16.04. ‐ 21.04.2024

International Film Program "Change"

The theme of the 14th LICHTER Filmfest Frankfurt International is "Change". The international film program on the annual theme will discuss the change and transformation of the living world in its most diverse forms and facets.

The individual only feels the change when it takes place. As much as there is talk of social, digital and climate change, it often requires a confrontation that allows the individual to experience it. Whether on the largest, or the smallest, personal level. To grasp these changes and make them translatable has always been a concern of art. Through the exploration of the inner self and the speculative search for the what and wherefrom, it grips us and invites us to understanding and empathy. Film is known to have special potential to make the world of the other comprehensible. With its film program from 27 April to 02 May 2021, LICHTER explores the various forms, facets and moments of change.

International Feature Film Program on "Change"

Gagarine

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director:
Fanny Liatard und Jérémy Trouilh
Feature Film, F 2020, 97min.

Language: Original with English and German subtitles

Trailer

Yuri lives in the Paris suburbs, is a future astronaut and a janitor. He has a brilliant idea to save his settlement from demolition.
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Souterrain

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director: Sophie Dupuis
Feature Film, CAN 2020, 97 Min.
Language: Original with English subtitles
Trailer

Maxime, a miner in Québec, risks his own life to save that of his buried colleagues. To make amends?
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Identifying Features (Sin señas particulares)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director: Fernanda Valadez
Feature Film, MEX 2020, 98 Min.
Language: Original with German subtitles
Hesse Premiere
Trailer

Magdalena from Mexico is looking for her son in the USA. But she realizes that she is just one of many looking for a loved one.

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Mogul Mowgli

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director:
Bassam Tariq
Feature Film, UK, USA 2020, 89 Min.
Language: Original with English subtitles
Trailer

The dream of European tour finally comes true! The world will hear your music, know your story! But then your body fails!
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The Wasteland (دشت خاموش)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
:
Ahmad Bahrami
Feature Film, IRN 2020, 102 Min.
Language:
Original with English subtitles
German Premiere
Trailer

Different people, all connected by the last traditional adobe factory in the countryside. Will this commonality be able to save them?
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The Metamorphosis of Birds (A Metamorfose dos Pássaros)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
: Catarina Vasconcelos
Documentary, PT 2020, 101 Min.
Language:
Original with English subtitles
Trailer

Poetic images of nature and the story of a family scarred by tragedy. Father and daughter find each other again in the pain.
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The Truffle Hunters

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
: Michael Dweck und Gregory Kershaw

Documentary, ITA/USA/GR 2020, 84 Min.

Language: Original with English subtitles
Trailer

A film of Open Air Special in summer 2021

It’s a long, long journey for a truffle. From the depths of the underground in the Italian forests to an impeccable plate in a most expensive restaurant, The Truffle Hunters shows how a whole industry works. But at its very base, it all depends on some old guys and their dogs.

This is my Desire (Eyimofe)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director: Arie und Chuko Esiri
Feature Film, USA/NGA 2020, 116 Min.
Language: Original with English and German subtitles
Trailer

Mofe and Rosa want to emigrate to Europe. But again and again they are mercilessly pulled back to Lagos by an invisible hand.
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Gull (Gal-mae-gi)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director: Mi-jo Kim
Feature Film, KOR 2020, 75 Min.
Language: Original with English subtitles
Trailer

Obok is a content and frugal woman. But that changes when she becomes the victim of a crime.
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There is no Evil (Sheytan vojud nadarad)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director: Mohammad Rosoulof
Feature Film, IR, DE, CZ 2020, 152 Min.
Language: Original with German subtitles
Trailer

In four independent episodes, this  film shows the impact of the death penalty on the lives of those who have to carry it out.
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Quo Vadis, Aida?

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
:
Jasmila Žbanić
Feature Film, BH 2021, 101 Min.

Language: Original with German subtitles
Trailer

In the midst of the war in Bosnia in 1995, a translator tries to protect her family. The drama shows the effects of political inaction.
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Madly in Life (Un vie démente)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
:
Ann Sirot und Raphaël Balboni
Feature Film, BE 2020, 87 Min.
Language:
Original with English subtitles

German Premiere
Trailer

With black humor, the film presents a wonderfully honest picture of what it's like when a loved one loses their mind.
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Never Gonna Snow Again (Śniegu już nigdy nie będzie)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
:
Małgorzata Szumowska und Michał Englert
Feature Film, D/PL, 113 Min.
Language:
Original with English and German subtitles
Trailer

As a masseur in a gated community, Zhenia learns the secrets of his rich clients through his job.
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Schoolgirls (Las niñas)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
:
Pilar Palomero
Feature Film, ESP 2020, 97 Min
Language:
Original with English subtitles
Trailer

A film of Open Air Special in summer 2021

There comes a point in the life of every child when they realize the world is much bigger than they thought. For 11-year-old Celia, that moment arrives when she meets Brisa, a new classmate at her Catholic school, and her life is turned upside down.

