German Film Festival

Barry Healy reviews some of the films in the German Film Festival that caught his eye

The 2026 HSBC German Film Festival returns to Luna on SX from 8 to 27 May. There are other screenings at Palace Cinemas Raine Square and Luna Leederville. The festival has. over 20 films to choose from in its programme.

The opening night party on May 7 at Palace Raine Square Perth, features the new film, Berlin Hero (Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße) by Wolfgang Becker, whose Good Bye, Lenin! wowed audiences in 2003. Becker died shortly after production wrapped on this drama/comedy that again satirically examines the relationship between modern, unified, capitalist Germany and its relationship to the old, socialist East Germany.

The closing night film is the director’s cut of the great anti-war film, Das Boot. The screening celebrates the 45^thanniversary of Wolfgang Petersen’s unflinching portrayal of the monotony, terror and moral exhaustion of the crew of a WWII German U Boat patrolling the Atlantic Ocean. This edition expands the original 149-minute version to a 208-minute-long exploration of the agony of war. After three and a half hours spent cinematically under water viewers will be primed to reflect on real-world parallels – and ironies – posed by the AUKUS submarine base south of Perth.

Among the festival delights between those opening and closing nights there is the heartfelt and moving Swiss comedy/drama, Hello Betty. Set in 1950s Switzerland, it is based on the real story of Emmi Creola. She rose from a minor position in an advertising agency to being a national cultural icon through inventing a housewife superstar called Betty Bossi. The fictional character promoted a particular brand of food products but took on a life of her own given the reality of the nation’s sexist stereotypes. The film gently mocks the Switzerland of the era, where women were denied the vote and immigration police harassed Italian migrants.The makers of Hello Betty could have played it safe by staying within the bounds of sentimentality, but there are sharp needles under its cute façade.

The Talented Mr F is an intriguing documentary about the efforts of two young university film studies students to track down and confront an American who has stolen a film of theirs and made a splash at international film festivals. This could have degenerated into a ritualistic, investigators-confront-criminal “got ya” cliché. What differentiates it are the moral values of the young Germans as they challenge their quarry, turning the film into a humane and touching portrayal of real people dealing with ethical dilemmas. It is a film that will provoke conversations over coffee or a German beer after viewing.

Another conversation-starter is the deeply philosophical, intellectually provocative film, Gavagai. The title is a philosophical term created in 1960 by logician Willard Van Orman Quine to examine difficulties in translation.

Gavagai encompasses territory from Senegal to Berlin and mythical space through the ancient Greek Medea legend. It explores concepts of cultural capital, political capital and intersecting questions of power, sexism and racism. All this within a “metacinematic drama”, meaning a movie within a movie. Does it succeed in its ambitions? That is for you to decide over a yet another glass or two of German beer afterwards.

*By Barry Healy

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