Home game in Hamburg!

The best time of the year begins again for northern German cineastes on 27 September. Filmfest Hamburg is entering its 26th round and has 138 films from 57 countries in store. Once again this year, festival director Albert Wiederspiel and his team have brought together numerous film gems. Among the productions are films such as the Venice winnerRomaby Alfonso Cuarón, who was awarded the Golden Leopard in Locarno.A Land Imagined by Directors Yeo Siew Hua or the new filmThe Favourite by The Lobster Director Yorgos Lanthimos. With the productionsAnother Day of Life andSibelthe programme includes two films that have already screened successfully at other festivals and were produced in Hamburg. We will show you a small selection of other films with a Hamburg connection.

Directors Kasper Torsting's melodrama In Love and War tells the story of Denmark and Germany during the First World War and is based on a true story: Danish soldier Esben is forced to fight on the side of the Germans and fakes an injury during the war so that he can finally return to his wife Kristine and his son after three years. During his absence, however, many things have changed back home - he has been replaced by a German officer who tries to win Kristine's heart. In Love and War was produced by NordFilm Kiel and the Hamburg production company Tamtam Film, among others.

01.10., 21:15 Passage cinema

Following the festivals in Locarno and Toronto, Çağla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti's captivating story of emancipation Sibel is now coming to Hamburg. 25-year-old Sibel lives in a small village in the mountains by the Black Sea and has been mute since childhood. However, Sibel is able to communicate using a whistling language, which makes her an outsider among the other villagers. One day, the young woman meets a deserter from the Turkish army who is hiding in the forest - and shows her a new perspective on things. The international film is co-produced by Riva Film, which has already made it onto the 2018 Oscar shortlist with the drama "The Wound".

28.09., 21:45 Abaton

The new film by Hamburg-based Director and Script Writer Sandra Nettelbeck takes us into the turbulent life of psychotherapist Max (August Zirner), who has his hands full with two teenage daughters, an ex-wife who is also his best friend and lots of weird patients, one of whom he falls in love with. Other roles in the film include Johanna ter Steege, Barbara Auer, Jenny Schily, Peter Lohmeyer and Bjarne Mädel. The film has already celebrated its premiere at the Locarno Film Festival.

30.09., 19:30 CinemaxX 1

In her documentary Of Bees and Flowers, filmmaker Lola Randl explores the question of whether country life is more fulfilling than a life in the city. The Berlin native turned her back on the capital a few years ago and found happiness in a small village in the Uckermark. The film is a portrait of city dwellers who set off into unknown territory and try to make themselves at home in the countryside. Executive Producer is the Hamburg-based company Detailfilm.

30 September, 5 pm Abaton

An observational study by Hamburg filmmaker Sandra Trostel about the "Chaos Computer Club", the largest hacker organisation in Europe. According to the principle "All creatures welcome! Be excellent to each other!", members from all over the world meet every year at the CCC congress in Hamburg. Trostel used the congress to take a closer look at the association's goals and strategies for the future.

29.09., 14:00 h Metropolis

Dario had actually come to Germany from Ecuador because of Stephanie, but the authorities were part of their relationship from day one. Over the next 15 years, they would issue him a total of 10 visas. And then this: the mayor of Hamburg invites Dario to become a German citizen. With In the Land of My Children, HfbK graduate Darío Aguirre has created a tenderly ironic road movie that shows his winding path from the land of his fathers to the land of his children.

29.09., 16:45 Metropolis

Hamburg filmmaker Guido Weihermüller and his team spent a year following a professional wheelchair basketball team in Hamburg for their new Documentary - on and off the court. The team of nine top international players live together under one roof on the grounds of a trauma hospital. A story of unusual encounters and strokes of fate.

30.09, 12 noon, Metropolis 01 October, 8 pm Schmidtchen (barrier-free)

Radek Wegrzyn's Documentary gives a rare insight into the world's most expensive boarding school in Switzerland, where students are trained to become global leaders. They are the offspring of billionaires and oligarchs, but one boy named Berk stands out. He is a loner and has problems in almost every subject - this only changes when his teacher introduces an unusual topic in class: the future. Executive Producer is the Hamburg-based company Detailfilm.

05.10., 17:30 Metropolis