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GERMAN FILMS IN ROTTERDAM 2026

TIGER COMPETITION

© Maverick Film, Merki und Reinhart Film, BR, Micky Graeter, Lukas Zischke

A FADING MAN

by Welf Reinhart

Fiction Feature, 100'

2026, Germany

Production & Sales: Maverick Film

TIGER SHORT COMPETITION

© Jordan Strafer

DISSONANCE

by Jordan Strafer

Fiction Short, 12'

2026, Germany

Production & Sales: Jordan Strafer

BRIGHT FUTURE

© Academy of Media Arts Cologne

WHY HASN'T EVERYTHING DISAPPEARED YET

by Stefan Koutzev

Fiction Feature, 98'

2026, Germany

Production: Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Lautmalfilm

Sales: Academy of Media Arts Cologne

HARBOUR

© Cynthia Beatt

HEART OF LIGHT - ELEVEN SONGS FOR FIJI

by Cynthia Beatt

Fiction Feature, 166'

2026, Germany/France

Production & Sales: Heartbeatt Pictures

© Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale), Werkleitz Gesellschaft, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Institute of Global Reconstitution

LIMELIGHT

© Films Boutique

SILENT FRIEND

by Ildikó Enyedi

Feature, 145'

2025, Germany/Hungary/France

Production: Pandora Film

Sales: Films Boutique

© Fabian Gamper / Studio Zentral

SOUND OF FALLING

by Mascha Schilinski

Fiction Feature, 159'

2025, Germany

Production Company: Studio Zentral

Sales: MK2

© Sutor Kolonko

GAVAGAI

by Ulrich Köhler

Fiction Feature, 89'

2025, Germany/France

Production: Sutor Kolonko

Sales: Luxbox

© 2025 PANTALEON Films GmbH Erfttal Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH & Co. KG Koryphäen Film GmbH Magic Media Production GmbH Warner Bros. Entertainment GmbH

FOCUS: THE FUTURE IS NOW

© Madonnenwerk

DUMP

by Christina Friedrich

Fiction Feature, 83'

2026, Germany

Production & Sales: Madonnenwerk

ROTTERDAM LAB 2026 PRODUCER

Antonia Kilian (Pink Shadow Films) is a director, cinematographer and producer based in Kassel and Berlin. She studied Visual Communication, Art and Media at the Berlin University of the Arts, and cinematography at the Film University Babelsberg and ISA Havana. Her debut feature THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER premiered at CPH:DOX, the Chicago International Film Festival and Coisa de Cinema in Brazil, winning 18 international awards including the German Film Award (Lola), the Grimme Award and a nomination for the European Film Academy Award.

She also shot and produced EXILE NEVER ENDS, directed by Bahar Bektas, which received multiple honours including the Hessian Film Award, five Grimme Awards and the FFF Talent Award. She later produced the hybrid short IN THE MOST FOREIGN COUNTRY (2026), directed by Arash Asadi.

ROTTERDAM LAB 2026 CREATOR

Derya Durmaz (CUBU Film) was born in Germany to Turkish guest-worker grandparents and raised in Turkey. She studied economics, human rights law and acting. Her award-winning short films have screened at numerous international film festivals, experimental film events and exhibitions. ZIAZAN won 12 awards, including the Armenia–Turkey Cinema Platform Best Project Award, and was featured in The Washington Post and Monocle. 

MOTHER VIRGIN NO MORE premiered in the Berlinale Generation section, whileWILL YOU COME WITH ME? won seven awards, including Best Documentary at Kaboom Animation Festival 2025, and was presented as part of the European Green Party Congress exhibition “My Body My Choice”.

Durmaz is an alumna of TIFF Filmmaker Lab, Berlinale Talents, FIRST FILMS FIRST – Goethe-Institut Young Directors Academy and Film Independent’s Global Media Makers programme.

