Author: fsk

  • Watching People Watching Birds

    Watching People Watching Birds

    A film by Ulrike Franke & Michael Loeken. Starts October 10th at the fsk. In German and English with German subtitles.

    [Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

    The num­ber and diver­si­ty of birds are decli­ning dra­ma­ti­cal­ly world­wi­de. At the same time, more and more peo­p­le are dis­co­ve­ring the world of birds for them­sel­ves: they all have their own uni­que sto­ry that has led them to beco­me birdwatchers.

    Looking through bino­cu­lars is also a quest for some­thing pri­mal, uni­que and true. In an almost magi­cal way, this quest seems to trans­fer to the view­er, as if one were step­ping out of the cine­ma into ano­ther world with heigh­ten­ed sen­ses. Our film shifts the focus from the birds back to the peo­p­le who inspi­re us with their love of birds and their devo­ti­on to natu­re. We also meet the world-famous aut­hor Jonathan Franzen, who says: “One reason why wild birds are so important (…) is that they repre­sent our last, best con­nec­tion to a natu­ral world that is other­wi­se in the pro­cess of disappearing.”

    Politically char­ged, serious yet also humo­rous, the film uses cine­ma­tic imagery and inten­se sound­scapes to paint a pic­tu­re of a socie­ty in the midst of a major cri­sis and peri­od of uphe­aval. The film beco­mes a nar­ra­ti­ve of doubt and hope, life and death, of stay­ing and dis­ap­pearing. And the birds beco­me, in an exhi­la­ra­ting, almost eerie way, a meta­phor for the sta­te of the world.

    Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

    Watching People Watching Birds
    Watching People Watching Birds
    Watching People Watching Birds
    Watching People Watching Birds
    Credits:

    DE 2026, 92 mins, German and English with German sub­tit­les
    Directed by: Ulrike Franke & Michael Loeken
    Cinematography: Jörg Adams, Hajo Schomerus
    Edited by: Sophie Oldenbourg, Guido Krajewski

    Trailer:
    WATCHING PEOPLE WATCHING BIRDS – Offizieller Trailer
    nach oben
  • Schwarzers Kosmos

    Schwarzers Kosmos

    A film by Klaus Martens. In German with English subtitles

    [Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

    The Düsseldorf-based artist Bernd Schwarzer has devo­ted hims­elf body and soul to a total work of art. Schwarzer calls it the ‘Europa Kunstwerk’. Given their poli­ti­cal­ly char­ged natu­re, his pain­tings hang not only in muse­ums, but also at Bellevue Palace, the resi­dence of the German Federal President, in the Bundestag, and soon in the European Parliament. Although Schwarzer’s impas­to tech­ni­que and his tech­ni­cal skill are uni­que – some even cla­im he is a geni­us – he is losing con­trol of hims­elf and his art. Schwarzer is test­ing the pati­ence of his coll­ec­tors and gal­lery owners to the limit and dri­ving tho­se who belie­ve in him to sheer des­pair. The artist seems to be losing all sen­se of pro­por­ti­on when it comes to hims­elf and his art.

    The film ‘Schwarzer’s Cosmos’ is a por­trait of an eccen­tric art mar­ket, com­ple­te with all the asso­cia­ted cli­chés of non-con­for­mi­ty, free­dom, geni­us and mad­ness. By the end of the film, the only ques­ti­on that remains is whe­ther the artist hims­elf will sur­vi­ve this madness.

    Credits:

    DE 2026, 90 mins, German with English sub­tit­les
    Director: Klaus Martens
    Cinematography: Frederik Walker, Frank Kranstedt
    Editing: Fabian Oberhem

    Trailer:
    SCHWARZERS KOSMOS – Offizieller Trailer

    im Kino mit deut­schen Untertiteln.

    nach oben
  • Evidence

    Evidence

    A film by Lee Anne Schmitt. In English with German subtitles.

    [Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

    Poisoned water, dama­ged earth, and ele­va­ted can­cer rates: envi­ron­men­tal clean-up sites are one of the lega­ci­es left behind by the American che­mi­cal and muni­ti­ons manu­fac­tu­rer “Olin Corporation”. Its other lega­cy was the John M. Olin Foundation, which dona­ted mil­li­ons to pushing a con­ser­va­ti­ve agen­da from the 1970s to the ear­ly 2000s. As a by-pro­duct or direct effort, the Olin Corporation and other con­ser­va­ti­ve think tanks have had a deep and unsett­ling impact on American poli­tics, fami­ly values, and women’s health. Working again the field of the 16mm New Left essay film, Lee Anne Schmitt con­nects an array of topics, books, and objects to reflect on the rise of the new con­ser­va­ti­ve move­ment and the effects of dark money on American poli­tics and cul­tu­re. In easi­ly her most per­so­nal film to date – as her father work­ed for Olin – she con­siders the­se values and their impli­ca­ti­ons after beco­ming a mother. In the face of appal­ling attacks on women’s bio­lo­gi­cal rights and the cur­rent domi­nan­ce of the Republican par­ty, Evidence is a sobering pri­mer on the sta­te of America today.

