The popular summer festival has announced the first part of its line-up: This year there are two German films in the main competition: NÖ by Dietrich Brüggemann and LE PRINCE by Lisa Bierwirth. Two German co-productions will also enter the race at the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (20 - 28 August). The programme of the other sections will be published at the beginning of August.

In the Crystal Globe Competition, Dietrich Brüggemann's drama NÖ (Flare Film) shows situations from Dina and Michael's relationship in 13 scenes. The young couple would probably have separated in their early 30s had Dina not responded to Michael's doubts with a terse "Nope." How the two maneuver through life in the seven years that follow, trying not to lose sight of their love, is told by Brüggemann in his typical style, sometimes in whimsical, sometimes in emotional images.

Another relationship drama in the Crystal Globe Competition is LE PRINCE (Komplizen Film), the directorial debut of Lisa Bierwirth: When Monika, a freelance curator, and Josef, a Congolese diamond trader, fall in love in the metropolis of Frankfurt am Main, worlds collide. Their relationship is repeatedly put to the test by external resistance, such as the stigmatization Josef has to endure as an asylum seeker, so that their trust in each other increasingly falls by the wayside – their love becomes a mirror of social, postcolonial tensions.

Also screened are the two German co-productions THE EXAM (DE/KRD-IQ/QA, Mitosfilm, Mastifilms) by Shawkat Amin Korki in the main competition and OTAR'S DEATH (GE/DE/LT, Maisis Peri, Color of May, M-Films) by Ioseb "Soso" Bliadze in the East of the West Competition.

All German films and co-productions in Karlovy Vary 2021:

Crystal Globe Competition
LE PRINCE by Lisa Bierwirth (Komplizen Film)
NÖ by Dietrich Brüggemann (Flare Film)
THE EXAM by Shawkat Amin Korki (DE/KRD-IQ/QA, Mitosfilm, Mastifilms)

East of the West Competition
OTAR’S DEATH by Ioseb "Soso" Bliadze (GE/DE/LT, Maisis Peri, Color of May, M-Films)

More films will be announced at a later date and added here.