The annual German film festival is back in Manila! Now running in its fifth edition, KinoFest 2026 is bringing the best of contemporary German cinema across Southeast Asia and the Pacific from October to November 2026. In Manila, the festival runs from October 15 to 18, 2026, finding an exciting brand-new home at the GH Ortigas Cinema in Greenhills Mall!
Organized by the Goethe-Institut Philippinen in partnership with Greenhills Mall and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), this year’s festival centers on the theme: “Belonging, Resilience, and the Spaces That Shape Our Lives.” Through rich narratives touching upon faith, memory, justice, care, and identity, the films explore how we construct our own lives amid the personal and institutional realities around us.
Opening the festival on 15 October is Markus Schleinzer’s striking black-and-white period drama Rose (2026), starring award-winning actress Sandra Hüller. Beyond German features, this edition highlights a unique intercultural platform called KinoFest Special: Intersections, placing Filipino cinema in active conversation with contemporary German cinema through screenings and director talk backs.
The best news? Admission to all screenings is completely FREE!
KinoFest 2026 Manila Official Line-up
All films will be shown in their original language with English subtitles.
OPENING FILM: Rose
2026 | Drama, Historical, Queer | 93 mins | Rating: R16
In 17th-century Germany, a scarred stranger arrives in a village claiming to be heir to a farmstead. Despite initial suspicion, he is accepted as a hardworking, God-fearing man—his belonging built on a lie. Inspired by the true story of a con artist born a woman who deceived an entire village.
Accolades: Winner, Silver Bear for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Berlinale 2026); Winner, First Steps Award; Winner, Firebird Award – Young Cinema Competition (Hong Kong International Film Festival 2026); Winner, Thomas Pluch Screenplay Award – Best Screenplay (Diagonale – Austrian Film Festival 2026)
I Understand Your Displeasure (Ich verstehe Ihren Unmut)
2026 | Drama | 93 mins | Rating: PG
Heike, 59, manages a cleaning company team under constant pressure to satisfy clients and her boss. When a powerful subcontractor threatens to pull his support unless she gives his team more work, Heike must decide whether to sacrifice one of her own employees to survive the job’s demands.
Accolades: World Premiere (Berlinale Panorama Section 2026); Winner, Acting Prize for the role of “Heike” (Kinofest Lünen 2026)
Prosecution (Staatsschutz)
2026 | Drama, Political | 113 mins | Rating: R16
Prosecutor Seyo Kim survives a racially motivated attack and, defying official orders, conducts her own investigation. She brings a perpetrator to trial and uncovers a far-right network—and in the process learns just how much the state she serves applies double standards.
Accolades: Winner, Panorama Audience Award – Feature Film (Berlinale 2026); Winner, NDR Film Prize for Emerging Talent (Emden-Norderney International Film Festival 2026)
Trial of Hein (Der Heimatlose)
2026 | Drama, Queer | 122 mins | Rating: R13
After 14 years, Hein returns to his home island, but no one recognizes him—not even his former friend Friedemann. A village court is convened to determine his identity, but the more contradictions that surface, the more desperately Hein searches for evidence to support his own memories.
Accolades: Winner, Jury Award at the Teddy Awards (Berlinale 2026); Winner, Out in the Silence Award (San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2026)
Luisa
2025 | Drama | 94 mins | Rating: R16
Luisa lives in a residential facility for people with disabilities. She is 22 years old and curious about life. Unnoticed, Luisa becomes increasingly quiet; daily life in the residential group continues as usual until it is unexpectedly discovered that Luisa is pregnant. She doesn’t tell anyone what happened; she remains silent. Sexual abuse is suspected. A drama. A true crime.
Accolades: Winner, New Berlin Film Award (achtung berlin Film Festival 2026); Winner, TILDA Prize for Best Film by a Female Director (Braunschweig International Film Festival 2025); Winner, New German Cinema Promotion Prize (51st Hof Film Festival 2025)
The Family Approach (Im Prinzip Familie)
2024 | Documentary | 91 mins | Rating: PG
Almost like family, but always temporary: caught between parental love, bureaucracy, and child welfare services, three caregivers do everything they can to create a home for the children. A film about the superpower of raising a child and family in all its forms.
