KINO/26 German Film Festival

KINO26 SQ © bombero international GmbH & Co KG, Rialto Film GmbH, Warner Bros Entertainment GmbH / Mathias Bothor

Welcome to KINO/26! The German Film Festival returns to Hong Kong from 17 September to 4 October with a diverse selection of new, vivid and adventurous films from Germany.

Welcome to KINO/26! The German Film Festival returns to Hong Kong from 17 September to 4 October with a diverse selection of new, vivid and adventurous films from Germany.

KINO/26 opens with Fatih Akin's AMRUM, awarded Best Film at the Bavarian Film Awards. Based on the childhood memories of the late filmmaker, actor and screenwriter Hark Bohm, it tells the story of a boy growing up on a North Sea island in the final days of the Second World War. Volker Schlöndorff's film VISITATION follows a house on a lake near Berlin and its inhabitants across a century of German history – from the imperial era to the reunification of divided Germany. The film is based on the novel by Booker Prize winning author Jenny Erpenbeck. We are delighted to welcome her to Hong Kong for a post-screening talk in person.

The Main Programme reflects the diversity of current German cinema: Simon Verhoeven's comedy OH, THIS UNSPEAKABLE VOID, honoured at the German Film Awards, the Berlinale Teddy Jury Award winner TRIAL OF HEIN, Mia Maariel Meyer's moving drama 22 LENGTHS, and Faraz Shariat's PROSECUTION against far-right violence, as well as the family film THE SECRET FLOOR which takes younger audiences on a time-travel adventure in an Alpine hotel during the Nazi period. Viv Li's documentary TWO MOUNTAINS WEIGHING DOWN MY CHEST offers a humorous look at life between queer Berlin and her traditional family in China. Viv Li will be available for a virtual post-screening talk with the Hong Kong audience.

In addition to the German productions, KINO/26 also opens the cinematographic windows to two partner countries: Austria and Israel. In collaboration with the Austrian Consulate General Hong Kong, the “Austrian Film Night” presents THE LONELIEST MAN IN TOWN, a film on Vienna’s last bluesman which premiered in the Competition of this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Also presented in this year’s Berlinale programme, the Israeli production WHERE TO? by Assaf Machnes tells the story of the random encounters of a Palestinian taxi driver and a young Israeli in Berlin . The film will be shown in the “Israeli Film Night” in collaboration with the Consulate General of Israel. The screening is followed by a virtual Q&A with director Assaf Machnes.

KINO/26 is completed by an homage and a retrospective. With his international cult movie GOOD BYE, LENIN! we pay homage to Wolfgang Becker who passed away in 2024 and whose playful humour left a lasting mark on German cinema.

The retrospective “Filmmaking on the Queer Frontier”, presented in collaboration with the Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, takes a closer look on Queer German Cinema and celebrates its pioneers Monika Treut and Rosa von Praunheim with a focused selection of their vast filmographies. We are honoured that Monika Treut will join us in Hong Kong and present her films in person to the Hong Kong audience.

Join us at KINO/26 – the lights go down, the stories begin!

-- Arendt Röskens, Direktor, Goethe-Institut Hongkong

Main Programme

Opening Film

Amrum

Germany / 2025 / 93’
Director: Fatih Akin

© bombero international GmbH & Co KG, Rialto Film GmbH, Warner Bros Entertainment GmbH / Mathias Bothor © bombero international GmbH & Co KG, Rialto Film GmbH, Warner Bros Entertainment GmbH / Mathias Bothor

Visitation

Germany, France / 2026 / 118’
Director: Volker Schlöndorff

© Studiocanal/ Ziegler Film © Studiocanal/ Ziegler Film
Oh, This Unspeakable Void

Germany / 2025 / 137’
Director: Simon Verhoeven

© Komplizen Film / Doll Filmproduktion / Warner Bros Ent © Komplizen Film / Doll Filmproduktion / Warner Bros Ent
22 Lengths

Germany / 2025 / 102’
Director: Mia Maariel Meyer

© Constantin Film Distribution/ Gordon Timpen © Constantin Film Distribution/ Gordon Timpen
The Secret Floor

Germany, Austria, Luxemburg / 2025 / 96’
Director: Norbert Lechner

© Amour Fou/ Kevin Lee © Amour Fou/ Kevin Lee
Prosecution

Germany / 2026 / 113’
Director: Faraz Shariat

© Jünglinge Film/ Lotta Kilian © Jünglinge Film/ Lotta Kilian
Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest

Germany, Netherlands / 2026 / 85’
Director: Viv Li

© Viv Li / Corso Film © Viv Li / Corso Film
Trial of Hein

Germany / 2026 / 122’
Director: Kai Stänicke

© Heretic © Heretic
Homage to Wolfgang Becker

Good Bye, Lenin!

