German Competition

It has been a year of extremely powerful and moving stories which have constantly occupied our minds, far beyond our roles as curators. This year's submissions (and ultimately the selected films) take nothing for granted, pose urgent questions, examine their own consciences and shift positions of power. In our selection, we wanted to see the strongest German films, the ones that risk something, that are uncomfortable in the best sense, the ones that polarise. For us it wasn't about being of one mind for every film, we didn't want to have a sort of lukewarm mash based on consensus. That's why it was all the more surprising that we ultimately had a large pool of films that we all agreed on. The three competition programs are challenging, a vital, multi-faceted collection of German documentary, animated, experimental and narrative films.