TRIAL OF HEIN

Press Screening: tba
World Premiere: tba
Screenings: tba

122 min. / Germany 2026 / feature

Director Kai Stänicke and actors Paul Boche and Emilia Schüle are available for interviews.

TRIAL OF HEIN (Der Heimatlose) by writer-director Kai Stänicke is world premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival 2026 as the Opening Film of the Perspectives Competition. The director’s first feature is an intimate exploration of identity and belonging and captures the universal experience of returning home to find both the world, and ourselves, changed.

With a unique cinematic vision that weaves together quiet tension and profound emotional resonance, TRIAL OF HEIN is a study of self-deception and self-acceptance, combining meticulous visual storytelling with deep psychological nuance and an exploration of the roles we play to fit in.

SYNOPSIS
After fourteen years on the mainland, Hein returns to his hometown – the only village on a remote island in the North Sea. Much to his surprise, the close-knit community no longer recognizes him. Even his childhood friend Friedemann turns his back on him, despite their once unbreakable bond.
To uncover the truth, the community convenes a village court to determine whether Hein truly is who he claims to be. But as the trial unfolds, contradictions begin to pile up. Hein’s recollection of his youth sharply differs from those of the witnesses called before the court. With each trial day, the village’s mood shifts from suspicion to open hostility, as they become more and more convinced that he is an impostor. On the verge of losing everything, Hein desperately searches for proof to validate his memories – only to realise what he was long refused to see.

After earning his BA in Film Studies and completing a production management traineeship at X Filme Creative Pool in Berlin, Kai Stänicke began his career as an assistant director before transitioning to directing his own short films. His work has been recognized through prestigious awards, talent programs, and showcases, including the Saatchi & Saatchi New German Directors Showcase (2012), Berlinale Talents (2016), and the Nespresso Talents Award (2018). His feature film debut, TRIAL OF HEIN, earned him a place at the Berlinale Talents Script Station in 2022 and the Wolfgang Kohlhaase Scholarship in 2023.

TRIAL OF HEIN is a Tamtam Film production, in co-production with Lupa Film and ZDF – Das kleine Fernsehspiel, produced by Andrea Schütte, Dirk Decker, Dario Suter, and co-produced by Katrin Jochimsen, Felix von Boehm, Kai Stänicke. With the support of MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, nordmedia – Film and Media Company of Lower Saxony/Bremen, Hessen Film & Medien, the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), and German Films.

Production Company:
Tamtam Film GmbH
Dirk Decker
dd@tamtamfilm.com
www.tamtamfilm.com

World Sales:
Heretic
Ioanna Stais
ioanna@heretic.gr
www.heretic.gr

©/CREDITS:

Stills: © TamTam Film