KINO! Film Salon: Late Shift

KINO! Film Salon is a monthly online club to discuss films from Germany.

How it works: Each month, we choose a German film currently available to stream on U.S. platforms, watch it independently, and come together for a hosted conversation with other fans of German cinema.

In our November session, we’ll discuss Petra Volpe’s medical drama Late Shift, starring Leonie Benesch (The Teachers’ Lounge, September 5). Editor Hansjörg Weissbrich will join us for the discussion.

Over the course of one night, nurse Floria finds her usual positive demeanor challenged by the untenable demands of an understaffed late shift. With a nervous trainee to watch over and the doctors on duty nowhere to be found, Floria navigates an endless stream of tasks, some mundane and some teetering on the edge of life and death.

“Delivered with the intensity and drive of a thriller, Late Shift is a fascinating exploration of the unseen efforts and untenable burdens that drive our healthcare providers,” writes KINO! Film Salon host Jim Kolmar. “Volpe’s elegant, assertive style provides a momentum and pulse that makes this a truly striking film and provides yet more evidence that Benesch is a major, generational talent.”

Late Shift world-premiered at the 2025 Berlinale and was an official selection of the Locarno International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival. It won three Swiss Film Awards, including Best Feature Film, and earned Leonie Benesch a nomination for Best European Actress at the European Film Awards. It was selected as Switzerland’s submission for Best International Feature at the 2026 Oscars.

Hosted by Jim Kolmar

Jim programs for SXSW and Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival and was a founding committee member of Festival Internacional de Cine Tulum (FICTU). He has participated in numerous international festival juries, panels, and committees.

KINO!Film Salon is a production ofTelescope Film, in partnership with the German Film Office.

Heldin
Dir. Petra Volpe
Switzerland/Germany, 2025
91 min.
With Leonie Benesch, Sonja Riesen, Selma Aldin, Alireza Bayram