FatherlandFatherland

In the summer of 1949...

Fatherland centres on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) — actress, writer and rally driver. At the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick taking them across a Germany in ruins — from US dominated Frankfurt to Soviet controlled Weimar.

Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Thomas Mann has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also a deep fracture within his own family. With Fatherland, Pawlikowski picks up where he left off with his award-winning Ida and Cold War, exploring — in his elliptic, distilled style — the themes of identity, family, love and guilt amid the turmoil and confusion of post-war Europe.

Paweł Pawlikowski | Poland, Germany, Italy, France | 2026 | 82 mins | Subtitled | 12A