German cinema

German films don't make it to Czech cinemas and our TV screens very often, which is a pity, because German cinema definitely has much to offer. Thanks to our special German Cinema section, you can expand your viewing horizons at Finále! Again this year, in cooperation with the Cottbus Film Festival and the Max Ophüls Festival in Saarbrücken, we have prepared a selection of feature films and short films by talented German directors that have been successful beyond Germany's borders. Partner of the section German cinema is The Czech-German Future Fund.

Feature films

Arthur & Diana

Sara Summa

Siblings Arthur and Diana set off from Berlin in a battered old Renault. The destination is Paris, where the car is due to pass a technical inspection, and Diana's two-year-old son is their lively companion on the road. As it happens, the journey doesn't go quite as planned, and Arthur and Diana face a number of pitfalls... Director Sara Summa stars in her playful, highly stylised auto-fiction film alongside her real-life brother Robin.

Good News

Hannes Schilling

Leo is an ambitious journalist who has gone on a working trip to Thailand, where he hopes to get material for a story on an insurgent group in the south of the country. He is helped in his efforts by a local man, Mawar, who longs for a better future in Germany. Leo firmly believes that the reportage could be a breakthrough in his career, and he will have to decide how far he is willing to go for it... In his debut, director Hannes Schilling raises questions about journalistic ethics and reflects on the line between ambition and moral responsibility.

Empty Nets

Behrooz Karamizade

Young Amir is in love with Narges, a girl from a well-to-do family, and the love is reciprocated. Instead of the unadulterated joy of their mutual love, however, their hopes for a future together are tempered by deeply rooted traditions and social hierarchies that influence the lives of the young generation of Iranians even today. The insightful social drama by debuting director Behrooz Karamizadeh premiered in the competition section at last year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where the filmmakers received the second highest award, the Special Jury Prize.

We Call Her Hanka

Grit Lemke

Beyond our northern borders, in Saxony and Brandenburg, live the representatives of the smallest Slavic nation, the Lusatian Serbs. Director Grit Lemke, having roots in Lusatian-Serbian area herself, explores the traditions of this people and reflects on what shapes their identity in her documentary, which is the first film ever made about them. Through the protagonist, Anna, Hanka in Lusatian-Serbian, she also shows the way in which the upcoming generation approaches self-determination.

Short films

Thursday

Maja Bresink

A father visits his adult daughter after a long time. They have not seen each other for a long time and their relationship has many cracks. But it's Thursday, the day they used to go out for kebab together, so why not try to turn back the clock for a while and see if they still have something in common... Maja Bresink's short film explores intergenerational relationships, the inability to communicate and the expectations that often weigh down on these relationships.

In the End We’re All Music

Katharina Schnekenbühl

Eight-year-old Lilo would like to finally get rid of her swimming armbands. Kira would like to improve and swim faster. Retired Frida wants to jump off a 10-meter tower. Three women of different generations, three small stories set in the microcosm of a swimming pool, tell of overcoming one's own fear and how we all influence each other.

Don't Let Go

Antonia Lindner

Anouk and Amir are freshly in love and enjoy the carefree moments of their relationship. When they are stopped by the police on their way home from a holiday, their relationship is put to the ultimate test... Antonie Lindner made her short film, Don't Let Go, while studying at the HFF Munich Film School and in it, she explores the dynamics of a relationship and moral issues in a realistic, civil manner.

Waking Up In Silence

Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi

Children running between houses in the sunlight. At first glance, it seems like an everyday scene, except that the group of Ukrainian children is in Germany with refugee status because of the war in their country. The seemingly carefree moments of play are disrupted by its touches in the form of phone calls with their fathers at the front... Mila Zhluktenko and Daniel Asadi Faezi's sensitively conceived, poetic documentary, Waking Up in Silence, premiered at Berlinale.