german films – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE (Tribeca 2026) – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 11, 2026June 14, 2026 Leslie Combemale Alisa Kolosova, german films, I Spy With My Little Eye, Judith Rose Gyabaah, Rahel Hutter, suicide, Tribeca 2026

Oof. Grief is messy. Like me, probably many of you out there know that. But do you know about the grief of someone you love taking their own life? That’s part of the premise of the German release I Spy With My Little Eye, but it doesn’t automatically make this indie the downer it sounds. In the case of this film, writer Judith Rose Gyabaah and director Alisa Kolosova wrap the experience of loss around enduring female friendship. It is joy and pain and fun and frustration. It is all the very real complications, like petty jealousies, varied levels of closeness, misunderstandings made and corrected, and everything else that makes up the way woman friends love each other.

Reviews

STELLA: A LIFE (STELLA. EIN LEBEN) – Review by Betsy Pickle

September 24, 2025September 26, 2025 Betsy Pickle german films, Katja Riemann, Lukas Miko, paula beer, Stella: A Life, Stella. Ein leben)

There’s irony in the title of the German film Stella: A Life (Stella. Ein leben), a dramatic thriller that looks at the Holocaust from an out-of-the-ordinary perspective. Many dramatic films depicting the Holocaust treat the setting as though it’s a history lesson, giving it a reverent patina. Director Kilian Riedhof tears through the streets of Berlin with urgency, terror and suspense, coming up for air in brief spurts. Riedhof, who co-wrote the screenplay with Marc Blobaum and Jan Braren, insists on flesh-and-blood action, and the realism is intense. Viewers will feel the violence.

Reviews

SOMEDAY WE’LL TELL EACH OTHER EVERYTHING – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

June 1, 2024June 1, 2024 Valerie Kalfrin Cedric Eich, Daniela Krien, Emily Atef, german films, Marlene Burow, Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything.

An aimless young woman in rural Germany takes up with a man twice her age in the languid romance Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything.. Director Emily Atef (More Than Ever), who co-wrote the screenplay with Krien, captures that on-the-cusp anticipation of young adulthood. Still, at two hours and nine minutes, the film feels at least ten minutes too long, lacking in dramatic tension and ending on an uncertain note. Overall, Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything doesn’t say much.

Movie of the Week

MOVIE OF THE WEEK January 5, 2024: THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE

January 1, 2024January 3, 2024 Jennifer Merin betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, german films, Ilker Catak, jennifer merin, Johannes Duncker, Leonard Stettnisch, Leonie Benesch, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, motw, Movie of the Week, Pam Grady, sandie angulo chen, The Teachers’ Lounge

Leonie Benesch gives a stellar performance as teacher Carla Nowak in director Ilker Çatak’s tense German drama The Teacher’s Lounge. Pulled in opposing directions by her desire to do the right thing for her young students and the pressure to support the school and its procedures, Carla is barely able to hold herself together — and Benesch conveys that stress and insecurity with every expression that crosses her face.

Reviews

THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE – Review by Leslie Combemale

December 28, 2023December 31, 2023 Leslie Combemale german films, Ilker Catak, Johannes Duncker, Leonard Stettnisch, Leonie Benesch, The Teachers’ Lounge

The Teacher’s Lounge takes issues like the perpetration of stereotypes, the malleability of truth, the challenges of the educational system and the growing feelings of alienation that plague modern society and examines them through one cautionary tale. Leonie Benesch plays Carla Nowak, a teacher working at a junior high where the faculty is dealing with petty theft. A little money, some pencils, and other small items have been disappearing. Carla takes it upon herself to try to suss out the culprit, but it leads to accusations, bad feelings, and worse, with members of both the faculty and student body. That may not sound like its 98 minutes are all high pressure, but in director/co-screenwriter Ilker Çatak’s capable hands, they are

Reviews

THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE – Review by Nikki Fowler

December 26, 2023February 23, 2024 Nikki Fowler german films, Ilker Catak, Johannes Duncker, Leonard Stettnisch, Leonie Benesch, The Teachers’ Lounge

İlker Çatak’s German thriller The Teachers’ Lounge is a raw donut into the classroom/teacher dynamic where what is usually defined as a safe space in which students are nurtured and educated, is truly at times a petri dish of real-world antics, including racism, crime, cheating, violence, stereotypes, bias and social chaos at some of the most important developmental years of one’s life and it’s not always coming from the students.

Reviews

THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE – Review by Diane Carson

December 22, 2023December 25, 2023 Diane Carson german films, Ilker Catak, Johannes Duncker, Leonie Benesch, The Teachers’ Lounge

German director İlker Çatak scrutinizes the unraveling in microcosm of an entire community in The Teachers’ Lounge. Racism, institutional bureaucracy, and principled positions fuel heated personal and professional interaction after a Turkish student is falsely accused of theft, his classmates are asked to confirm or refute the accusation, and compassionate, idealistic teacher Carla Nowak seeks the real thief.

Festivals Reviews

THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE (TIFF 2023) – Review by Liz Braun

September 12, 2023September 13, 2023 Liz Braun german films, Ilker Catak, Leonie Benesch, Oscars 2024, The Teachers’ Lounge, TIFF 2023

In the school setting, co-writer/director Catak has created a microcosm of the world we live in, with all the same differing factions, prejudices, offhand cruelty and cancel culture machinations available on a daily basis. The Teachers Lounge is a tense, brilliant ride; the film won a handful of German Film Awards in 2023 and will represent Germany in the Best International Film Category at the 2024 Oscars.

Reviews

PARADISE – Review by Susan Granger

August 24, 2023August 24, 2023 Susan Granger Boris Kunz, german films, Kostja Ullmann, Marlene Tanczik, netflix, Paradise, Peter Kocyla, Simon Amberger

Admittedly at first, the German dystopian thriller – cryptically titled Paradise – has an intriguing premise but then absurdity takes over. Set sometime in the not-too-distant future, the bio-tech conglomerate Aeon is marketing revolutionary medical equipment that enables people to transfer years of their lifespan from one to another. It’s a controversial system that’s obviously open to corruption and abuse. This sci-fi thriller – with far too many extraneous subplots – questions the morality of buying ‘time’ but soon becomes predictably generic, never delving deeply into the relatable concept of ageism and the philosophical ethics involved in pursuing youth.

Festivals Reviews

AFIRE (Melbourne IFF 2023) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 14, 2023August 14, 2023 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Afire, Berlin Film Festival, Christian Petzold, german films, Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

Another Christian Petzold film, another Berlinale award winning banger. His is a steady history of home town wins at the revered German festival, starting as far back as 2003’s Wolfsburg, with Barbara (2012) and Undine (2020) also winning major awards, establishing a strong history that this year’s Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for Afire continues. Unarguably one of the country’s strongest filmmakers working today, Afire reveals Petzold as someone who is comfortably at the top of their game. It’s a film so technically tight and made with such integrity and precision that it’s a struggle to keep one’s jaw from dropping; it’s an absolute delight to watch.

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