Ho Chi Minh City – The annual German Film Festival, KinoFest 2025, will return to major cities across Vietnam from October 21 to 27, bringing a selection of recent award-winning films from German cinema to local audiences.
Organized by the Goethe-institut, KinoFest is a celebrated event in Southeast asia dedicated to showcasing contemporary German film. This year’s festival will expand beyond Ho Chi Minh city to include screenings in Hanoi, lam Dong, Can Tho, Da Nang, hai Phong, and Bac Ninh.
The Ho Chi Minh City leg of KinoFest 2025 will feature seven films spanning diverse genres, including “Afire,” “Vena,” “The Last Taboo,” “Koln 75,” “Late Shift,” and ”Greeting from Mars.” The animated film “Niko-Beyond the Northern Lights” will be presented with both subtitles and a dubbed Vietnamese version.
A special program highlighting the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Germany will feature short films by German-Vietnamese filmmakers. These films explore themes of memory and cultural connection, with notable works including “Only at Night Could We Be Sad” by Melanie Nguyen and “Alles gehört zu dir” (Everything Belongs to You) by Mani Pham Bui.
KinoFest 2025 will officially open on October 21 at 6:00 p.m. at Galaxy nguyen Du (No. 116 Nguyen Du Street,Ben Thanh Ward,Ho Chi Minh City) with screenings of “Only at night Could We Be Sad” and “Afire” (Roter Himmel) by Christian Petzold. “Afire” received a Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in 2023.
By Hai Duy – Translated by Kim Khanh