Accolades: Winner, Perception Change Award (Visions du Réel, Wide Angle Competition 2025); Winner, Documentary Film Prize (Bavarian Film Award 2026)
Circusboy (Zirkuskind)
2025 | Documentary, Family | 86 mins | Rating: PG
Every day is magical when the circus is your playground. Santino, a circus kid constantly on the move, listens to his great-grandfather’s stories as his own life is just beginning. A documentary road movie woven with animation, Circusboy follows one of the last nomadic families in Germany through a full year and four seasons—capturing the joys and struggles of a life without a fixed address, and the enduring power of belonging.
Accolades: Honorable Mention from the Youth Jury for the Glass Bear (Berlinale 2025); Winner, Best Children’s Film (German Film Critics’ Award 2026)
In Good Faith (Gotteskinder)
2024 | Coming of Age, Drama | 117 mins | Rating: R13
Two sheltered siblings from a conservative household face personal revelations that challenge their family’s strict beliefs, forcing them to navigate between authenticity and tradition.
Accolades: Winner, Best Feature Film – International Youth Film Competition (exground Filmfest 2024); Winner, Competition 1-2 Award (Warsaw Film Festival 2024)
Sound of Falling (In die Sonne schauen)
2025 | Drama | 154 mins | Rating: R18
Four adolescent girls each spend their youth in the same farmhouse over the last century. Though separated by decades, resonances between their lives emerge: their desires and distress, secrets and truths, encounters with another’s gaze, and the defiant gaze in return.
Accolades: Winner, Jury Prize (Competition, Cannes Film Festival 2025); Winner, Best Feature Film (German Film Critics’ Award 2026)
Heidi – Rescue of the Lynx (Heidi – Rettung der Luchse)
2025 | Animation, Adventure | 80 mins | Rating: PG
Free-spirited Heidi faces forces beyond her years to protect her grandfather and the alpine wilderness she loves from a ruthless businessman and the hungry jaws of his new sawmill.
Special Highlight: KinoFest Special: Intersections
A defining highlight of KinoFest 2026 is Intersections on Saturday, 17 October at 4:00 PM in Cinema 1. The program brings contemporary Philippine cinema into direct dialogue with the festival’s core themes of memory, labor, trauma, intimacy, and place.
The special showcase presents three acclaimed Filipino films:
- Raging (Rumaragasa) by Ryan Machado (2026 | Queer | 87 mins | R16 | Berlinale International Programme World Premiere 2026; Cinemalaya Best Cinematography 2025): A young man’s quest for truth and justice intertwines with a plane crash mystery, uncovering a sinister plot that propels his desire to be heard while threatening his community.
- Body Count by Cris Bringas (Philippine Premiere | 2026 | Short Film | 18 mins | R18 | IDFA DocLab Forum Best Project Award 2026): Paul, a Filipino nurse in Berlin whose brother was killed in the drug war, hooks up with David, a former IDF soldier who has fled Israel. Tangled in bed, intimacy fails to redeem brutality, revealing the living remains of wars both ongoing and never-ending.
- Invisible Labor by Joanne Cesario (2023 | Short Film | 21 mins | PG): Filipino workers unite and lead the struggle for economic and political rights across eras, while an archival janitor painstakingly rewinds videotapes featuring these struggles.
The screenings will be followed by an in-person talkback with the filmmakers, moderated by Julian Fuchs, Director of the Goethe-Institut Philippinen.
KinoFest 2026 Manila Watch & Win Raffle Promo
Going to the cinema this weekend comes with perks! Goethe-Institut Philippinen is running a Watch & Win raffle promo during the festival run:
- Every film screening ticket gives you a chance to win exclusive Goethe-Institut Loot Bags and Birkenstock gift certificates worth up to ₱5,000.
- Three lucky attendees will also win KinoFest loot bags at every single film screening.
- Claim your raffle tickets directly at the KinoFest booth near Cinema 1!
KinoFest 2026 Manila Admission & Ticketing Guidelines
Admission: FREE on a first-come, first-served basis.
Where to Claim Tickets: Festival tickets may be claimed at the dedicated KinoFest Booth near Cinema 1, GH Ortigas Cinema, Greenhills Mall.
Ticketing Time: Ticket distribution begins one (1) hour before each scheduled screening.
KinoFest 2026 Complete Manila Screening Schedule
For more information and festival announcements, visit goethe.de/manila/kinofest or follow @goetheinstitut_philippinen on Instagram and Facebook.