    Evidence
    Credits:

    US 2025, 76 mins, English with German sub­tit­les
    Director, cine­ma­to­gra­phy, editing: Lee Anne Schmitt

    Trailer:
    „Evidence” | Clip | Berlinale 2025

    im Kino mit deut­schen Untertiteln.

    nach oben
  • Ghost School

    Ghost School

    A Film by Seemab Gul. In Urdu with German subtitles.

    [Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

    A girl cal­led Rabia lives in Pakistan. Her school has just been clo­sed. Rumour has it that the tea­cher is pos­s­es­sed and that the school is cur­sed by jinn. Rabia wants to find out what real­ly happened.

    Rabia lives in a vil­la­ge in Pakistan. She is loo­king for­ward to going back to school after the holi­days, but the school has been clo­sed. Rumour has it that the school is cur­sed, that a jinn is said to be wrea­king havoc the­re, and that the tea­cher is pos­s­es­sed. There used to be a head­tea­cher and three tea­chers, but in the end the­re was only this one left.

    Rabia tri­es to find out whe­ther her school real­ly is cur­sed, or what else might have hap­pen­ed. Her par­ents can­not help her with this, as neither her father, a fisher­man, nor her mother, who cle­ans the house of a wealt­hy fami­ly, can read or wri­te, and they have litt­le inte­rest in Rabia con­ti­nuing her edu­ca­ti­on. So she asks around the vil­la­ge. The school’s caret­a­ker is curr­ent­ly loo­king for a new job and suspects that the school will remain clo­sed. He shows Rabia the teacher’s house. There she rea­li­ses that the tea­cher, who is just set­ting off for the hos­pi­tal in town, isn’t pos­s­es­sed at all, but ill. He had to lea­ve the school becau­se the lan­dow­ner deman­ded a bri­be from him. The lan­dow­ner, for his part, explains to Rabia that schoo­ling should be a pri­vi­le­ge, not a right – after all, who else would catch fish and work his land? He sends Rabia to the dis­trict chief, who would hire and pay the tea­chers – but a long queue of peti­tio­ners is alre­a­dy wai­ting the­re… Rabia has to come up with a plan.

    GHOST SCHOOL is a film by the British-Pakistani film­ma­ker Seemab Gul and, told from the per­spec­ti­ve of a ten-year-old girl, explo­res supers­ti­ti­on, cor­rup­ti­on and the dif­fe­ren­ces bet­ween rich and poor, as well as the lives of boys and girls in Pakistan.

    Tom Dorow | indiekino

    Ghost School
    Ghost School
    Ghost School
    Ghost School
    Credits:

    PK, DE, SA 2025, 88 mins, Urdu with German sub­tit­les
    Director: Seemab Gul
    Cinematography: Zamarin Wahdat
    Editing: Alexandra Strauss, Raluca Petre
    Starring: Nazualiya Arsalan, Samina Seher, Adnan Shah Tipu, Vajdaan Shah, Muhammad Zamaan

    Trailer:
    Ghost School | offi­zi­el­ler deut­scher Trailer (OmU)
    nach oben
  • Von Scham und Geld

    Von Scham und Geld

    A film by Visar Morina. In Albanian with German subtitles.

