The Munich Film Festival kicked off with the premiere of Vaterland (Homeland), a film that drew acclaim at Cannes. This year's Munich Film Festival is screening a total of 130 films from 56 countries.
As temperatures outside the screening venue exceeded 30 degrees Celsius well into the evening hours, guests at the opening ceremony watched the black-and-white film, which tells the story of Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, and their shared journey to the ruins of Germany after World War II. Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski travelled to Munich for the screening, accompanied by German actress Sandra Hüller and actor Hans Zischler.