Germany's most celebrated and challenging cinema is heading to a Palace near you this May thanks to the 2026 HSBC German Film Festival.
Running from 6 May to 27 May, the 2026 HSBC German Film Festival brings together gripping true stories, sharp comedies, family fare and powerful drama, with a solid chunk of selections arriving fresh from this year’s Berlinale. Whether you’re a longtime devotee or just dipping your toes in, there’s something here to pull you in.
Opening the festival is Wolfgang Becker’s (Good Bye, Lenin!) final film, Berlin Hero, a comedy about an accidental GDR hero whose story gets dug up 30 years after the Wall came down. Based on Maxim Leo’s 2022 novel and featuring an all-star cast including Leonie Benesch, Daniel Brühl and Christiane Paul, it’s a fittingly warm and witty sendoff for a much-loved director.
Closing things out is a very different beast: Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot – Director’s Cut, celebrating its 45th anniversary with a national 4K screening and exclusively in 35mm at The Astor Theatre in Melbourne. The landmark anti-war submarine epic still hits like few films can.
2026 HSBC German Film Festival
- 6–27 May, Palace Electric — Canberra
- 6–27 May, Palace Norton Street, Palace Central, Palace Moore Park — Sydney
- 6–27 May, Palace James St, Palace Barracks — Brisbane
- 6–27 May, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas — Adelaide
- 7–27 May, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX & Palace Raine Square — Perth
- 7–27 May, Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas — Byron Bay and Ballina
- 8–27 May, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Church St, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, The Astor Theatre, Pentridge Cinema, Palace Penny Lane — Melbourne
- 8–27 May, Palace Regent Ballarat — Ballarat
- Tickets here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Three films come straight from the 2026 Berlinale, including two standout female-led dramas. Prosecution (Staatsschutz) took out the Berlinale Audience Award, following a self-assured young German-Korean state prosecutor who takes her own case to court and squares off against far-right extremism in a system that’d rather look the other way.
Home Stories (Etwas ganz Besonderes) is quieter but equally compelling: set in provincial eastern Germany, a 16-year-old’s audition for a TV talent show sets off a deeper crisis of identity and belonging.
This year’s centrepiece is Amrum, the latest from multi-award-winning director Fatih Akin, starring Laura Tonke, Diane Kruger and Matthias Schweighöfer. Set in the final days of WWII, it follows a 12-year-old boy whose idyllic island life is shadowed by a threat closer than he ever imagined.
To mark the occasion, the festival is also screening three of Akin’s earlier works: Golden Bear winner Head-On (Gegen die Wand), Cannes Best Screenplay winner The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite), and the warm road film Goodbye Berlin (Tschick).
Special Presentation honours go to Sound of Falling (In die Sonne schauen), Mascha Schilinski’s Cannes Jury Award-winning drama that traces four girls across four generations on the same northern German farm. Poetic, sensory and critically acclaimed, it was also Germany’s entry into the 2026 Academy Awards.
One of the most anticipated titles in the New German Cinema sidebar is Karla, a debut feature from director Christina Tournatzés, who will be attending selected sessions. Based on a landmark true case set in Munich in 1962, it follows 12-year-old Karla (played by Elise Krieps, daughter of Vicky Krieps, in a remarkable debut) as she presses charges against her own father and insists on telling her story in her own words.
Elsewhere in the program: Four Minus Three (Vier minus drei) is a deeply moving Austrian drama with an outstanding turn from Valerie Pachner; Gavagai is a meta-cinematic drama from Ulrich Köhler, shot in Senegal and starring Maren Eggert and Jean-Christophe Folly; and Hello Betty follows the woman behind Switzerland’s beloved fictional culinary icon Betty Bossi.
Mystery thriller I’m Not Stiller stars festival favourite Albrecht Schuch, and documentary The Talented Mr. F. sends two Berlin film students on a wild chase across the USA after their short film gets stolen.
Rounding things out is a tribute to the late Udo Kier with selected screenings of Blood for Dracula, plus the ever-popular Kino for Kids sidebar, presented by the Goethe-Institut Australia, featuring five films for younger audiences including School of Magical Animals 4, Barry & Me and Pumuckl’s Big Mix-Up.
Tickets for the 2026 HSBC German Film Festival are on sale now.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Palace Cinemas.
