The festival is delighted to welcome special guest Andreas Dresen, the award-winning director of the Opening Night selection FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE (In Liebe, Eure Hilde) which premiered to widespread acclaim at the recent Berlinale. Featuring an extraordinary performance from Liv Lisa Fries as a young woman drawn into the anti-Nazi resistance movement during World War II, the film is a compelling historical drama and remarkable true story.

Andreas Dresen will be attending Opening Night Receptions in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide where he will introduce the film and will also participate in Q&A events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Also direct from Berlinale is festival Centrepiece FOREIGN LANGUAGE (Langue Étrangère), starring Nina Hoss and Chiara Mastroianni. The impeccable, heartfelt drama follows two teenagers in Leipzig and Strasbourg who forge a friendship through letters and language exchange. Their bittersweet and boundary-testing friendship is strained as they grapple with how to understand themselves and the world around them.

Closing the 2024 HSBC German Film Festival is TREASURE, direct from its premiere at Berlinale. This touching drama starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry, follows a music journalist and her Polish father, a Holocaust survivor, who set out on a tour of their family homeland.

Festival favourite Frederick Lau delivers an outstanding performance in ONE FOR THE ROAD, a deeply touching and distinctly authentic story set between Berlin’s famous bars and sober therapy rooms. Temptations lurk everywhere in this amusing tragicomedy from director Markus Goller (25km/h GFF19) that dives into the highs and lows of drinking and the meaning of true friendship.

Featuring an all-star cast including Nastassja Kinski and Albrecht Schuch is DARK SATELLITES (Die stillen Trabanten), . A moving ensemble drama set in nighttime Leipzig, it tells three stories about the impossibility of love in poetic vignettes.

From Austria ANDREA GETS A DIVORCE (Andrea lässt sich scheiden) is a nuanced tragicomedy starring Birgit Minichmayr as a rural policewoman who wants a divorce and longs to become a detective inspector in the city but faces unforeseen challenges along the way.

Featuring a superb performance from German star Franz Rogowski, historical drama LUBO focuses on a Swiss street performer who seeks justice upon losing his family due to a national campaign to re-educate Yenish children in Switzerland on the cusp of WWII.

In 2024, German Films is celebrating 70 years of German cinema abroad and to recognise this milestone, a remarkable selection of feature films and documentaries have been selected, including Oscar®-winning productions, acclaimed festival films, and rarely screened gems.

Simone Baumann, Managing Director of German Films said “We are very happy to continue our successful cooperation with Palace for the HSBC German Film Festival 2024. This year is a special one for us, as German Films is celebrating its 70th anniversary and we hope that the Australian viewers will appreciate the retrospective on 70 years of German Cinema”.

Not to be missed highlights include the 4K restoration of critically acclaimed tragicomedy JACOB THE LIAR (Jakob der Lügner), the only East German film to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, which explores the power of hope amid despair; THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (Die Ehe der Maria Braun), directed by renowned filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, set in post-WWII Germany as Maria navigates love, loss, and societal changes; YESTERDAY GIRL (Abschied von gestern – (Anita G.) considered a seminal work in New German Cinema; TRACE OF STONES (Spur der Steine) which was banned for political reasons and not officially released until after the fall of the Berlin Wall; pioneering wildlife documentary SERENGETI SHALL NOT DIE (Serengeti darf nicht sterben) winner of the 1960 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; and TONI ERDMANN, an audience favourite since its 2016 release, which couples a delightful blend of cringe comedy with German cinematic brilliance and catapulted Sandra Hüller to international stardom.

Other outstanding features in this year’s New German Cinema stream include historical drama BLIND AT HEART (Die Mittagsfrau), adapted from Julia Franck’s acclaimed bestselling novel, a touching portrait of a young woman struggling with her identity is set in 1920s and 30s Germany; NOT A WORD (Kein Wort) starring Maren Eggert as a mother who is juggling her career as a conductor and mother to a teenage son; and EVERY YOU EVERY ME (Alle die Du bist) which challenges audiences with the question, what if the person you love most suddenly becomes a stranger in your eyes? Factory worker Nadine seeks to revive her seven-year relationship in this social realist drama direct from the 2024 Berlinale.

Also direct from Berlinale is SCORCHED EARTH (Verbrannte Erde), a slick crime thriller starring Mišel Matičević and Alexander Fehling. Twelve years after fleeing, a career criminal returns to Berlin in search of work.

The Festival is thrilled to celebrate one of Germany’s most loved and acclaimed auteurs in the sidebar Burden of Dreams: Films of Werner Herzog. The program includes the 2022 documentary WERNER HERZOG: RADICAL DREAMER from filmmaker Thomas von Steinaecker, which features clips of Herzog’s works and interviews with collaborators and admirers including Chloe Zhao, Wim Wenders, Nicole Kidman and Robert Pattinson.