FURTHER GERMAN FILMS & CO-PRODUCTIONS


TIGER COMPETITION

A MESSY TRIBUTE TO MOTHERLY LOVE by Dan Geesin (NL/DE/BE, Leitwolf)

 

BIG SCREEN COMPETITION

2m2 by Volkan Üce (BE/DE/TR, 2pilots, filmfaust)

BUTTERFLY by Itone Somier Guttormsen (NO/SE/UK/DE, Nordfilm)

 

BRIGHT FUTURE

LET THEM BE SEEN by Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi (ZA/DE, Brown Flamingo Productions)

 

HARBOUR

EARTH SONG by Erol Mintaş (FI/DE, Elemag Pictures)

A USEFUL GHOST by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (TH/FR/SG/DE, Mayana Film)

CALLE MÁLAGA by Maryam Touzani (ES/FR/DE, One Two Films)

 

LIMELIGHT

ROMERÍA by Carla Simón (ES/DE, Ventall Cinema)

TWO PROSECUTORS (ZWEI STAATSANWÄLTE) by Sergei Loznitsa (FR/DE/NL/LV/RO/LT, LOOKSfilm)

THE LITTLE SISTER by Hafsia Herzi (FR/DE, Katuh Studio)

RETURN TO SILENT HILL by Christophe Gans (UK/DE/RS, Maze Pictures, Supernix)

 

CINEMA REGAINED

AMRUM by Fatih Akin (bombero International, Rialto Film, Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany)

HOLOFICTION by Michal Kosakowski (DE/AT, Kosakowski Films)

PETER KAMMERER/PASOLINI by Antonia Weiße (Weisse Filmproduktion)

THE RIVER IS MURDEROUS (NORDSEE IST MORDSEE) by Hark Bohm (West Germany, Hamburger Kino-Kompanie Hark Bohm Filmproduktion, Maran Film)

FETISCH by Malga Kubiak (SE/PL/UA/FR/DE)

HABIBI HUSSEIN by Alex Bakri (PS/DE/SA/SE)

 

FOCUS: THE FUTURE IS NOW

THREE WAYS OF RETURNING by Mania Akbari, Xiaolu Guo, Andrea Luka Zimmerman (CN/DE/IR/UK)

SPINACH AND SUGAR (ENKEL DER GESCHICHTE) by Laura Laabs (Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)

UNSERE NATUR by Marlene Denningmann (Kirberg Motors)

 

DISPLACEMENT FILM FUND / SPECIALS

SENSE OF WATER by Mohammad Rasoulof (IR/DE, Run Way Pictures)

SUPER AFGHAN GYM by Shahrbanoo Sadat (Adomeit Film)

WHISPERS OF A BURNING SCENT by Mo Harawe (SO/AT/DE, Lost Frames Films)

 

SHORT & MID-LENGTH

JUGGERNAUT by Friederike Kersten, Michaela Metzger (NEOZOON)

LIL TWIN (PICCIN GEMELLONE) by Tibor Koehne

OVERWORK by Céline Berger

THE MUSCLES ARE TENSE by Mahshid Mahboubifar (DE/IR)

FORGET THE DIRECTOR, THIS IS EMMY'S CUT! by Marion Desmaret (UG/DE)

DETRITUS by Deborah S. Phillips, Zuzanna Marczak

 

ART DIRECTION: IMMERSIVE MEDIA

AFTER THE GAME by Jana Stallein (Fantastic Foe, Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)

 

ART DIRECTIONS: SOUND/ VISION

VJ EMMY: UGANDAN LIVE DUBBING by VJ Emmy (UG/DE)

 

EDUCATION

BACKFLIP by Nikita Diakur (DE/FR, Ugly Film)

PATCH by Gerd Gockell (Gerd Gockell Filmproduktion)

DER STACHEL IM PO by Elena Walf

T-REX by Julia Ocker

TIGER by Kariem Saleh

GERMAN FILMS CONTACTS IN ROTTERDAM

Simone Baumann, Managing Director

Sylva Häutle, Head of Festival Relations & Producers Liaison



Impressum


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