Prosecution
Faraz Shariat
The screening on opening night is sold out. Tickets for Wednesday, April 29, and Saturday, May 2, are still available.
How objective is the German justice system? Seyo Kim, a young prosecutor, is investigating right-wing terrorism in eastern Germany when she herself becomes the target of a racist attack, which she barely survives. In her own investigation, she takes great risks to expose a far-right network and institutional racism.
Following his multi-award-winning debut Futur Drei, Faraz Shariat confidently navigates the terrain between a suspenseful political thriller and an oppressive reality in his second feature film. The screenplay by Claudia Schaefer, Jee-Un Kim, and Sun-Ju Choi is based on years of research. Although it does not recount a specific case, the film remains deeply rooted in reality. In preparation, Shariat met with lawyers representing private plaintiffs in arson cases and in the NSU trial. Their experiences served as inspiration for the dedicated lawyer portrayed in Julia Jentsch’s film. Playing the lead role, Chen Emilie Yan portrays the prosecutor, who becomes an accuser and a fighter, with great intensity. A complex female character who shifts between cool objectivity, anger, vulnerability, and a tenacious sense of justice.
2 May 2026
16:00 h, Eldorado Filmtheater
More information
| Direction | Faraz Shariat |
| Country | Germany |
| Production year | 2026 |
| Duration | 113 min |
| Language | German, Korean |
| Language Version | original version |
| Genre | Thriller, Drama |
| Production | Paulina Lorenz, Jorgo Narjes, Faraz Shariat |
| Production company | ZDF, Das kleine Fernsehspiel, ARTE |
| Distribution | Plaion Pictures |
| Cast | Chen Emilie Yan, Julia Jentsch, Alev Irmak |
| Director of Photography | Lotta Kilian |
| Script | Claudia Schaefer, Dr. Sun-Ju Choi, Jee-Un Kim |
| Montage | Friederike Hohmuth |
| Sound | Henning Hein |
| Music | Gabríel Ólafs |
| Scenography | Dario Mendez Acosta |
Berlinale 2026: Panorama Audience Award
About the Director
Faraz Shariat, born in Cologne in 1994, studied performing arts at the University of Hildesheim. He is one of the co-founders of the film collective Jünglinge. He presented his feature film debut Futur Drei at the 2020 Berlinale, where it won the Teddy Award and the First Step Award for Best Feature Film. Shariat directed several episodes of the youth series Druck (en. Pressure) and produced, among other projects, the comedy series Schwarze Früchte (en. Black Fruits). Staatschutz won the Panorama Audience Award at the 2026 Berlinale.
Press reviews
"The film provokes unease and is thus exactly the kind of political, rebellious cinema we need at this time. Shariat takes the liberty of playing with genre elements which, if used in the wrong measure, could have led to a trivialisation of the subject matter. However, he succeeds in striking exactly the right balance between a realistic portrayal and a thriller fuelled by anger and a sense of justice." (Andreas Köhnemann, kino-Zeit.de)
"A work that counters the (institutional) powerlessness in the face of the political shift to the far right and the trivialisation of this shift with personal commitment and solidarity amongst the victims, and uses the genre’s vibe to overcome fear." (Jens Balkenborg, taz)