    [Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

    “Feeling asha­med is a luxu­ry,” Hatixhe explains to her sis­ter. A luxu­ry that she and her hus­band Shaban can­not afford. With their three daugh­ters and their grand­mo­ther, they were forced to
    lea­ve their vil­la­ge in Kosovo. Their liveli­hood was taken away from them. Now they live with Hatixhe’s sis­ter and her hus­band, a wealt­hy busi­ness­man, in Pristina. Shaban seems to have got lucky: his brot­her-in-law has given him a job as a clea­ner
    in his club. Even if it’s only three days a week. Certainly not enough. Shaban doesn’t find out how much he ear­ns any­way. He doesn’t dare ask eit­her. Because in their new life, the most important thing is to be gra­teful. Grateful for a roof over
    their heads, gra­teful for any job, howe­ver humi­lia­ting, gra­teful for any form of sup­port. The help that Shaban and Hatixhe recei­ve is never uncon­di­tio­nal. It con­stant­ly reminds them of their place in socie­ty. Those who give set the rules. Those who recei­ve must be gra­teful.
    Visar Morina’s third fea­ture film, fol­lo­wing BABAI and EXIL, takes a relent­less look at the vio­lence of eco­no­mic depen­den­ci­es. It fol­lows Shaban and Hatixhe from the com­pa­ra­tively sta­ble con­di­ti­ons of their vil­la­ge into the social indif­fe­rence of the big city. They sink ever deeper into a spi­ral of finan­cial hard­ship, humi­lia­ti­on and the com­pul­si­on to bow to the expec­ta­ti­ons of others. At one point, Shaban walks through the streets of Pristina as if in a daze. In the back­ground hangs a lar­ge US ban­ner on a buil­ding faça­de; in front of it stands the sta­tue of Bill Clinton. Later, he says: “Sometimes I feel as though I’m not quite the­re.” In his film, which won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema cate­go­ry at Sundance, Morina depicts a socie­ty in which peo­p­le are defi­ned by what they own or can afford.
    Jens Thiele | Indiekino

    Von Scham und Geld
    Von Scham und Geld
    Von Scham und Geld
    Von Scham und Geld
    Credits:

    DE, XK, SI, AL, MK, BE 2026, 129 mins, Albanian with German sub­tit­les
    Director: Visar Morina
    Cinematography: Janis Mazuch
    Editing: Joëlle Alexis
    Starring: Astrit Kabashi, Flonja Kodheli, Kumrije Hoxha, Fiona Gllavica, Alban Uka

    Trailer:
    Shame and Money | Clip | SFF26

    im Kino mit deut­schen Untertiteln.

    nach oben
  • Für immer 16

    Für immer 16

    A film by Brezel Göring. In German with English subtitles.

    [Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

    The film tells the sto­ry of Charlotte, Helena and Oskar – who meet up again after a long time and, at Charlotte’s invi­ta­ti­on, go on holi­day tog­e­ther. She’s made her for­tu­ne and has enjoy­ed a suc­cessful care­er as an actress, whilst the other two are still making under­ground art (and are com­ple­te­ly pen­ni­less). The three used to be part of the expe­ri­men­tal film group ‘Les enfants ter­ri­bles’, but had fal­len out irrepa­ra­b­ly. And now envy and jea­lou­sy fla­re up once more, and even inten­si­fy when Rudolph enters their lives. All three fall in love with him and have affairs with him one after the other! They deci­de – just like in the old days – to make an under­ground film. Demenzia, a man-kil­ling seri­al kil­ler play­ed by Helena, relent­less­ly kills men, all of whom are play­ed by Rudolph. During the final shoot, Rudolph dies in an acci­dent. The three dis­po­se of the body, and through this cri­mi­nal acti­vi­ty, their old fri­end­ship and love for one ano­ther are rekindled.

    The film Forever 16 is based on a novel by Françoise Cactus. She ima­gi­ned what it would be like to be old and to see her old mates again: in other words, sci­ence fic­tion with a focus on indi­vi­du­al psy­cho­lo­gy. They pick up whe­re they
    left off: 1. they’re making a film and 2. they’re bicke­ring!
    Alongside the rival­ries and squab­bles, fun­da­men­tal ques­ti­ons also ari­se: how do sub­ver­si­on, black humour, anti-mora­li­ty, gen­der iden­ti­ties, femi­nism and youthful fun­da­men­tal oppo­si­ti­on age? And how can we pre­vent sub­ver­si­on from beco­ming part of the main­stream and the cul­tu­re of com­mer­cial explo­ita­ti­on?
    The three main cha­rac­ters repre­sent dif­fe­rent forms of fail­ure: Charlotte com­mer­cia­li­ses hers­elf, Helena beco­mes embit­te­red by her lack of suc­cess, and Oskar resigns hims­elf to giving up art.

