Das Filmfest kicks off at CENTRAL

• Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 19:00

Switzerland, 1942. Ernst Schrämli, an outsider longing for a better life in Germany, falls into the trap of a Nazi spy. In an atmosphere of fear and misery, a story of betrayal, manipulation and the desire for recognition unfolds. Based on true events, the film reveals the scars left by the war and the pitfalls of Swiss neutrality.

• Landesverräter | CH/DE | 2024 | 112 minutes | directed by Michael Krummenacher

After running away from gym class, 17-year-old Simon finds himself on the banks of a river with a group of apathetic young people. It is only when Marie appears and the two are catapulted into the nearby forest by an unexpected event that they escape their lethargy and find themselves in an in-between world of an enchanted riverscape.

• Der Fleck | DE/CH | 2024 | 94 minutes | directed by Willy Hans

Do you want a cultured friend? Do you want to show your business partners the perfect son? Do you need to learn how to win every argument? No problem. Thirty-year-old Matthias can be anyone. But that’s just the problem. He loses himself in his sometimes absurdly grotesque roles and stops being himself. In this comic story, he tries to find his way back to his real self.

• Pfau – Bin ich echt? | AT/DE | 2024 | 102 minutes | directed by Bernhard Wenger

Amrum Island, 1945: 12-year-old boy Nanning helps his mother in the last days of the war by fishing or working in the fields. Despite the daily hardships, life on the island seems almost like paradise. But with the long-awaited peace, he finds himself face to face with hitherto unknown problems and gradually uncovers dark family secrets.

• Amrum | DE | 2025 | 100 minutes | directed by Fatih Akin

“When a cat sheds its young in the Hofburg riding hall, it does not make them Lipizzaners.” This is how someone on the Internet commented on the publicized case of director Kosanović. She was born in Austria, grew up in Austria, but still has no citizenship. A brisk documentary about identity and legislation that constantly divides society into “us” and “the others”.

• Noch lange keine Lipizzaner | AT | 2025 | 92 minutes | directed by Olga Kosanović

The festival also includes a special screening for schools. From 3 to 5 November, pupils and students will be able to see the film Balloon, based on a real event from 1979. Two East German families prepare a big plan to escape to the West in secret. They build a hot air balloon, but it crashes just before the border. The East German Stasi secret police find traces of the failed escape attempt and launch an investigation and search. Under great time pressure, the two families scavenge for materials and build a new balloon, but with each passing day the police search circle around them narrows, threatening them with exposure and arrest. Another dangerous race against time begins, with the police hot on their heels. Will they get a second chance?