Prague’s Das Filmfest celebrates its 20th edition this week with a selection of approximately 30 films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, bringing award-winning dramas, documentaries, animation and restored classics to Czech cinemas from Oct. 15-20. Highlights include the latest film from Corsage director Marie Kreutzer, a Cannes-winning family drama and special anniversary screenings accompanied by live music.
Established in 2006, the festival has become an annual showcase for German-language cinema, introducing Czech audiences to films that might otherwise receive limited or no theatrical distribution in the country. This year’s program combines recent festival discoveries with a retrospective celebrating two decades of Das Filmfest and more than a century of filmmaking.
Screenings will take place at Prague’s Kino Lucerna, Edison Filmhub, Kino Světozor and the Church of St. Salvator. Films will be presented in their original languages with Czech and English subtitles unless otherwise indicated, making the festival accessible to international audiences.
Cannes winners, Oscar contenders and new discoveries
The festival opens Oct. 15 at Kino Lucerna with Gentle Monster (pictured above), the latest drama from Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer, whose acclaimed Corsage starred Vicky Krieps as Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Léa Seydoux headlines the new film as a woman whose seemingly stable family life unravels after serious accusations against her husband force her to question everything she believes about him.
The film, which competed for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will be introduced by editor Ulrike Kofler, a longtime collaborator of Kreutzer.
Another Cannes highlight is Everytime, directed by Sandra Wollner, which won the top prize in the festival’s Un Certain Regard competition. The drama follows three people struggling with grief and guilt after a young woman’s death, whose journey to Tenerife becomes an unexpected confrontation with their shared past. Germany’s official submission for the 2027 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film will be presented in Prague by leading actress Birgit Minichmayr.
Political tensions feature prominently in Staatsschutz, Faraz Shariat’s thriller about a prosecutor investigating a racist attack who uncovers connections between far-right extremists and state institutions. The film received three awards at this year’s Berlinale.
Other notable selections include Silent Friend, director Ildikó Enyedi‘s poetic drama connecting three human stories across more than a century through a ginkgo tree, and Rose, a historical drama starring Sandra Hüller as a woman posing as a male soldier in 17th-century Europe. Hüller received the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlinale for her role.
The festival also highlights emerging talent, including Swiss director Jonas Ulrich’s Wolves, a coming-of-age drama about a young woman drawn into the black metal scene and the increasingly radical worldview of its charismatic frontman. Ulrich and producer Nicole Ulrich are scheduled to attend.
Other films explore subjects ranging from family responsibilities and addiction to racial prejudice and the search for belonging. The lineup includes 22 Bahnen, about a student caring for her younger sister and alcoholic mother, and Austroschwarz, a hybrid documentary examining Black identity and racism in Austria.
A century of cinema: The Golem, Stasi drama and restored classics
The festival’s 20th anniversary provides an opportunity to revisit several landmarks of German-language cinema, including a film with particularly strong connections to Prague.
Paul Wegener and Carl Boese’s 1920 silent classic The Golem: How He Came into the World returns to the screen in a special presentation at the Church of St. Salvator. Inspired by the legend of the clay creature brought to life in Prague’s Jewish Quarter, the German Expressionist production will be accompanied by a live performance from Hamburg’s 30-member St. Nicholas Choir.
Another anniversary screening brings The Lives of Others back to Kino Světozor, where Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s drama opened the inaugural Das Filmfest in 2006. The Oscar-winning film, about an East German secret police officer whose surveillance of a playwright and his partner gradually transforms his loyalties, will screen from an original 35mm print. Editor Patricia Rommel, a frequent collaborator of von Donnersmarck, is expected to attend the screening.
The retrospective also includes Wholetrain, Florian Gaag’s 2006 drama about graffiti artists navigating friendship, rivalry and urban culture. A digitally restored version will screen at Lucerna, with Gaag and actors Mike Adler and Florian Renner scheduled to introduce the film.
Animation history is represented by The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Lotte Reiniger’s pioneering 1926 silhouette-animated fantasy, which celebrates its centenary this year. A screening at Edison Filmhub will feature live accompaniment from the Andrea Avena Project jazz ensemble, while a separate presentation for younger audiences will include an animation workshop.
Beyond the screenings, Das Filmfest will host the Future Memory Lab, an industry program exploring innovative approaches to archival footage in documentary, fictional and experimental filmmaking. An accompanying exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum, Hedy Lamarr: A Woman of Many Faces, examines the Hollywood actress’s career and her contributions to communications technology.
Following its Prague edition, Das Filmfest travels to Brno from Oct. 26-30, Olomouc from Nov. 3-5 and Ústí nad Labem from Nov. 7-12.
The festival is organized by the Goethe-Institut Czech Republic, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague and the Embassy of Switzerland in the Czech Republic.
The complete screening schedule and ticket information are available at Das Filmfest’s official website.