    Für immer 16
    Für immer 16
    Für immer 16
    Für immer 16
    Credits:

    DE 2026 74 mins, In German with English sub­tit­les.
    Directed by Brezel Göring
    Cinematography: Stephan Holl
    Starring: Lilith Stangenberg, Chang Wang, Mücke, Twiggy, Anton Garber

    Trailer:
    nach oben
  • Das geträumte Abenteuer

    Das geträumte Abenteuer

    A film by Valeska Grisebach. In Bulgarian with German subtitles

    [Credits] [Tickets & Dates] [Trailer]

    Veska, an archaeo­lo­gist, has retur­ned to her home town of Svilengrad – in the bor­der regi­on bet­ween Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey – for an excava­ti­on pro­ject. To her sur­pri­se, she runs into Said, an old acquain­tance from the Rhodopes, who­se shady busi­ness dealings have brought him to Svilengrad. Said’s car has been sto­len, and Veska invi­tes him to spend the day with her at the excava­ti­on site. It is a hap­py day full of fami­lia­ri­ty, a day like a pro­mi­se. The next mor­ning, Said has disappeared.

    Veska fol­lows Said’s trail, del­ving ever deeper into the hid­den lay­ers and rea­li­ties of the town and its peo­p­le – sto­ries from the era of gre­at uphe­aval in the 1990s, of free­dom and shat­te­red dreams, vio­lence and quick money. What does Said have to do with Iliya, the powerful man behind the sce­nes, around whom all the threads seem to con­ver­ge? Veska is forced to con­front her own memo­ries. Supported by her fri­ends from Svilengrad, she beg­ins to wri­te her own story.

    Das geträumte Abenteuer
    Das geträumte Abenteuer
    Credits:

    BG/FR/DE/AT 2026, 164 mins, Bulgarian with German sub­tit­les
    Director: Valeska Grisebach
    Cinematography: Bernhard Keller
    Editing: Bettina Böhler
    Starring: Yana Radeva, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov, Stoicho Kostadinov, Nikolay Shekerdjiev, Denislava Yordanova

    Trailer:
    nach oben
  • Vaterland

    Vaterland

    A film by Paweł Pawlikowski. In German, English, Russian with German subtitles.

    [Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

    „Like my pre­vious films, VATERLAND also explo­res the turm­oil of histo­ry, exi­le and our deep-sea­ted need for a sen­se of home and belon­ging. Furthermore, the film com­bi­nes a dra­ma­tic his­to­ri­cal moment
    with a very spe­cial per­so­nal sto­ry. Yet whilst the cha­rac­ters in IDA and COLD WAR were fic­tion­al, VATERLAND cen­tres on the his­to­ri­cal figu­res of Thomas Mann and his head­strong eldest child­ren, Erika and Klaus, who are ent­an­gled in a com­plex fami­ly love tri­ang­le.
    In order to inter­wea­ve the per­so­nal and the his­to­ri­cal in a moving and mutual­ly enri­ching way, we have taken cer­tain liber­ties with regard to the his­to­ri­cal facts and their chro­no­lo­gy. In doing so, we have endea­vou­red to remain true to the emo­tio­nal and intellec­tu­al truth of the sto­ry.
    Mann’s return to Germany in 1949 and his attempt to over­co­me the divi­si­on and gro­wing ideo­lo­gi­cal pola­ri­sa­ti­on of his coun­try bear obvious par­al­lels to the pre­sent day. The old para­digm is dead, the old rules no lon­ger app­ly, and in their place two cru­de, mutual­ly exclu­si­ve nar­ra­ti­ves are emer­ging. Narratives that gene­ra­li­se ever­y­thing, that suck the oxy­gen out of the air, that cor­ner you and force you to take sides, and that gra­du­al­ly make it impos­si­ble to see cle­ar­ly and speak free­ly. For Mann, the only defence against this ideo­lo­gi­cal reduc­tion was art – the ‘poe­tic gaze’ he men­ti­ons in one of his spee­ches, the open eye for the com­ple­xi­ty and para­do­xes of life.
    VATERLAND brings tog­e­ther many ele­ments, tel­ling its sto­ry through a simp­le yet con­den­sed cine­ma­tic lan­guage; it unfolds in haun­ting images and striking sce­nes, lea­ving the audi­ence space to feel and reflect.” (Pawel Pawlokowski)

    Vaterland
    Vaterland
    Vaterland
    Vaterland
    Credits:

    PL/DE/IT/FR 2026, 82 mins. German, English, Russian (ori­gi­nal ver­si­on with German sub­tit­les)
    Director: Paweł Pawlikowski
    Cinematography: Łukasz Żal
    Editing: Piotr Wójcik, Paweł Pawlikowski
    Starring: Hanns Zischler, Sandra Hüller, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Joachim Meyerhoff, Fritzi Haberlandt, Milan Peschel

    Trailer:
    Kinotrailer „Vaterland” – Kinostart 3. September 2026
    nach oben
  • Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland

    Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland

    A film by Hayao Miyazaki. 

