GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL

Presented by Palace in association with Luna Palace Cinemas and in collaboration with German Films, the 2022 German Film Festival features a standout selection of twenty-five films. New German cinema direct from European festivals, a celebratory retro sidebar, Kino for Kids and new Austrian and Swiss cinema all take centre stage. This year’s Festival opens with A STASI COMEDY (Stasikomödie), a fresh release direct from Germany starring festival favourites David Kross and Tom Schilling and set in Communist East Berlin in the early 1980s. Ludger (played by Kross) is hired by the Stasi to infiltrate a subversive countercultural movement in the district of Prenzlauer Berg. After falling in love with the mysterious Nathalie and sleeping with his first target, Corinna, Ludger ends up living two lives – one as an underground poet and one as a Stasi agent – both of which eventually come back to haunt him 30 years later.

The Festival Centrepiece, direct from its Berlinale premiere, is THE FORGER (Der Passfälscher), based on the true story of Samson “Cioma” Schönhaus, a Jewish graphic artist who hid in plain sight in 1940s Berlin, moving freely about the city using fake documents, while secretly forging IDs to help hundreds of others. Louis Hofmann masterfully embodies Schönhaus and leads an exceptional, young cast, directed by Maggie Peren. This year’s Festival Special Presentation is DEAR THOMAS (Lieber Thomas), a historical monochrome biopic of East German writer and filmmaker Thomas Brasch, starring rising star Albrecht Schuch (Fabian: Going to the Dogs and Berlin Alexanderplatz GFF21). It follows Brasch as he transforms into a prolific writer and poetic rebel but struggles with the reality of censorship in communist East Germany.

To celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the Goethe-Institut in Australia, a specially curated selection of outstanding German cinema from the last five decades will delight film lovers and includes the 1979 Academy-Award winning film THE TIN DRUM, SOLO SUNNY (1890), RUN LOLA RUN (1998), GOODBYE, LENIN! (2003) and VICTORIA (2015). The Festival also presents Kino for Kids – films specially curated for children, teens and families. This year’s programme includes MISSION ULJA FUNK, SCHOOL OF MAGIC ANIMALS, TALES OF FRANZ and THE WALL BETWEEN US.

The German Film Festival takes place from 2 – 22 June at Palace Cinemas Raine Square, Luna Leederville and Luna on SX.