German Film Festival 2024’s first highlights revealed
The 2024 HSBC German Film Festival presented by Palace in cooperation with German Films, will feature a superb selection of contemporary German cinema from Thursday, May 16 to Wednesday, June 5 at Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Palace Raine Square.
First highlights include the acclaimed new drama from Camera d’Or winning writer and 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 Frederick Lau 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 runs from Thursday, May 16 to Wednesday, June 5 at Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Palace Raine Square. The full programme will be announced and tickets will be on sale on Wednesday, April 10 from germanfilmfestival.com.au