A film series presenting current German cinema is coming up, as part of the Berlinale Selection 2026. Across four days, the Goethe-Institut Cyprus will showcase six films that were at the Berlinale festivals from 2023 to 2025, taking over the big screen of Pantheon Cinema from February 5 to 8.

Supported by the Friends of Cinema Society, the Nicosia screenings will touch on a variety of contemporary social issues, exploring identity, vulnerability and the search for belonging from sharply different angles.

What unites them is an intimate focus on individuals caught in moments of transition: artists questioning their craft, young people confronting inherited histories or communities negotiating the boundaries of culture and memory.

First to be screened is Köln 75, on February 5 at 8pm. Then, Shahid will be presented on February 6, followed by a discussion in English with Keti Papadima. On February 7, two screenings will take place, first Langue Étrangère at 6pm and then Bones and Names at 8pm.

On the final day, the film Punching the World will take the big screen first, followed by Afire. All screenings will be presented in their original language with subtitles in English, and they have free admission.

The films Bones and Names and Afire both examine creative lives under pressure, though one leans into playful meta-cinema while the other unfolds as a tense, sun-drenched chamber piece. Langue Étrangère and Shahid turn toward questions of language, migration and self-definition, yet their tones diverge – one gentle and introspective, the other politically charged and urgent. Köln 75 and Punching the World revisit the past, tracing youthful rebellion and social upheaval, but with contrasting energies: documentary reflection versus raw, fictionalised coming-of-age.

Together, these films form a mosaic of contemporary German language cinema – bold in form, emotionally precise and deeply curious about how people become who they are. They invite us to witness lives in motion, shaped by love, tension and the stories we choose to tell.

Berlinale Selection 2026

German cinema film screenings. By Goethe-Institut Cyprus. February 5-8. Pantheon Cinema, Nicosia. 6pm or 8pm. In original language with English subtitles. Free admission. Tel: 22-674606, www.goethe.de/cyprus/BerlinaleSelection