Festival Blog 2026: Friday

Another diverse festival day awaits, featuring international guests, film discussions, and cinematic perspectives on history, memory, and identity.

Looking Back on Thursday at the Festival
Yesterday, the JFBB visited several satellite venues across Berlin and Brandenburg, including the Dokumentationszentrum Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung, where NUR DER WALD IST GEBLIEBEN was screened. Following the screening, director Tobias Hochstöger, producer Hans Seebacher, and Dr. Christian Dirks discussed the film and its background with the audience. At Kino Krokodil, Gideon Bolotowsky, honorary chairman of the Jewish Community of Helsinki, joined Festival Director Bernd Buder for a conversation about David – Stories of Honour and Shame.
The day concluded with a sold-out screening of THE SEA at Moviemento, followed by a Q&A with director Shai Carmeli-Pollak.

Program Highlights – May 8
Today at Filmkunst 66, together with the Claims Conference, we invite audiences to the matinee Holocaust Education in Times of Growing Antisemitism. Following the 10:30 screening of Son of Saul, experts will discuss from 12:45 onwards the role of film in Holocaust education and how remembrance culture can be conveyed in the face of rising antisemitism.

At 3:00 PM, Filmkunst 66 presents ORPHAN by László Nemes (HU/UK/DE/FR 2025). The coming-of-age drama follows a boy who believes he is the son of a Jewish father missing since the war — until a stranger suddenly claims to be his real father. A film about memory, truth, and identity.

At 6:00 PM, Kino Krokodil screens ON THIN ICE by Udi Kalinsky and Irit Hod (IL 2026), a powerful long-term observation of belonging and loyalty within Israel’s Druze community. At its center is a young ice hockey player torn between personal ambitions and family expectations. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Bissan Tibi, director of SILA.

THE SOUNDMAN by Frank Van Passel (BE 2025) will be shown twice today: at 7:15 PM at Thalia Programmkino and at 8:15 PM at Bundesplatz-Kino. Set in Belgium in 1940, the film follows a young sound designer whose work at the radio station — and relationship with a Jewish woman — come under increasing threat during the German occupation.

For fans of genre cinema, we recommend ATTACHEMENT by Gabriel Bier Gislason (DK 2022), screening at 9:30 PM at Moviemento. Blending Orthodox mysticism with supernatural horror, the film unfolds a dark story of love, family secrets, and black Jewish magic.

We wish you an inspiring festival day and look forward to more conversations and shared cinema experiences.

Tickets for all screenings are €10 (€8 reduced) and are available online at jfbb.info as well as directly at the cinemas.

You can find an overview of the full festival program here.