The Teachers’ Lounge [+leggi anche:
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intervista: İlker Çatak
intervista: Leonie Benesch
scheda film] by Ilker Çatak (awarded the Europa Cinemas Label in the Berlinale’s 2023 Panorama section, the German candidate for the 2024 Best International Film Oscar and a nominee for the upcoming LUX Audience Award - read news, and set for distribution in France on 7 February via Tandem) is due to open the 28th Paris German Film Festival this evening in the presence of actress Leonie Benesch (the European Film Promotion’s 2023 Shooting Star – read our interview). Organised by German Films in co-operation with the Goethe-Institut, and unspooling until 15 October in Paris’ Arlequin cinema, the event will showcase a selection of the best recent films of German origin (fiction films, documentaries, short and feature-length films).

Stealing focus among the eight feature films on the agenda are three films which were unveiled at the beginning of the year in Berlin: Sun and Concrete [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by David Wnendt (which triumphed in German cinemas, racking up more than a million admissions, and is still on the lookout for a French distributor), Ayşe Polat’s political thriller-come-fantasy film In the Blind Spot [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ayşe Polat
scheda film], and Sonja Heiss’ When It Will Be Again Like It Never Was Before [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sonja Heiss
scheda film] (an adaptation of Joachim Meyerhoff’s bestseller).

Likewise gracing the agenda are One Last Evening [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Lukas Nathrath
scheda film] by Lukas Nathrath (a debut feature film unveiled in Rotterdam’s Tiger competition), Elaha [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Milena Aboyan (released in France on 7 February 2024 via Wayna Pitch) and two documentaries: She Chef [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by the directorial duo composed of Melanie Liebheit and Gereon Wetzel, and Anselm [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Wim Wenders (well-received in a Cannes Special Screening and which Les Films du Losange are releasing in France on 18 October), which is due to close the festival in 3D and in the presence of the filmmaker himself.

Editor Bettina Böhler is set to be placed centre stage this year by way of a focus session which includes the documentary Schlingensief – A Voice that Shook the Silence [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Bettina Böhler
scheda film] (which she directed herself), Transit [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christian Petzold
intervista: Franz Rogowski
scheda film] by Christian Petzold and Western [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jonas Dornbach
intervista: Valeska Grisebach
intervista: Valeska Grisebach
scheda film] by Valeska Grisebach.

Nine short films will also feature in the showcase, with Special Screenings of the best films of 2023 to hail from German film schools (Next Generation) and the best short films lasting less than five minutes (Short Tiger Award).

In collaboration with