This May, the 2024 HSBC German Film Festival, presented by Palace, in association with German Films, showcases the best contemporary cinema from Germany and its fellow German-speaking neighbours - Austria and Switzerland.

Pulling directly from some of Europe's largest film festivals, the fantastic 27-film lineup features key selections of New German Cinema from the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). The programme pays homage to the excellence of German cinema with a retrospective on the seminal auteur Werner Herzog and a celebration of 70 years of German Films. The returning, and well adored, Kino for Kids sidebar, presented by the Goethe-Institut, features exciting films for today's children that will shape tomorrow's Cinephiles.

Festival highlights include:

Opening the 2024 festival and direct from Berlinale is the historically gut-wrenching FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE. Based on a true story, auteur Andreas Dresen explores this compelling historical drama. The captivating Liv Lisa Fries (Babylon Berlin) portrays a young woman drawn into the anti-Nazi resistance movement during World War II.

The Festival Centrepiece FOREIGN LANGUAGE from Camera d’Or winner Claire Burger (Part Girl 2014) traverses the shifting relationship between two schoolgirls across Leipzig and Strasbourg. In this coming-of-age tale forged through letters, actors Lilith Grasmug and Josefa Heinsius shine.

Other films direct from the 2024 Berlinale including Closing Night film TREASURE, crime thriller SCORCHED EARTH, and social realist drama EVERY YOU, EVERY ME.

The festival screens nationally at Palace Cinemas, Palace Nova Cinemas and Luna Palace Cinemas from the 7^th of May – 5^th June.

Festival Dates

Canberra: 7 – 29 May

Sydney: 8 - 29 May

Brisbane: 9 – 29 May

Melbourne: 10 – 29 May

Adelaide: 15 May – 5 June

Byron Bay and Perth: 16 May – 5 June