Win Free Tickets to the Festival of German Cinema in China!

The Festival of German Cinema in China is just around the corner! The Festival is presented by German Films together with co-organizers, the Goethe-Institut China and Broadway Cinema, and supported by the German Embassy and Consulates in China.

From Nov 15 to Nov 24, 15 excellent German films will be screened at the Broadway Cinemas and the Goethe-Institut China. We've also got some free tickets for the festival to give away to Beijinger readers, see the full details on how to nab yours at the end of the post!

First, though, let’s take a peek at the event schedule!

Please note: the screening schedule is subject to change. Please confirm screening times on the official platforms.

Tickets for Broadway Cinemas will go on sale at noon on Wednesday, Nov 6. For screenings at the Broadway Cinemas, get tickets via this portal:

Screenings and events at the Goethe-Institut (China) are free of charge, and on a first-come-first-serve basis. No registration is required. 

Goethe-Institut China

Beijing Broadway Cinematheque 

Palace Cinema (CWTC BJ)

Twenty-somethings Amir and Narges have found what feels like true love in their hometown by the coast of the Caspian Sea. But in today’s Iran, that’s far from enough to build a life together, and they are forced to keep the relationship secret. To win over Narges’ upper-class family and pay an appropriate dowry, Amir needs money, and he needs it fast. With his back against the wall, Amir finds work at a local fishery. As he’s drawn into the dangerous but lucrative business of black-market caviar smuggling, Narges stalls for time and tries to delay the arranged marriage her parents are planning for her. Can their love, hopes, and dreams survive the tightly-knit web of tradition, corruption, and social hierarchy that continues to rule over the lives of a new generation in Iran?

Empty Nets is Behrooz Karamizade’s feature debut, presenting the plight and struggle of Iran’s young people and highlighting the ever so ominous economic and societal image of the country.

Carla Nowak, a dedicated sports and math teacher, starts her first job at a high school. She stands out among the new staff because of her idealism. When a series of thefts occur at the school and one of her students is suspected, she decides to get to the bottom of the matter on her own. 

Carla tries to mediate between outraged parents, opinionated colleagues and aggressive students, but is relentlessly confronted with the structures of the school system. The more desperately she tries to do everything right, the more the young teacher threatens to break.

In 1968, the classroom of a girls' grammar school in Munich is transformed into a film studio under the direction of young director Edgar Reitz. The "film lesson" begins: the first documented attempt in film history to teach film aesthetics as an independent subject. 2023: Edgar Reitz, the world-famous director of the Heimat trilogy, is approached by an elderly lady. She recognizes herself as one of his former students. They arrange a class reunion. 

A montage of a documentary film about the project at the time, the Super 8 films of the schoolgirls and the filmed reunion in 2023 creates a kind of long-term exposure of the last 55 years of film history. What had these women experienced over this long period and what role did the art of film play in their lives? Were the seeds of their personalities already evident in the small training film? And what do the women have to say about film culture today? SUBJECT: FILMMAKING is a declaration of love for filmmaking and an appeal to finally bring film education into schools. A film about lifetime and the still unredeemed possibilities of the art of film.

10-year-old Jason, who is autistic, needs the routines he has set up and that are non-negotiable. His dad Mirco and his mom Fatime have both worked a lot to keep things together. When it is suggested to the family that Jason should transfer to a special needs school, Mirco faces a challenge: He makes his son promise to find a favorite soccer club with him. In return, Jason promises to stop letting himself be provoked at school. 

Father and son travel to Germany's soccer stadiums and in the process Mirco finally really learns to understand his special son and how to deal with his disability. Their soccer weekends become an escape from everyday life for both of them and a great adventure as they become "Weekend Rebels". Both find what they weren't necessarily looking for but definitely needed, and learn what is really possible when you understand that to love is a verb.

When the notorious liar Greta unexpectedly kisses the lonesome butcher Alex on the neck at a bus stop, both of them are unaware that this chance encounter is exactly what they have been missing in their lives. 

The Intangible Joy of Love sees two complete opposites colliding and then discovering that life has all kinds of things to offer even in the autumn years - you just have to have the courage to go for it. It's funny and thoughtful, exciting and unexpected, profound and exhilarating. And always totally fascinating.

When Nina finds out that her teenage son Lars has been injured in an accident at school, she is faced with a dilemma: Can she leave behind the rehearsals with her orchestra in order to be there completely for him…in a situation that could be a life-changing moment? The decision she makes is a compromise: for five days, she will leave Munich to take Lars on a getaway, to the island in western France where they usually spend their summer vacation — a place full of fond memories and significance to Lars. 

In winter, however, the island is no vacation paradise, but windy, dark and cold. In the small house on the beach, mother and son are forced to face each other. Thoughts of music haunt Nina, the calls from the mainland worry her. Is she just sabotaging her career, which she has fought so hard for…and for what? Lars withdraws further every day. Misunderstandings multiply, suppositions turn into suspicions: Was Lars a witness to a gruesome crime at school? Did he even participate in it? When a winter storm cuts the last connection to the mainland, a dangerous confrontation ensues.

Halberstadt, the summer of 1990: Maren, Robert, and Volker come across millions of East German marks in an old tunnel. Although the money is technically worthless, the three friends smuggle it out in their backpacks and involve their neighbors in a clever scheme to cheat capitalism by exchanging it for goods.

Starring Anatomy of A Fall actress Sandra Hüller, the film gives us a glimpse into the stories of ordinary people at a time of great change.

While an American film crew shoots a war series in a former sugar factory in Germany, the residents of the nearby village of Wiesenwalde chase their personal dreams—until a sudden power failure threatens to disrupt all plans and a tank stands in front of the mayor's house.

The comical characters and their seemingly calm but chaotic daily life make up this astonishing black comedy, which peers into the intricate social reality through the story of a small community.

As a special gift for Beijinger readers, the Festival of German Cinema will be giving away ten free tickets for the festival! To be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is leave a comment on this post stating your favorite German film by Sunday, Nov 10 at 5pm. We'll then pick the top five comments and each person will be given two tickets for the fest.

For more information about the festival, follow the official platforms below:

Images: German Films