German Films at 21st Chennai International Film Festival 2023

The Chennai International Film Festival aims at presenting the best of International and Indian films in Chennai and showcases the best of Tamil films to the world. It is a platform to bring together people from various cultures through the medium of cinema and to contribute to the appreciation of film cultures of different nations in the context of social and cultural ethos. Goethe-Institut participates every year with a selection of current award-winning productions in order for Chennaiites to gain exposure to German Films.  

We are dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in the cultural sphere. As part of our initiative, we are hosting a special screening exclusively for #Female filmlovers. Join us for the exclusive screening of a German film, open only to Women.


Afire (Roter Himmel)
Dir.: Christian Petzold   | 2023 |   103 min.

16.12.2023 | 2.30 pm 
Six Degrees, PVR Multiplex
Royapettah, Chennai 

EXCLUSIVE SCREENING ONLY FOR WOMEN AUDIENCE  


19.12.2023 | 4.15 pm 
Anna Cinemas,  #21, Anna Salai, 
Chennai 

Leon and Felix’s plan was to spend the summer together in a holiday home on the Baltic coast. They wanted to be there as friends but also to work – one on his second book, the other assembling his art portfolio. But Nadja and Devid are also there, and they bring lots of positive vibes with them. Four young people experimenting with love, even though this does not come easy to Leon. His unfinished manuscript haunts him wherever he goes, whether he is at the summerhouse or the beach. The others’ good mood often causes his to plummet. A visit from his publisher is imminent. But, as the latter arrives in his nifty small car, the forest begins to blaze. It rains ash, the sky turns red, and a relationship-drama that merges physical
intensity and artistic sublimation takes a turn into a new dimension.

This second part of Christian Petzold’s trilogy begun in 2020 with "Undine", is about not being able to sleep and wanting to love; about writing and being read; about being in the world and yet possibly allowing life to slip by. A film that is suspended between symbolism and realism, both funny and deeply tragic.


Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush
Dir.: Andreas Dresen | 2022 | 118 min.

18.12.2023 | 5.00 pm 
Santham, PVR Multiplex
Royapettah, Chennai 

In November 2001, Murat Kurnaz, a Turk born and raised in Germany, is arrested during a routine check while in Pakistan. Suspected of being a terrorist, he ends up in the notorious U.S. prison camp in Guantánamo in early 2002. But although his innocence is soon proven, he remains in custody because the Turkish government does not intervene, and the German government rejects an American offer.

Meanwhile, Kurnaz's mother Rabiye begins an almost hopeless fight to get her son released: Together with human rights lawyer Bernhard Docke, she files a lawsuit against the American government. This step catapults the Turkish housewife from her terraced house in Bremen directly into world politics. The grueling legal process drags on for years, leading the Kurnaz-Docke duo all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Download festival schedule