GER26 Goodbye Berlin

This warm, offbeat coming-of-age road film follows two teenage outsiders on an impulsive summer journey across eastern Germany. Maik, quiet and isolated, is pulled out of his stagnant world by Tschick, the rebellious new boy at school, who turns up with a stolen car and the promise of escape. Their aimless trip unfolds through sunburnt landscapes, comic detours, and unexpected encounters, gradually becoming a tender portrait of friendship, adolescence, and the strange freedom of being briefly lost. With humour, melancholy, and a lightness of touch, the film captures the awkwardness of youth alongside deeper currents of loneliness, social difference, and emotional longing. Adapted from Wolfgang Herrndorf’s beloved novel and directed by Fatih Akin, it brings together the energy of a road movie with the sensitivity of a character study. At once funny, restless, and unexpectedly moving, Goodbye Berlin is a vivid celebration of youthful mischief and self-discovery.