Free Series of German Women Directors Opens in Brasília

Five award-winning films by German women directors screen free in Brasília through Saturday, June 14. The series, titled Elas Dirigem, opens on Tuesday, June 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Sesc Estação 504 Sul. The German Embassy in Brazil, the Goethe-Institut and Sesc-DF organized the program together.

The lineup pairs established filmmakers with debut directors whose work has earned festival recognition. The five directors featured are Natja Brunckhorst, Christina Tournatzés, Constanze Klaue, Milena Aboyan and Sonja Heiss.

What films anchor the program?

One centerpiece is Karla, directed by Christina Tournatzés. The feature won the directing and screenwriting awards for New German Cinema at the 2025 Munich Film Festival. Based on true events, it follows a 12-year-old girl who runs away from home and accuses her father of sexual abuse.

The series also includes Elaha, the first feature by debut director Milena Aboyan. The film began as a graduation project and traces a 22-year-old German-Kurdish woman who questions traditions and rules about her body while preparing her wedding to Nasim.

Elaha won the audience award for best feature at the Lichter Filmfest Frankfurt. The New Faces Award named it best debut film in 2023.

What does the series change for audiences in Brasília?

It gives local viewers free access to current German cinema that otherwise circulates mainly on the festival circuit, including a 2025 Munich prize winner still fresh from its premiere season. The collaboration between the German Embassy, the Goethe-Institut and Sesc-DF also signals a continued institutional investment in bringing European women directors to Brazilian audiences outside the country's traditional festival capitals.

The remaining screenings run nightly at 6:30 p.m. through June 14, with no ticket cost reported by the organizers.

For the five directors involved, the Brasília showcase adds an international stop to films that have already traveled from Munich to Frankfurt — and, in Aboyan's case, from a film-school thesis to a prize-winning debut now reaching South American screens.