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6:00 PM
EUFF Canada: Impatience of the Heart
Film Festival | Canadian Premiere!
Presented by the Goethe-Institut & Germany in Canada
Experience the current richness of European cinema through 27 outstanding films. This year, EUFF celebrates its 22nd anniversary in Toronto, and its 29th in Vancouver. The German selection 2026:
Impatience of the Heart (Ungeduld des Herzens)
with English subtitles
Free/early seat reservations via EUFFTO
Germany 2025, 104 min
Director: Lauro Cress
starring Giulio Brizzi, Ladina von Frisching (The Universal Theory), Livia Matthes, and more
Canadian Premiere!
Out of shame, pity and a longing for purpose, a young Afghan soldier feigns feelings for a disabled woman, even fueling her hope of walking again. But her growing distrust and his obsession with curing her create a frenetic spiral that drags everyone into misfortune. The film is an adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s 1939 novel Beware of Pity. Wes Anderson had already loosely based The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) on the same book.
Director Lauro Cress was born in Munich in 1983. During his degree in experimental media at the Berlin University of the Arts, he wrote and directed several experimental short films. After directing the highly acclaimed Cannesseries winner The Zweiflers, his Berlin Film Academy dffb graduation film Impatience of the Heart is his feature film debut.
Max Ophüls Prize for Best Feature Film & Best Emerging Actor (Ladina von Frisching and Giulio Brizzi)
Götz George Young Talent Award (Ladina von Frisching)
“Cress’s film explores the risks of compassion and responsibility with an uncompromising sense of the present.” - epd Film
"A successful update of Stefan Zweig’s masterpiece—and a promising debut.” -- Filmstarts
“Ruthlessly contemporary.” -- artechock
Max Ophüls jury praise: “class-conscious perspective,” “great sensitivity,” and “electrifying ensemble cast”: “An uncut diamond, full of fragile and painful beauty."
Toronto
November 18, 6pm
Spadina Theatre at Alliance Francaise
Vancouver
November 25, 6:30pm
The Cinematheque
Ottawa
November 21, 6:30pm
Ottawa Art Gallery
EUFFTO 2026 takes place in person Nov 12-26.
EUFF Vancouver 2026 takes place in person Nov 12-26.
EUFF Ottawa 2026 takes place in person Nov 13-26.
EUFF Canada is online Dec 1-15.
The Toronto festival is free but you can book seat reservations and online tickets via The European Film Festival – the best of European Cinema and European Union Film Festival Online 2025.
Experience the current richness of European cinema through 27 outstanding films. This year, EUFF celebrates its 22nd anniversary in Toronto, and its 29th in Vancouver. The German selection 2026:
Impatience of the Heart (Ungeduld des Herzens)
with English subtitles
Free/early seat reservations via EUFFTO
Germany 2025, 104 min
Director: Lauro Cress
starring Giulio Brizzi, Ladina von Frisching (The Universal Theory), Livia Matthes, and more
Canadian Premiere!
Out of shame, pity and a longing for purpose, a young Afghan soldier feigns feelings for a disabled woman, even fueling her hope of walking again. But her growing distrust and his obsession with curing her create a frenetic spiral that drags everyone into misfortune. The film is an adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s 1939 novel Beware of Pity. Wes Anderson had already loosely based The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) on the same book.
Director Lauro Cress was born in Munich in 1983. During his degree in experimental media at the Berlin University of the Arts, he wrote and directed several experimental short films. After directing the highly acclaimed Cannesseries winner The Zweiflers, his Berlin Film Academy dffb graduation film Impatience of the Heart is his feature film debut.
Max Ophüls Prize for Best Feature Film & Best Emerging Actor (Ladina von Frisching and Giulio Brizzi)
Götz George Young Talent Award (Ladina von Frisching)
“Cress’s film explores the risks of compassion and responsibility with an uncompromising sense of the present.” - epd Film
"A successful update of Stefan Zweig’s masterpiece—and a promising debut.” -- Filmstarts
“Ruthlessly contemporary.” -- artechock
Max Ophüls jury praise: “class-conscious perspective,” “great sensitivity,” and “electrifying ensemble cast”: “An uncut diamond, full of fragile and painful beauty."
Toronto
November 18, 6pm
Spadina Theatre at Alliance Francaise
Vancouver
November 25, 6:30pm
The Cinematheque
Ottawa
November 21, 6:30pm
Ottawa Art Gallery
EUFFTO 2026 takes place in person Nov 12-26.
EUFF Vancouver 2026 takes place in person Nov 12-26.
EUFF Ottawa 2026 takes place in person Nov 13-26.
EUFF Canada is online Dec 1-15.
The Toronto festival is free but you can book seat reservations and online tickets via The European Film Festival – the best of European Cinema and European Union Film Festival Online 2025.