Fokus – Films From Germany

After having taken a long time off work, Lena returns for her first shift in the Jazz Blues Bar: deliveries arrive and musicians, friends and acquaintances stop by, as do the more illustrious regulars. And in the evening, the Danish musician Leif (a.k.a. Poorboy) is going to be playing. A declaration of love to the microcosm that is the 'pub', with its stories and figures filmed from the neighbouring table.

As a lowly bank employee, what do you do when you discover a security vulnerability in the bank's financial transaction system? You pinch 2.5 million German marks and disappear to Australia. That's what supposedly happened in the summer of 1988 – and now onscreen in this as entertaining as raucous melange of documentary, animation and feature film.

What Amélie was to Paris, so Cleo is for Berlin: Bursting with ideas, treasure hunter Cleo wanders an enchanted city in search of master criminals the Sass Brothers’ treasure. A big city fairytale full of wit and bizarre supporting characters from the past, it’s romantic, playful, and, at the same time, a love letter to Berlin. 

Rojda, a German soldier and native Kurd, volunteers for a mission to train female Kurdish soldiers in Iraq to fight ISIS. No one must know that she is actually looking for her missing sister.

Astrid is in her late forties and has her life firmly under control. She has fallen in love with Paul, and their first weekend trip together takes them to Budapest for a few romantic days, just the two of them. Together with Paul, Astrid looks back at her past, and suddenly everything could be as it had never been.

Due to an unexplicable act the destinies of three people collapse and dissolve into a dramaturgical dance about victims, offenders and the truth that lays between the lies.

A love triangle filled with expectations, longing and fears leaves open the speculation of who knows what about whom.

The film tells the untold story of a French Jewish spy, Marthe Cohn - aka Chichinette. After keeping silent for almost 60 years, she shares her extraordinary story of a 4.5 feet high woman who managed to beat the odds and fight the Nazis as a spy. At the age of nearly 100, she tours the world, promoting her message to people of all generations.

Five friends growing up in a small town in Germany, have to decide whether leave or stay after they finished school. They seek each other, they run away from each other as they kiss and brawl deciding what it seems to be the rest of their lives.

Please find here the programme for the 2020 Fokus edition with all dates, screenings and film talks!