Palace Cinemas in collaboration with German Films is delighted to unveil the 2025 programme of the HSBC German Film Festival.
Opening the festival is one of Germany’s biggest box office hits, the romantic comedy Long Story Short (Feste und Freunde – Ein Hoch auf uns!) featuring an all-star cast including Laura Tonke, Ronald Zehrfeld and Trystan Pütter. A hilarious and poignant celebration of love and friendship, the film follows a group of friends through a series of special occasions.
From the 2025 Berlinale is Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s provocative thriller Hysteria. A piercing reflection on the power of images and the dynamics of perception, projection and social hysteria, the film features one of European cinema’s most exciting new stars Devrim Lingnau as an assistant director intern who is drawn into a dangerous game of secrets, lies and paranoia on a film set when a burned Quran is discovered. Closing Night is the Berlinale hit Mother’s Baby from Austrian director Johanna Moder. Marie Leuenberger delivers a standout performance alongside Hans Löw and Claes Bang in this chilling psychological thriller about a woman’s strange experience in a private fertility clinic.
German box office hit comedy Two to One (Zwei zu eins) with an all-star cast, led by Sandra Hüller, is a festival Special Presentation. Directed by Natja Brunckhorst, the film is based on incredible true events set in 1990 when a group of East Germans take advantage of the chaotic economic situation to pull off a highly entertaining heist of soon-to-be-worthless East German marks.
The Festival’s documentary Special Presentation is the highly acclaimed Riefenstahl directed by celebrated filmmaker Andres Veiel who explores the legacy of the woman who became world-famous with her Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will. This insightful documentary draws on archival material and footage from Riefenstahl, who continually denied any close ties to the Nazi regime.Direct from the 2025 Berlinale is What Marielle Knows (Was Marielle weiß), a scathingly funny comedy-of-manners from writer/director Frédéric Hambalek that centres on a tantalising premise: what would happen if everything a family had been keeping private from each other was suddenly out in the open?
Matthias Glasner’s compelling drama Dying (Sterben) assembles an all-star cast led by the incredible Lars Eidinger, treading the line between drama, tragedy and black humour. Set between Berlin and Hamburg, Eidinger stars as a successful orchestra conductor negotiating the chaos of his volatile private life.A portrait of a unique artist and remarkable woman, documentary I Want it All (Ich will alles. Hildegard Knef), showcases the unwavering spirit of German actress, singer and writer Hildegard Knef.
The Festival’s ‘Beyond the Borders’ sidebar features a selection of German language films from neighbouring Austria and Switzerland. Films include Sönke Wortmann’s comedy A Family Dilemma (Der Spitzname). Peacock (Pfau – Bin ich echt?), a witty, existential black comedy with a touch of the surreal, and Swiss/Italian co-production The Tasters (Le assaggiatrici) which tells the incredible true story of a group women tasked with testing Adolf Hitler’s meals at the Führer’s headquarters in the Wolf’s Lair
In a special anniversary event commemorating 45 years of German New Wave, director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s iconic work Berlin Alexanderplatz will be screened across three weekends in selected cities. The film follows Franz Biberkopf’s tragic descent in Weimar Berlin, blending crime, existentialism, and surrealism in a hypnotic masterpiece that no cinephile should miss on the big screen.
From the popular ‘Kino for Kids’ sidebar, presented by the Goethe-Institut Australia, is a delightful selection of films for the whole family to enjoy. Winner of the 2024 German Film Award for Best Children’s Film, Winners (Sieger Sein)tells the story of eleven-year-old Mona, a refugee from Syria, whose talent for football is discovered. Enchanting documentary Circusboy (Zirkuskind) chronicles the lives of the Frank travelling circus family over one year. The Chaos Sisters and Penguin Paul (Die Chaosschwestern und Pinguin Paul) follows four sisters who must work together to save a dancing penguin who has been kidnapped from the local zoo.
The Festival runs from 7 May – 28 May at Palace Nova Eastend and Prospect
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