Acasă, My Home

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director:
Radu Ciorniciuc
Documentary, D/FIN/RO 2020, 84 Min.

Language:
Original with English and German subtitles
Trailer

Torn from their independence in nature, forcibly relocated to the big city, a family in Bucharest must find themselves completely anew.
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Flashwood

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director: Jean-Carl Boucher
Feature Film, CAN 2020, 93 Min.
Language: Original with English subtitles
German Premiere
Trailer

In Flashwood, the development of a group of young people is followed over seven years.
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Moon, 66 Questions (Selene, 66 Questions)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director:
Jacqueline Lentzou
Feature Film, GR 2021, 108 Min.
Language
: Original with English subtitles
German Premiere
Trailer

The relationship between Artemis and her father is turned upside down by a stroke of fate. Can she now build a relationship with him?
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Valentina

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
:
Cássio Pereira dos Santo
Feature Film, BRA 2020, 95 Min.
Language:
Original with English subtitles
Deutschland Premiere
Trailer

Valentina flees with her mother from harassment and intolerance. In the countryside they hope for a new beginning for Valentina as a trans woman.
[More Information & Tickets]

The Man Who Sold His Skin

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
: Kaouther Ben Hania
Feature Film, TUN/F/D/BE/SWE 2020, 104 Min.

Language: Original with German subtitles

Also as an open air special in summer 2021

Trailer

Sam and his girlfriend are separated by the Syrian civil war. While he flees, she is pressured into marrying a Syrian diplomat.
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The Year of the Discovery (El año del descubrimiento)

Section: International Feature Film Program
Director
:
Luis López Carrasco
Documentary, ESP/CH 2020, 200 Min.
Language: Original with English and German subtitles
Trailer

For many people in Cartagena, Spain, life changed in 1992. This film shows the connection between politics and life.
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International Shorts

International Shorts

Buy your pre-sale ticket here

Les aigles de Carthage (The Eagles of Carthage)
(R: Adriano Valerio; F/I/TUN 2020, 20 Min.)

The Africa-Cup Final in 2004 is still a remarkable historical memory for Tunisia, which won against Morocco that year. The film follows the traces of a memory that nowadays seems like a mythical place.

Blaké
(R: Vincent Fontano; F 2019, 23:24 Min.)

A parking lot at night is a place where thoughts, words, and dreams are let loose, and where social rules no longer seem to apply. The winner of our partners from Festival de Contis 2020.

Zombies
(R: Baloji; CD/BE 2019, 15 Min.)

An undefined cinematic object from Kinshasa: an afro- futuristic journey through the parallel world of Kinshasa. An avant-garde music video or experimental criticism of technology? A worth-while experience in any case.

Being My Mom
(R: Jasmine Trinca, I 2020, 12 Min.)

A mother and her daughter, or rather, two human bodies – on a scorching summer day in Rome. A joyful puzzle about roles, expectations, and relationships.

Ertidad (Going south)
(R: Mohammed Alhamoud; SA 2019, 14 min.)
A couple visits their family in the south of Saudi Arabia for the first time. In the tensions that arise, the contradictions of a country in transition shine through.

International Shorts / Changing Mentality

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Being Sasha
(R: Manuel Gübeli, CH 2020, 37 min.)
Language: Original with English subtitles

Sascha does not identify as a man or as a woman, but as trans-non-binary. A story about what it means to live in a society they didn't expect. A glimpse into a life through which we can question our own categories. Being Sasha was awarded the Basel Film Prize for Best Short Film and the Best Medium Length Film Award at LA CABINA Medium-Length Film Festival in Valencia, Spain.

One Thousand and One Attempts to Be an Ocean
(R: Wang Yuyan, F 2020, 11 min.)
The experimental documentary One Thousand and One Attempts to Be an Ocean is a visual reflection on the inundation of images in today's information society and is also layered with an exquisite minimal and trance soundtrack.

God's Daugther Dances
(R: Sungbin Byun; K 2020, 24 min.)

Shin-mi, a dancer and trans, faces the Korean military service exam because she is still read as a man. She accepts the challenge and defies the system with a lot of wit, although she has to go through a lot of psychological suffering.

Audience Award at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival 2021

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