Selected features include his early work, the 1972 existential odyssey AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes) which follows a doomed 16th Century Spanish expedition searching for El Dorado in the Amazon, led by the power-hungry Don Lope de

Aguirre (played by Klaus Kinski); FITZCARRALDO, also starring Kinski, about an audacious quest to haul a steamship over a Peruvian mountain; the enigmatic and experimental HEART OF GLASS (Herz aus Glas); his gothic horror adaptation of NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (Nosferatu – Phantom der Nacht) with Klaus Kinski in the role of Dracula; and celebrating the 50th anniversary of its release, THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle) the remarkable story based on real events, of a young man raised in isolation.

The Goethe-Institut is presenting the ever-popular sidebar “Kino for Kids” which is curated for children, teens and families. In addition to the previously announced MISSION: SCHOOL OF FUN (Die unlangweiligste Schule der Welt – Auf Klassenfahrt) and THE FLYING CLASSROOM (Das fliegende Klassenzimmer), are two further titles, the cross generational reimaging of the classic Lassie in LASSIE – A NEW ADVENTURE (Lassie – ein neues Abenteuer),in which famous Collie dog Lassie investigates the mysterious disappearances of several pedigree dogs, with the help of new companions; and SKATER GIRLS – GET UP (Get Up) about a group of four teenage girls who face unexpected challenges when they enter a skating competition in the summer after graduating high school.

The festival also welcomes HSBC, in their first year as Naming Rights partner. Jessica Power, Head of Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC Bank Australia Limited, says “We’re thrilled to be involved again in this year’s Festival. Much like the power of film, we at HSBC believe that by bringing people and ideas together we can open up a world of opportunity. We’re sure that all attendees to this year’s Festival will love the global selection of compelling storytelling.”

2024 HSBC German Film Festival
Canberra: 7 May – 29 May, Palace Electric
Sydney: 8 May – 29 May, Palace Norton Street, Chauvel Cinema, Palace Central, Palace Moore Park (new)
Brisbane: 9 May – 29 May, Palace James St, Palace Barracks
Melbourne: 10 May – 29 May, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, The Astor Theatre, Pentridge Cinema and Palace Penny Lane (new)
Adelaide: 15 May – 5 June, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth: 16 May – 5 June, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX & Palace Raine Square
Byron Bay: 16 May – 5 June, Palace Byron Bay
www.germanfilmfestival.com.au

First highlights include the acclaimed new drama from Camera d’Or winning writer/director Claire Burger, FOREIGN LANGUAGE (Langue Étrangère), which arrives direct from the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). Two teenage pen pals in Leipzig and Strasbourg forge a friendship through letters and language exchange in this cross cultural coming-of-age drama, starring Nina Hoss as one of their mothers. Their bittersweet and boundary-testing friendship is strained as they grapple with how to understand themselves and others around them.

Set in contemporary Berlin, comedy/drama ONE FOR THE ROAD stars festival favourite Frederick Lau (in an outstanding performance) alongside Nora Tschirner. A deeply touching and distinctly authentic story from director Markus Goller (25km/h GFF19), the film alternates between Berlin’s famous bars and sober therapy rooms.

Featuring an all-star cast, DARK SATELLITES (Die stillen Trabanten) is a moving ensemble drama set in nighttime Leipzig that tells three stories about the impossibility of love. Set amongst the everyday lives of its characters, these beautifully poetic vignettes feature an all-star cast including Nastassja Kinski and Albrecht Schuch.

Set in Switzerland on the cusp of WWII, historical drama LUBO centres around the superb performance of German star Franz Rogowski as a Swiss street performer. Featuring in the ‘Beyond the Borders’ sidebar, which profiles German language films from other countries, Rogowski’s character seeks justice upon losing his family due to a national campaign to re-educate Yenish (a minority nomadic community) children in Switzerland.

From the popular ‘Kino for Kids’ sidebar, presented by the Goethe-Institut Australia, comes MISSION: SCHOOL OF FUN (Die unlangweiligste Schule der Welt – Auf Klassenfahrt). There is no such thing as boredom at school as the school day becomes a cinematic adventure in this imaginative tale following nine-year-old action fan Max, adapted from Sabrina J. Kirschner’s bestselling children’s book series.

Family friendly film THE FLYING CLASSROOM (Das fliegende Klassenzimmer) is a big-screen adaptation of Erich

Kästner’s best-selling children’s and young adult’s book of the same name. This thrilling and entertaining adventure features an outstanding cast of up-and-coming talent and will entertain film goers of all ages.

Two further titles for families and children will be announced in the full programme release in April. The 2024 HSBC German Film Festival will take place from 7 May – 5 June

The full programme will be announced and tickets will be on sale Wednesday 10 April

2024 HSBC German Film Festival
Canberra: 7 May – 29 May, Palace Electric
Sydney: 8 May – 29 May, Palace Norton Street, Chauvel Cinema, Palace Central, Palace Moore Park (new)
Brisbane: 9 May – 29 May, Palace James St, Palace Barracks
Melbourne: 10 May – 29 May, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, The Astor Theatre, Pentridge Cinema and Palace Penny Lane (new)
Adelaide: 15 May – 5 June, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth: 16 May – 5 June, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX & Palace Raine Square
Byron Bay: 16 May – 5 June, Palace Byron Bay
www.germanfilmfestival.com.au