Vaterland

Following the Oscar-winning “Ida” and the multi-award-winning drama “Cold War” (Best Director at Cannes, five European Film Awards, including Best Film), Paweł Pawlikowski tells a sweeping family saga set against the turmoil of the postwar era through stunning cinematic imagery. With tender relentlessness, “FATHERLAND” interweaves the lowest point in German history with the finale of a family saga. An intense cinematic experience, carried by an outstanding ensemble cast. Winner of Best Director at Cannes 2026.

After the end of World War II, Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter, the actress, author, and cabaret artist Erika (Sandra Hüller), embark on a journey through a Germany in ruins—from Frankfurt in the American occupation zone to Soviet-controlled Weimar. On the occasion of the Goethe anniversary, people on both sides of the inner-German border hope for words of comfort, approval, and forgiveness from the greatest of all storytellers. Amid euphoric Wagner heirs and literarily sophisticated generals, Germany’s most important writer is courted and sometimes reviled, while the drama of his own family quietly escalates. It is the first time since the war that Thomas Mann has returned to his homeland, from which he once fled into exile.