the foundations of truth and reality.

Munich, 1962. Twelve-year-old Karla (brilliant newcomer Elise Krieps,) runs away from her family to bring forward serious allegations of abuse against her father. Taking the courageous step of pressing charges against the person meant to protect her, Karla stands up in a world in which children are supposed to remain silent, but her story is met with skepticism. Karla insists on telling her story in court in her own way, leaving the unspeakable unsaid. In the process, she forms a tentative bond with compassionate Judge Lamy (Rainer Bock, The White Ribbon), who offers quiet support as she learns to navigate a flawed system on her own terms. Based on the powerful true story of the landmark case in Germany, the first where a child sued their abusive parent, it is told with great sensitivity and emotional precision by debut director Christina Tournatzés. Featuring atmospheric cinematography, Karla is a compelling drama about truth, agency and the fight for justice in a society that would rather look away than listen.

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2026 Berlinale, Prosecution is an engrossing tale of good versus evil that cleverly combines legal drama and thriller for a powerful and urgent story about the realities of Germany’s judicial system. With all the resources and authority of the state behind her, self-assured young German-Korean prosecutor Seyo Kim (Chen Emilie Yan) is determined to confront far-right violence in eastern Germany. But when she becomes a target, surviving a racist attack, Seyo decides to investigate on her own, defying explicit orders from her superiors and putting her life further at risk. When she finally succeeds in bringing one of the attackers to trial, she fights to expose him as part of a wider right-wing network, digging deep into her office’s archives and weaving a tangled web of connections. But throughout the trial, Seyo begins to learn what it means to trust the pursuit of justice in a state that applies double standards and downplays far-right violence, as the system’s myth of objectivity begins to crumble.

In this heartwarming hybrid live action and animated adventure, Florian Eder, a quiet craftsman in Munich, shares his days with Pumuckl, his mischievous and invisible goblin friend, who stirs up trouble at every turn. During a trip to Upper Bavaria, where Eder is supposed to help his old friends with the the restoration of a carousel for the annual May festival, Pumuckl begins to feel neglected, leading to a big misunderstanding that threatens their friendship. Then when a simple repair job for an eccentric opera conductor spirals wildly out of control, the mismatched pair reunite and find themselves chasing runaway animals, uncovering rural secrets, and ultimately facing a grand showdown on the stage of the State Opera. An entertaining return of the iconic character from the original 1980s television series, this charming family tale about finding where you belong is full of humour, the joy of being different and unlikely friendships.

The magical phenomenon returns with this highly anticipated fourth instalment of the box office hit franchise, based on Margit Auer’s bestselling book series, featuring stunning visual effects and valuable life lessons. For three months, Ida’s best friend, Miriam, will be attending the Winterstein School alongside Ida. Unaware of the magical community, Miriam’s world is upended on her first day at school when she receives her magical animal, an energetic tarsier, Fitzgeraldo, while her classmate Max receives the perceptive owl, Muriel. But their joy doesn't last, because Ida discovers that Winterstein School is about to be sold, due to a lack of new enrolments. However, an upcoming school challenge just might be the key to attracting attention and new students. With her former school also competing, Miriam faces pressure from both sides, and with their entire magical community at stake, will the Winterstein students be able to lead their team to victory?

Declared the joint winner of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, the highly acclaimed Sound of Falling is a breathtaking and lyrical drama from visionary director Mascha Schilinski. Over the course of a century, four adolescent girls from different time periods, Alma, Erika, Angelika, and Lenka, each spend their youth on the same farm in northern Germany, alongside the river Elbe between Berlin and Hamburg. As the farmhouse evolves over the tumultuous 20th century, echoes of the past and generations of secrets linger in its weathered walls. Though separated by time, resonances between the girls’ lives soon emerge. Experiencing parallel desires, lost innocence, loneliness and secrets, the lives of the four girls begin to intertwine and mirror each other while time appears to dissolve. A haunting and intimate cinematic experience for fans of art-house and poetic cinema, Sound of Falling delivers an immersive portrait of adolescence, generational shifts, the search for meaning, power of memory and the travails of rural life.

Fatih Akin draws attention to several lives moving between Germany and Turkey, where chance encounters, political conflict, and personal loss quietly draw strangers into one another’s orbit. A widowed immigrant, his academic son, a politically active young woman, and a German mother and daughter become linked through a series of departures, deaths, and near-misses that gradually reveal the depth of their emotional connection. Rather than centring on one relationship, the film unfolds as an intricate chain of grief, responsibility, and unexpected care. Its themes are quieter than melodrama but no less powerful, focusing on exile, mourning, reconciliation, and the uneasy experience of living between languages, nations, and identities. Akin is especially interested in how guilt and compassion can coexist, and how people attempt to repair damage they did not always mean to cause. The film carries a strong sense of movement, but also of longing for a place, person, or feeling that remains just out of reach. Produced as a German-Turkish co-production, it won Fatih Akin the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes in 2007.

Adapted from the highly successful German stage play, The Holy Grill is a hilarious, irreverent and acerbically witty comedy directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller (The Keeper) and featuring a brilliant ensemble cast led by Hape Kerkeling and Christoph Maria Herbst (A Family Dilemma). At a routine general meeting of a tranquil, provincial tennis club, Heribert (Hape Kerkeling), long-time chairman of the club, and his ambitious deputy Matthias (Friedrich Mücke, Balloon) put forward a simple vote on the purchase of a barbeque grill for the next club party. However, Melanie (Anja Knauer) unexpectedly ignites a cultural clash when she suggests buying a second grill for her doubles partner Erol (Fahri Yardim), the club’s only Turkish member, because devout Muslims cannot eat food cooked alongside pork. What starts as a thoughtful gesture quickly snowballs into a heated debate about much more than a grill but instead, roasting each other. As atheists are pitted against believers, progressives against traditionalists, soon the discussion escalates until the club is brought to the brink of collapse.

When twelve-year-old Karli moves with his parents to a rundown, old hotel in the Alps, instead of an exciting holiday, he is left without internet access and forced to help his parents with their renovations. Then one day, Karli discovers an elevator that harbours a secret – it is a magical time portal that can transport him back in time 80 years to 1938! There, he befriends Hannah, a spirited Jewish girl, and the young shoe shiner Georg. But when Georg is wrongly accused of stealing, the three new friends must work together to solve a mystery hidden within the walls of the hotel, while the shadow of National Socialism begins to grow around them. Shot in stunning Alpine locations and directed by Norbert Lechner (The Wall Between Us), The Secret Floor is a playful time-travel adventure and sensitive story of friendship that offers a fresh perspective for learning about the history of World War II.

It is a story that sounds too strange to be true, and yet it is. Berlin film students Julius and Moritz worked for over three years on their animated short film "Butty", hoping to make the leap into the big film world with it. However, when the aspiring filmmakers decide to submit the short to festivals, they discover it is disqualified as it had already been submitted under a different name. Upon learning that their film has been stolen by an American posing as the actual director, the duo set off on a thrilling journey from Germany to West Virginia, USA. They are sure that there must be a mix-up, but the more they investigate, the more incredible the story of the "talented Mr. F." becomes. Determined to uncover the truth and confront the alleged impostor, they must navigate a world of deception, ambition, and unexpected twists. Directed by Igor Plischke, The Talented Mr. F is a compelling documentary that explores creativity, ownership, identity, and deception in the digital age.