The seventh edition of the German Cinema film festival this year was bigger than ever, with film screenings held simultaneously in six cities across Indonesia.

The leading program of Goethe-Institut Indonesien kicked off in Jakarta from Oct. 2 at GoetheHaus in Central Jakarta, while in Denpasar, Bandung, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Makassar, free-of-charge film screenings were held from Oct. 4 to 6 at selected cinemas.

A total of 12 critically acclaimed films released within the past year not only gave a comprehensive picture of Germany but also provided a good idea of the country’s film industry, said Goethe-Institut Indonesien director Stefan Dreyer.

“Nearly 30 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down unexpectedly and history changed forever,” he said, adding that the long process of reintegration had also been captured in the films.

This year’s German Cinema featured three films that touch on issues related to the past division between East Germany and West Germany under the theme of “30 Jahre Mauerfall” — a commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 2021.

Another focus program was Contemporary Black and White, featuring two black-and-white films that explore the lives of prominent film personalities.

“This festival is an opportunity to see really, really good films,” Dreyer said at the opening night on Oct. 1 at CGV cinema in Grand Indonesia, Central Jakarta.

The opening film was Ballon (Balloon) by German comedian and director Michael “Bully” Herbig, that tells the true story of two families that escaped communist East Germany by flying over the heavily fortified border in a homemade hot-air balloon before landing in Bavaria in September 1979.

Disney previously bought the rights to the story from both families and turned it into the 1982 film Night Crossing. The families, however, were reportedly unhappy with the final film and welcomed Herbig’s desire to “make a German film for international audiences”.

In Herbig’s hands, their personal plight was recreated as a thriller for the cinema. It won Best Feature Film at the 2019 Washington DC Film Fest and was nominated for Best Sound and Best Film Score at the 2019 German Film Awards.

Looking back: Goethe-Institut Indonesien’s Stefan Dreyer and the German Cinema organizing committee greet the audience at CGV cinema in Grand Indonesia, Central Jakarta on Oct. 1. This year, the film festival featured films selected in commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1991. (Courtesy of Goethe-Institut Indonesian)

The film was screened on Sunday in Surabaya and Makassar alongside 25 km/h by director Markus Goller, a comedy road trip drama of adult brothers Christian and Georg realizing their childhood dream of traveling across Germany on their old mopeds.

Two films — screened on the closing day in Jakarta, Denpasar, Bandung and Yogyakarta — both won Outstanding Feature Film at the German Film Awards.

The winner in 2018 was a drama titled Der Junge Muss An Die Frische Luft (All About Me) by Caroline Link that follows 9-year-old Hans-Peter, a young boy who has a talent for making people laugh but whose life takes a turn when his mother falls into depression.

The film received an accolade for Best Direction at the 2018 Bavarian Film Awards, as well as Best Supporting Actress and was named the highest-grossing movie of the year at the 2018 German Film Awards.

The other film was Gunderman, a charming biopic of beloved East German folk singer songwriter Gerhard “Gundi” Gunderman, helmed by multi-award-winning director Andreas Dresen.

German news website Spiegel.de described the film as “one of the richest, most sophisticated and greatest films about the GDR [East Germany].”  At the recent German Film Awards, the film also won awards for Best Direction, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. It also received the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2019 Tromsø International Film Festival in Norway and Best Actor at the Bavarian Film Awards this year.

For the Contemporary Black and White program, the German Cinema organizers picked the resounding winner at the 2018 German Film Awards, 3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon), a homage to actress Romy Schneider from director Emily Atef, as well as Fritz Lang, a 2016 biopic about the acclaimed director, by Gordian Maugg.