Fatherland

Poland | 2026 | 82 min. | Pawel Pawlikowski

Opens October 30, 2026

Oscar-nominated director Paweł Pawlikowski (COLD WAR) won Best Director at Cannes for his most potent film yet, following novelist Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika Mann (Sandra Hüller) on a road trip across Germany in the aftermath of World War II. 



Fatherland centres on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Hnrns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) - actress, writer and rally driver. In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick taking them across a Germany in ruins - from US dominated Frankfurt to Soviet controlled Weimar. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Thomas Mann has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also a deep fracture within his own family.

With Fatherland, Pawlikowski picks up where he left off with his award-winning Ida and Cold War, exploring – in his elliptic, distilled style - the themes of identity, family, love and guilt amid the turmoil and confusion of post-war Europe.

  • Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
  • Principal Cast: Hanns Zischler, Sandra Hüller, August Diehl
  • Country: Poland
  • Year: 2026
  • Running Time: 82 min.
  • Language: German, English, French, Russian with English Subtitles.
  • Has Subtitles: Yes