    [Credits] [Tickets & Showtimes] [Trailer]

    During a day out, litt­le Chihiro and her par­ents walk through a dark tun­nel. On the other side lies the Spirit World, whe­re Chihiro’s par­ents are tur­ned into pigs. Left enti­re­ly to her own devices, the girl tri­es to rever­se the trans­for­ma­ti­on. In a spa for gods, she encoun­ters all man­ner of stran­ge dei­ties: a stin­ky god, a boy who can turn hims­elf into a river, the face­l­ess god Noface, and all sorts of other odd characters…

    In 2002, Spirited Away cele­bra­ted its European pre­mie­re at the Berlinale and was award­ed the Golden Bear for Best Film of the fes­ti­val – the only ani­ma­ted film in cine­ma histo­ry to have done so to date. In 2003, it went on to win an Oscar and estab­lished its­elf at the box office as one of the most suc­cessful ani­ma­ted films of all time.

    To mark its 25th anni­ver­sa­ry, Spirited Away will return to cine­mas in 2026.

    Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland
    Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland
    Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland
    Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland
    Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland
    Credits:

    Spirited Away
    JP 2001, 125 mins, Japanese with German sub­tit­les
    Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

    Trailer:
    CHIHIROS REISE INS ZAUBERLAND – 25th ANNIVERSARY – Trailer German | Deutsch

    At the Cinema in Japanese with German subtitles.

    nach oben
  • Funeral Casino Blues

    Funeral Casino Blues

    A film by Roderick Warich. Original Thai ver­si­on with German subtitles

    [Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

    Jen lives in Bangkok – bet­ween the recep­ti­on of an apart­ment block and the hotel rooms of stran­ge men. What she sells is time, inti­ma­cy, some­ti­mes just a moment. When a mee­ting gets out of hand, Wason steps in – a bar­man who has lost more than he lets on. For a short while, they drift through the sul­try nights tog­e­ther.
    Then Jen is gone. No trace. No good­bye.
    Pim, her flat­ma­te, beg­ins to search for her. Wason fol­lows her. Her trail leads through emp­ty alley­ways, unfa­mi­li­ar rooms, out­stan­ding debts and memo­ries that slip away. All the way to the Cambodian bor­der – or per­haps just back to whe­re Jen had long sin­ce vanis­hed.
    When Jen vanis­hes – wit­hout a word, wit­hout say­ing good­bye – her flat­ma­te Pim and the quiet bar­man Wason fol­low her trail. A quiet search beg­ins, through nights, memo­ries – and a city that mis­ses no one.

    “If you show a gun in the first act, it must be fired in the third act” – a dra­ma­tic rule by Anton Chekhov, which is about nar­ra­ti­ve eco­no­my, avo­i­ding loo­se ends and buil­ding ten­si­on. In his film Funeral Casino Blues, Roderick Warich shows the gun almost right at the start: Wason (Wason Dokkathum) has it tucked into his wais­t­band; he lifts his shirt to free Jen (Jutamat Lamoon) from an intru­si­ve admi­rer (read: cli­ent). The gun will reap­pear time and again. It is also fired. But this hap­pens off-screen, after fade-to-black sequen­ces, and not neces­s­a­ri­ly in the third act eit­her, becau­se Warich is far remo­ved from any­thing resembling a clear divi­si­on into acts, or inde­ed any struc­tu­red, stan­dar­di­sed nar­ra­ti­ve style.
    And that is what makes his film so utter­ly fasci­na­ting, so abso­lut­e­ly worth wat­ching. You just have to let yours­elf be drawn in, and then you can lose yours­elf in hyp­no­tic images in which the came­ra moves through the room, through Bangkok by night; then you can lose yours­elf in the cha­rac­ters, who­se inner­most thoughts we can at best only glim­pse; then you can immer­se yours­elf in a sto­ry that shifts from a love sto­ry to a noir gangs­ter tale, which beco­mes a ghost film wit­hout being a hor­ror film.„
    Kinozeit | Harald Mühlbeyer

    Funeral Casino Blues
    Funeral Casino Blues
    Funeral Casino Blues
    Funeral Casino Blues
    Funeral Casino Blues
    Credits:

    DE 2025, 153 mins · Original Thai ver­si­on with German sub­tit­les
    Director: Roderick Warich
    Cinematography: Roland Stuprich
    Editing: Hannes Bruun
    Starring: Jutamat Lamoon · Wason Dokkathum · Jutarat Burinok · Piyapong Saebui · Rinda Hamer · Chayanee Choomnoommanee

    Trailer:
    nach oben