Canadian Premiere
Faraz Shariat’s thriller stars Chen Emilie Yan as Seyo Kim, a young German prosecutor of Korean origin. When Seyo is the victim of a racist attack, she’s told by colleagues to stay off the case. But suspecting a wider conspiracy behind the crime, our undaunted protagonist pushes back against her superiors, uncovering revelations that surpass her original suspicions…
Prosecution is a film for our moment, using the thriller genre to address the rise of nativist, racist, far-right ideologies and the violence that grows out of them. More than a polemic, Shariat shows a natural affinity for mystery and suspense. He uses sound, composition, and cuts to create a thick atmosphere of menace that expands with each confrontation, revelation, and expansion of complicity. The director’s key asset, however, is Yan — in her film debut, the actress gives a vivid, fiery performance, imbuing the young heroine with a radiant humanity.
Audience Award: Panorama, Berlinale 2026
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Chen Emilie Yan, Julia Jentsch, Alev Irmak, Arnd Klawitter, Sebastian Urzendowsky
Germany
2026
In German and Korean with English subtitles
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Thursday October 08
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Credits & Director
Producer
Paulina Lorenz, Jorgo Narjes, Faraz Shariat
Screenwriter
Claudia Schaefer, Jee-Un Kim, Dr. Sun-Ju Choi
Cinematography
Lotta Kilian
Editor
Friederike Hohmuth
Production Design
Dario Mendez Acosta
Original Music
Gabríel Ólafs
Faraz Shariat
Faraz Shariat is a German-Iranian filmmaker whose coming-of age feature debut Futur Drei premiered to great reception at the 2020 Berlinale, before going on to win two Teddy Awards for Best Queer Film and The Reader’s Award. He has directed episodes for the highly acclaimed German series Druck, as well as the British high-end horror comedy The Baby (HBO/Sky), among others. Shariat is a fellow of Villa Aurora in Los Angeles and is currently developing his English-language debut, The Beach Boy, together with Ottessa Moshfegh. His second feature film, Prosecution, premiered at the 2026 Berlinale.
Filmography: Futur Drei (No Hard Feelings) (2020)
Photo by David Uzochukwu
Focus on New German Cinema: Extreme Tension
See more films in this series
Dear Future Self
Prompting their students to write a letter to their future selves, two friends find themselves questioning the intertwined trajectory of their own lives. Dear Future Self is a sharply tender story about friendship, dreams, and the desire for agency.
Prosecution
When a young German prosecutor of Korean origin is attacked, she suspects a racist conspiracy and pursues the truth in defiance of her superiors. Prosecution is a film for our moment: a thriller that confronts the far-right head-on.
Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party
Fourteen years ago, Daniela Magnani Hüller survived an attempted femicide by a schoolmate. Now a filmmaker, she revisits the events surrounding that fateful incident, creating a moving collage of interviews, personal recollections, and archival material.
Image: © Bildersturm