Fatherland | Vaterland

Presented on Thursday, October 8th @ 7:00 PM at the American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre.
Discussion with Filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski  
All attendees are invited to an Afterparty Reception following the film 

Presented with the support of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles, and in Cooperation with the Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e. V.

TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE STARTING MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st @ 10.00 AM Admission is free with above RSVP link | Capacity is limited 
RSVP holders will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.

In the case of SOLD-OUT screenings, a STAND-BY line will form in front of the theater. 


FATHERLAND | VATERLAND
Poland, Germany, Italy, France (2026) 82 min. DCP Projection. German/English/French/Russian with English Subtitles
Director Paweł Pawlikowski
Screenplay Paweł Pawlikowski, Henk Handloegten
Cinematography Łukasz Żal
Editing Piotr Wójcik, Paweł Pawlikowski
Cast Hanns Zischler, Sandra Hüller, August Diehl, Anna Madeley, Devid Striesow, David Menkin, Joachim Meyerhoff, Enno Trebs, Theo Trebs, Waldemar Kobus, Milan Peschel, Daniel Wagner
Executive Producers Efe Çakarel, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, Andrea Scarso, Timo Argillander, Ognjen Dizdarevic, Ilaria Zazzaro, Luke Rivett, Matthieu Prada, Julien Delajoux, Matthias Nicodeme
Producers Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Mieli, Ewa Puszczyńska, Jeanne Tremsal, Edward Berger, Dimitri Rassam, Lorenzo Gangarossa
Production Company Our Films (Rome), Extreme Emotions (Łódź), Nine Hours (Berlin), Chapter 2 (Paris)

Set in the summer of 1949 amidst the rubble of a defeated Germany in the aftermath of World War II, Fatherland centers on the relationship between the Nobel Prize–winning novelist Thomas Mann (Zischler) and his daughter Erika Mann (Hüller) -actress, writer, and rally driver. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Thomas Mann must face not only a divided fatherland, but also a deep fissure within his own family, one that is both politically charged and emotionally challenging. As father and daughter embark on a fictionalized road trip across a torn Germany- still visibly scarred by battle and simultaneously in denial of its evils and culpability- they travel from US-dominated Frankfurt in the west to Soviet controlled Weimar in the east. Pawlikowski and Handloegten’s screenplay uses the Mann’s own fractured relationship as the vehicle to examine a country at the crossroads of history, facing an impending moral crisis. Cinematographer Łukasz Żal’s hauntingly stark black-and-white visuals skillfully capture Zischler and Hüller’s masterfully restrained performances. 
 

SELECT AWARDS:
Cannes Film Festival 2026 Winner: Best Director Award ex aequo



  Paweł Pawlikowski is a Polish filmmaker who began his career directing award-winning documentaries in Britain before moving into narrative features with LAST RESORT (2000) and MY SUMMER OF LOVE (2004), both BAFTA-winning films. His film IDA (2013) won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, the first Polish film to do so. It also won five European Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenwriter. COLD WAR (2018) premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where Pawlikowski was awarded the Best Director Prize, and later received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Director. It also won five awards at the 2018 European Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenwriter.



US DISTRIBUTOR
MUBI
www.mubi.com

The GERMAN CURRENTS Film Festival 2026 is a co-production of the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and the American Cinematheque with the support of The Friends of Goethe, ELMA (European Languages and Movies in America), Condor, the Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco, the Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles, the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles, Paulaner USA, Paulaner Sunset, Tupetz Wine Connection, KRUU.COM, and in cooperation with the German Consulate General in Los Angeles, the Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V., the German Film Office, the Wende Museum, and DEFA Film Library as well as our media partners Deutsche Welle, KPFK Radio, Campus Circle, and our educational outreach partners ELMA and Creating Creators.