Germany / 2003 / 121’
Director: Wolfgang Becker

© X Filme Creative Pool GmbH © X Filme Creative Pool GmbH
Austrian Special

The Loneliest Man in Town

Austria / 2026 / 86’
Director: Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel

© Vento Film © Vento Film
Israeli Special

Where To?

Israel, Germany / 2026 / 95’
Director: Assaf Machnes

© Lucky Number © Lucky Number

Filmmaking on the Queer Frontier

Retrospectives of Monika Treut and Rosa von Praunheim

In collaboration with Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Festival

Virgin Machine

West Germany / 1988 / 84’
Director: Monika Treut

© Salzgeber © Salzgeber
Gendernauts: A Journey Through Shifting Identities

Germany, USA / 1999 / 87’
Director: Monika Treut

© Salzgeber © Salzgeber
Ghosted

Germany, Taiwan / 2009 / 89’
Director: Monika Treut

© Salzgeber © Salzgeber
Genderation

Germany / 2021 / 88’
Director: Monika Treut

© Salzgeber © Salzgeber
It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives

West Germany / 1971 / 67'
Director: Rosa von Praunheim

© missingFILMs GmbH © missingFILMs GmbH
The Einstein of Sex - The Life and Work of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld

Germany / 1999 / 100’
Director: Rosa von Praunheim

© missingFILMs GmbH © missingFILMs GmbH
Two Mothers

Germany / 2007 / 87’
Director: Rosa von Praunheim

© Kinowelt GmbH © Kinowelt GmbH
Tough Love

Germany / 2015 / 89’
Director: Rosa von Praunheim

© missingFILMs GmbH © missingFILMs GmbH

Schedule

DATE	TIME	FILM
17.09. (Thu)	19:00	Amrum (FA)
18.09. (Fri)	19:30	The Einstein of Sex - The Life and Work of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (BC)
18.09. (Fri)	19:50	The Loneliest Man in Town (FA)
19.09. (Sat)	13:10	The Secret Floor (MMPP)
	13:30	Two Mothers (BC) - LGFF Screening
	15:20 (*)	Virgin Machine (BC) - LGFF Screening
	19:30	Good Bye, Lenin! (FA)
20.09. (Sun)	15:25 (*)	Ghosted (BC) - LGFF Screening
	17:35	Prosecution (MMPP)
	17:40	Trial of Hein (PE) - LGFF Screening
	17:45 (*)	Gendernauts (BC) - LGFF Screening
	19:45	Where To? (MMPP)
	19:55 (#)	It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives (BC) - LGFF Screening
21.09. (Mon)	19:30	Visitation (MMPP)
22.09. (Tue)	19:30 (*)	Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest (BC)
22.09. (Tue)	21:45 (#)	Genderation (BC)
23.09. (Wed)	19:45	Amrum (MMPP)
25.09. (Fri)	19:45	The Loneliest Man in Town (BC)
26.09. (Sat)	14:15	It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives (BC)
	15:40	Tough Love (BC)
	17:25	22 Lengths (BC)
	19:25	Prosecution (BC)
27.09. (Sun)	15:00	The Secret Floor (FA)
	17:15 (*)	Visitation (BC)
	17:30	Oh, This Unspeakable Void (FA)
	19:30	Trial of Hein (MMPP)
	20:05	Ghosted (BC)
28.09. (Mon)	19:30	Good Bye, Lenin! (MMPP)
30.09. (Wed)	19:50	Tough Love (BC)
30.09. (Wed)	21:35	Virgin Machine (BC)
02.10. (Fri)	19:50	Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest (BC)
02.10. (Fri)	21:35	22 Lengths (BC)
03.10. (Sat)	17:15	The Einstein of Sex - The Life and Work of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (BC)
03.10. (Sat)	19:10	Oh, This Unspeakable Void (BC)
04.10. (Sun)	15:40	Gendernauts (BC)
	17:20	Genderation (BC)
	19:15 (*)	Where To? (BC)

(*) With post-screening talk, conducted in English
(#) With pre-screening introduction, conducted in English

Ticketing

Tickets available from 17 August 2026 onwards

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In cooperation with

Special Thanks