KINO/26 German Film Festival

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.
 

The Main Programme reflects the diversity of current German cinema: 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.

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 in person for a 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.

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.