Fatherland
- Poland, Germany, Italy, France
- 2026
- 82'
- Polonica
At the height of the Cold War, Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, actress and writer, drive their black Buick through the war-ravaged Germany. This is a highly emotional journey. They begin in Frankfurt, part of the U.S. Zone of Occupation in Germany, and end in Weimar, which is controlled by the Soviets. This marks the first time after the end of WWII that Thomas Mann ever returns to his homeland, after immigrating to the United States. In the latest film from Academy Award winner Paweł Pawlikowski, author of ‘Ida’ and ‘Cold War,’ the film director once again deals with his favourite concepts of identity, guilt, family, and love - this time set against the backdrop of the moral confusion in post-war Europe. The film was one of the candidates for the Palme d’Or Award at the 79th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival.
- Directed by: Paweł Pawlikowski
- Screenplay: Paweł Pawlikowski, Henk Handloegten
- Photography: Łukasz Żal
- Production Design: Katarzyna Sobańska, Marcel Sławiński
- Costume Design: Aleksandra Staszko
- Editing: Paweł Pawlikowski, Piotr Wójcik
- Sound Engineering: Lars Ginzel, Tarn Willers
- Cast: Sandra Hüller, Hanns Zischler, August Diehl, Anna Madeley, Devid Striesov, Joanna Kulig
A Polish film director and screenwriter, considered to be one of the most important filmmakers of the modern European auteur cinema. He gained international recognition thanks to the films ‘Ida’ and ‘Cold War,’ the first of which won an Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film, while the other was awarded for the best directing at the Cannes IFF, and nominated for Academy Awards in various categories. The film work by Paweł Pawlikowski is unique for its minimalistic narrative, distinct visual style, and the notions of identity, memory, and love, with European history in the background. His approach is a combination of formal discipline, black and white aesthetics (‘Ida’), and a powerful emotional load masked by the minimalistic form.
