The 2026 HSBC German Film Festival is an unmissable showcase of contemporary cinema from the region. Featuring gripping true stories, delightful family films, comedy and powerful new drama from Germany’s finest filmmakers and actors, including a selection direct from this year’s Berlinale, the Festival screens nationally from 6 May – 27 May at Palace Cinemas, Palace Nova and Luna Palace Cinemas.  

Festival highlights include:

Opening this year’s Festival is much loved director Wolfgang Becker's (Good Bye, Lenin!) final film BERLIN HERO (Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße). The captivating comedy about an unwitting GDR hero revealed 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, is adapted from the 2022 novel by Maxim Leo, and features an all-star ensemble cast including Leonie Benesch, Christiane Paul, Peter Kurth and Daniel Brühl.  

This year's festival Centrepiece is AMRUM, the celebrated new feature from multi award-winning director Fatih Akin starring Laura Tonke, Diane Kruger and Matthias Schweighöfer. A deeply poignant drama about hardworking Nanning (brilliantly played by the young Jasper Billerbeck), a 12-year-old boy who lives on Amrum Island during the final days of WWII.  

In celebration of the premiere of Fatih Akin’s latest work, a selection of three of the acclaimed auteur’s previous films will be screened: HEAD-ON (Gegen die Wand), THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (Auf der anderen Seite), and GOODBYE BERLIN (Tschick). 

The 2026 Festival Special Presentation is Cannes Film Festival Jury Award winner SOUND OF FALLING (In die Sonne schauen), directed by Mascha Schilinski. The haunting drama follows four girls across four generations experiencing their youth on the same farm in northern Germany.

Closing the Festival and celebrating its 45th anniversary is Wolfgang Petersen’s DAS BOOT – DIRECTOR'S CUT, screening in 4K nationally and 35mm exclusively at The Astor Theatre in Melbourne. The landmark anti-war epic plunges viewers into the claustrophobic ordeal of a U-boat crew, sustaining extraordinary tension with physical realism, moral gravity, and devastating force. 

Three films arrive direct from the 2026 Berlinale, including a duo of powerful female led dramas. Winner of the 2026 Berlinale Audience Award, PROSECUTION (Staatsschutz), follows a self-assured young German-Korean state prosecutor who takes her own case to court, confronting the perpetrators and a justice system that turns a blind eye to far-right extremism.  

Festival Dates

CANBERRA: 6 - 27 May
SYDNEY: 6- 27 May
ADELAIDE: 6 - 27 May
BRISBANE: 6 - 27 May
PERTH: 7- 27 May
BYRON BAY & BALLINA: 7 - 27 May
MELBOURNE: 8 - 27 May
BALLARAT: 8 - 27 May