Great Cannes moments for German films and stars

Cannes (dpa) – German filmmakers are well represented this year at the 79^th Cannes Film Festival. Several productions with German involvement are in the running for the Palme d’Or. Sandra Hüller has been gaining much attention from critics for her role in the drama “Fatherland”, directed by the Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski.

Hüller plays Erika Mann, daughter of the author Thomas Mann, as the pair travel together through the shattered landscape of post-War Germany 1949. Thomas Mann is played by Hanns Zischler. The film blends political history with the intimate account of a father and daughter’s story of exile, loss and where they call “home”.

Fatherland is considered an early favourite for the Palme d’Or. The industry magazine Variety has ranked Sandra Hüller among the Oscar favourites for her performance. Speaking in Cannes, Hüller said the scenes depicting sadness and alienation from one’s homeland were particularly challenging. Hüller celebrated her international breakthrough at the international film festival in 2023 for her roles in “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest”.

Sandra Hüller is joined in Cannes by the German director Volker Schlöndorff, actors Lars Eidinger, Jella Haase and August Diehl, as well as director Valeska Grisebach. A number of films explore questions of German history and identity. Schlöndorff, who won the Palme d’Or in 1979 for The Tin Drum, described the invitation to Cannes as an “accolade”. In the absence of many major US studios from this year’s festival, European cinema is stepping into the spotlight.