A Land Within: A Workshop with Michael Kofler

Michael Kofler's debut feature, A Land Within (Zweitland), tells a deeply personal story shaped by political conflict, divided identity, and the complicated bonds of family and community. In this workshop, Kofler draws on his own path from studying film in London to writing an award-winning debut script to directing his first feature, sharing how he built a richly layered, character-driven world out of a real and complex historical moment.

A Land Within Screening at Houston Cinema Arts Festival:
Mon, Oct 5th, 7:00 PM @ The DeLUXE Theater

This workshop is part of the 2026 Houston Cinema Arts Festival. Tickets must be purchased through the festival website. Goethe-Institut guests can get $5 off tickets using the discount code “Goethe_partner”.

About the Film

Alto Adige/Südtirol/South Tyrol, 1961. A series of separatist bomb attacks shakes the northern Italian region with a German-speaking minority. Paul (Prenn), a farmer’s son and free spirit, dreams of escaping his little village to study painting in Munich. When his hardliner older brother, Anton (Rupp), is exposed as one of the bombers and is forced to flee, he leaves the farm, his wife Anna (Schwarz) and young son Thomas (Carli) behind. Reluctantly, Paul stays to support the family, but as ethnic tensions and police repression in the village grow, he is drawn into a downward spiral of violence and toxic masculinity. As events spin out of control, Paul must choose between his dream and standing up against his brother. In his feature debut, director Michael Kofler delivers a powerful portrayal of the events surrounding the so-called “Night of Fire” in South Tyrol, highlighting the thin line between conviction and radicalization.

SELECT AWARDS
FF Della Lessinia 2026 MicroCosmo Award
Bavarian Film Award 2026 Newcomer Director Award

A LAND WITHIN | ZWEITLAND
Germany, Italy, Austria (2025) 112 min. DCP Projection. Italian, German, South Tyrolean dialect with English Subtitles
Writer-Director: Michael Kofler
Assistant Director: Peter Fuchs, Jannis Skalieris
Cinematography: Felix Wiedemann
Editing: Florian Miosge
Cast: Thomas Prenn, Laurence Rupp, Aenne Schwarz, Niclas Carli, Francesco Acquaroli, Andrea Fuorto
Producers Wasiliki Bleser, Nina Spilger
Co-Producers: Martin Rattini, Barbara Pichler, Gabriele Kranzelbinder, Dr. Rainer Kölmel
Production Company Starhaus Filmproduktion GmbH (München) in co-production with HELIOS Sustainable Films (Bozen), KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production (Wien), Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) (München)