Pawlikowski’s latest
Paweł Pawlikowski is among the biggest names in international arthouse cinema. His last movie, Cold War, not only nabbed the director a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination, but also a nod for Best Director, which is rare for non-English-language films. Next comes Fatherland. Pawlikowski would win the Best Director prize at Cannes this year in a tie with Spanish directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for their film, La Bola Negra. Mubi has picked up distribution for Fatherland and has just released the trailer.
The film stars Hanns Zischler and Sandra Hüller, whom audiences have recently seen in Project Hail Mary.
The synopsis, according to Variety, reads, “Shot in black-and-white — just like Pawlikowski’s preceding two works, Ida and Cold War, which also delve into the World War II years and their aftermath — Fatherland revolves around the rapport between Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann, played by Hanns Zischler (Munich), and his daughter Erika (Hüller), who is an actress, writer and rally driver. Set in the summer of 1949 at the height of the Cold War, the father and daughter embark on a road trip in a black Buick traveling from the U.S.-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-controlled Weimar across a Germany in ruins.”
Mubi plans to release Fatherland in theaters in the U.S. sometime this fall, but the company will also be releasing it in the U.K., Ireland, Spain, Italy, Benelux, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and India.
What did we think of Fatherland?
Our own Editor-in-Chief, Chris Bumbray, got to see the film when it premiered at Cannes and he gave it a glowing review with an 8/10 score. He stated, “While I get that Fatherland may not be an easy pick for the average audience here on JoBlo, I think a lot of you reading this might actually enjoy it. In an era where a lot of studio fare feels stagnant, many of you have expanded your horizons to international cinema, and this is a solid — if somewhat austere — film. Even if you don’t know much about Thomas Mann and his children, it’s worth checking out when it makes the rounds this fall, with it a likely Best Foreign Film player at the Oscars.”
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