Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis visits Brussels

On 4 November 2025, the traditional Flagey cultural centre in Brussels announced: ‘Roll film!’ The film shown was the GDR youth drama ‘Jenseits der blauen Grenze’, which won the audience award for feature films at the renowned Max Ophüls Prize film festival in Saarbrücken in 2024.

At the joint invitation of the Goethe-Institut Brussels with its Europanetzwerk Deutsch programme and the Representation of the Saarland to the European Union, the film screening was part of a special evening that combined German film art and European cultural mediation.

Following the screening, director Sarah Neumann and producer Karoline Henkel spoke with Svenja Böttger and Emilia Sara Weirich (Max Ophüls Prize) about the making of the film, the shooting process and the challenge of telling a story that is at once personal, political and deeply human.

As Julia Sattler, director of the Goethe-Institut Brussels, vividly described in her welcoming speech, the film deals with one of the many attempts to flee across the so-called wet or blue border – the Baltic Sea. 
At the end of the 1980s, the days of Hanna (Lena Urzendowsky), an ambitious swimmer who dreams of nothing more than Olympic glory, are marked by hard training, friendship and youthful confidence – until cracks begin to appear in her everyday life under real socialism. Her best friend Andreas (Willi Geitmann), who was never able to fully adapt to the rigid GDR system, is to be ‘socialistically re-educated’ in a youth work camp. For him, there is only one way out: escape across the Baltic Sea – fifty kilometres of water between him and freedom. Hanna faces a decision that will change her life: does she stay on the safe, supported path of socialist society – or does she risk everything to help Andreas, knowing full well that he would never make it without her?

‘Jenseits der blauen Grenze’ combines historical authenticity with emotional power. It is a film about friendship, courage and the struggle for self-determination – and shows that freedom sometimes demands the highest price.

The audience in Brussels was moved by the impressive narrative and the intense exchange with the filmmakers. The evening made it clear how cinema connects people across borders and keeps history alive in a touching way.


Synopsis
Summer 1989, on the Baltic Sea. Ambitious Hanna (Lena Urzendowsky) is a talented swimmer who trains regularly and disciplinedly to achieve her big dream: she wants to become an Olympic champion. When she's not swimming, she likes to spend her free time with her best friend Andreas (Willi Geitmann) and Jens (Jannis Veihelmann), the new kid in class. But her everyday life changes drastically when Andreas, who has always had trouble fitting into the rigid GDR system, is sent to a youth work camp for ‘socialist re-education’. At some point, Andreas sees only one way out: to flee across the Baltic Sea. Fifty kilometres of water separate him from freedom. And so Hanna is suddenly faced with the decision of her life: does she leave her secure place in socialist society, where she is recognised and supported? Or does she let Andreas swim across the Baltic Sea alone, knowing that he will never make it without her help and experience?

Sarah Neumann
Born in Görlitz in 1988, she studied film and theatre studies in Berlin and scenic directing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. She worked as a dramaturge at UFA Fiction and made her first feature film, JENSEITS DER BLAUEN GRENZE (Beyond the Blue Border), in 2022, which won the Audience Award at the 45th Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival, among other awards.

Karoline Henkel
Born in Bühl in 1987, she studied international producing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg with periods abroad in Paris and Los Angeles. In 2015, she founded the production company WOOD WATER FILMS. She has produced multiple award-winning feature films and documentaries such as JENSEITS DER BLAUEN GRENZE (Beyond the Blue Line), and is currently working on the ARD series DAS HAUS (AT) and the cinema documentary SOLDATEN DES LICHTS (Soldiers of Light), among others.

‘Jenseits der Blauen Grenze’ (Beyond the Blue Line) | Director: Sarah Neumann | Germany 2024 | 102 min. | Max Ophüls Prize 2024: AUDIENCE AWARD FEATURE FILM, ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD

Excerpt from the jury's statement:
"The subtle staging and impressive acting performances lend this film a unique intensity. The camera work, visual language and music underscore the inner conflicts and make them palpable. It is remarkable how the film manages to penetrate the various levels of human existence while maintaining a sophisticated cinematic standard. The film's message encourages us to find true freedom in human relationships and deep friendship."

For all those who have not yet seen the film, it can be streamed throughout November on Goethe on demand Belgium.
  Open to EU staff and ministerial officials from the Permanent Representations of EU Member States and other invited guests