‘For Those Who Love, Leave, and Love Again’, G 2025, directed by Paolo Laganà
© Lena Thiemann
Queer Journeys
Kinemathek – Hall
As part of the film series feminist migrant queer | legacies presents futures, the DFFB presents a selection of queer films from the film school’s past 60 years in three programs at the Deutsche Kinemathek, Sinema Transtopia, and Arsenal Filminstitut.
Flat Desires
Germany 2017, directed by Senem Göcmen, DCP, 4 min, silent
Senem Göcmen pulls images out of the endless stream of the internet and the city and refuses to let any of them mean just one thing. What she assembles instead is associative and entertaining — and open to new meaning.
XX to XY: Fighting to be Jake
Germany 2002, directed by Emily Atef, DCP, 21 min
Emily Atef’s first film at the DFFB is also her only documentary work: the award-winning director (“The Stranger in Me,” “3 Days in Quiberon”) meets young Jake in England and accompanies him through his transition. The result is an intimate short portrait shaped by a tender gaze and by its protagonist’s openness.
Zärtlichkeiten (Tendernesses)
Germany 2017, directed by Maria Lang,Germany 2017, DCP, 29 min, German original version with English subtitles
Moving between theater rehearsals and bar nights, Maria Lang takes us into the lesbian subculture of West Berlin,with appearances by fellow DFFB filmmakers such as Verena Rudolph and Angelika Levi (as Li Levy). A fiction film with a documentary feel about love, leisure, and being together — and a film without men.
Etage X (Floor X)
Germany 2016, directed by Francy Fabritz, DCP, 14 min, German original version with English subtitles
Two women get stuck in a department store elevator. A sensual lesbian fantasy about what can happen out of sight when two strangers make a virtue of necessity; carefully staged and superbly acted.
For Those Who Love, Leave, and Love Again
Germany 2025, directed by Paolo Laganà, DCP, 18 min, German and English original version with English subtitles
A young man drifts between the big city and the provinces. Amid sex, dates, and queer community, he searches for his place and always seems to remain on the margins. In austere images, Paolo Laganà sensitively captures a state of suspension between loneliness and belonging.
Preceded by: Überwachungskamera (Surveillance Camera)
Germany 2006, directed by Christoph Heller, 35mm, 1 min, no dialogue
A social spot for MANEO: the pan of a surveillance camera hints at a dystopia.
Guests: Senem Göcmen, Jake Yearsley, Francy Fabritz, Paolo Laganà, Ute Aurand, Lilly Grote, Angelika Levi, and others
Curated by Toby Ashraf and Sophie Holzberger
| When | Thu 12.11.26, 20:00 |
| Where |
Series text
60 years of the DFFB: to mark the anniversary, Sinema Transtopia, Deutsche Kinemathek and Arsenal present nine curated programs drawn from the academy’s past and present, from late October to late November. Three focal points – feminist, migrant, queer – bring attention to perspectives that still have to fight for visibility: women who campaigned for equality, students with migrant and international backgrounds, and a queer cinema that is redefining what the term means.