One of Singapore’s longest-running foreign film festivals returns to Filmhouse and other locations this year with a selection that celebrates the diversity and vitality of contemporary German cinema. The 29th edition of the German Film Festival invites you on a cinematic odyssey that explores the nuances of shifting modernities, memory, and self-determination. All manner of cinema speaks of encounter, transporting us preciously—and sometimes precariously, through the loves, worlds, and eyes of others. We invite you to have an encounter with us.
FATHERLAND centres on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, actress, writer and rally driver. In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick taking them across a Germany in ruins – from US dominated Frankfurt to Soviet controlled Weimar. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Thomas Mann has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also deep fracture within his own family.
In German with English subitltes.
Rating NC16. Some Mature Content
Co-presented by Goethe-Institut Singapore, Embassy of Italy in Singapore & Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Singapore
When a mysterious skeleton surfaces from an East German moor, three dark chapters of German history collide: Was it a Wehrmacht deserter in 1944, a desperate farmer during GDR times or a shadowy figure of the RAF terrorism era? While hiding from her own activist past, a young woman begins to investigate, only to find herself entangled in a web of historical secrets that mirror her present struggles
In German with English subtitles.
Rating M18. Sexual Scene
Presented by Goethe-Institut Singapore in collaboration with Filmhouse
Life is good for Derya and Aziz, a celebrated artist couple from Turkey, until an incident at their play’s premiere. Suddenly targeted by the state and struggling to balance their ideals with life’s necessities, their marriage is pushed to a breaking point.
In Turkish with English subtitles.
Rating PG. Some Coarse Language
Presented by Goethe-Institut Singapore in collaboration with Filmhouse
Spring 1945, the remote North Sea island of Amrum. In what will become the final days of World War II, big-hearted young student Nanning (exceptional newcomer Jasper Billerbeck) has a busy life. He braves the treacherous sea to hunt seals, fishes at night, and works the neighbouring potato farm run by Tessa (Diane Kruger) to help his pregnant mother Hille (Laura Tonke) – a fervent Nazi loyalist - feed the family. His father, captured as a prisoner of war, is unable to offer help or guidance to his son.
When a radio broadcast brings news of Hitler’s fall, Nanning’s world begins to unravel. His devastated mother refuses to eat anything other than white bread, butter and honey. Craving her affection, the ever-enterprising Nanning embarks on a quest across the island to obtain these precious, near-impossible to find ingredients...
In German with English subtitles.
Rating PG. Some Disturbing Scenes
Presented by Goethe-Institut Singapore in collaboration with Filmhouse
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.
In German with English subtitles.
Rating NC16. Some Mature Content
Presented by Goethe-Institut Singapore in collaboration with Filmhouse
A Kosovan of migrant background living in Germany believes he's a victim of xenophobia, but it may be his own paranoia spiraling out of control.
The psychological drama-thriller Exile, directed by Visar Morina, stands as a poignant exploration of integration, identity, and the insidious nature of psychological alienation within a modern European context. Starring Mišel Matičević as Xhafer and Sandra Hüller as Nora, the film subverts the traditional narrative of the struggling immigrant by focusing on an affluent, professional protagonist who has seemingly achieved the pinnacle of assimilation. Through its claustrophobic storytelling, Exile blurs the lines between objective workplace discrimination and subjective paranoia, mapping out a devastating portrait of a man whose sense of belonging systematically unravels.
In Albanian, French and German with English subtitles.
Rating M18. Nudity
Presented by Goethe-Institut Singapore in collaboration with Filmhouse
Berlin, 2019. As the city marks 30 years since the fall of the Wall, Micha Hartung (Charly Hübner) is barely getting by, running - and living in - a failing video store. But when a magazine journalist (Leon Ullrich) uncovers a long-forgotten incident from his past, everything changes. As a railway worker in the German Democratic Republic, Micha once mistakenly sent a train across the border into the West. Reimagined as a bold act of defiance, the story is spun into a media sensation, casting Micha as the mastermind behind the biggest mass escape in GDR history. Reluctant at first, Micha is soon caught in the glare of fame – which also has its perks, as he meets his dream woman, Paula (Christiane Paul). He never imagined an ordinary guy like him could attract someone so successful, educated and witty, but like the rest of his life, this budding love story threatens to descend into a chaos of miscommunication and lies.
In German with English subtitles.
Rating PG13 . Some Coarse Language
Presented by Goethe-Institut Singapore in collaboration with Filmhouse
Edinburgh, 1810. Teachers Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods embark on their dream of an independent life together and open a boarding school. Their lives are changed forever when a wealthy aristocrat enrols her "illegitimate" 15-year-old grandchild from India. The teachers struggle to integrate the girl who remains an outsider among her classmates. Miss Pirie and Miss Woods are brought closer to Jane Cumming when her grandmother insists they look after her over the summer. Private and professional lines blur, affection between them grows and they start to form an unlikely family. Tensions rise as the new term begins. The teachers are overwhelmed with the girl's increasing desire for closeness and their own changing relationship. As Jane Cumming begins to feel excluded from her new family, she demands to be taken home to her grandmother. An accusation follows which leaves the teacher's fighting for their lives, resulting in a legal battle that would last a decade and scandalize the Scottish establishment. Based on true events.
In English.
Rating R21 . Some Homosexual Content
Co-presented by Goethe-Institut Singapore & Embassy of Switzerland in Singapore
