Berlin & Beyond Film Festival, Oct. 20 – 26

Celebrate Light, Love & Revolution in film with the 16th Annual Berlin & Beyond Film Festival which starts this Thursday, Oct. 20 through Oct. 26 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.

Take part in this illuminating and spirited adventure with captivating feature and documentary films from seasoned masters and up-and-coming innovators — along with short films from bright new talents.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Almanya:  A multicultural family comedy
• Bold Heroes: About a teenage boys in a Swiss hospital with big dreams
• The Poll Diaries: A coming-of-age epic of a girl living at the edge of World War I.
• The Fatherless: From Austria, commune secrets come forth 
• Little Alien: Struggling teenage refugees reveal their lives
• Sennentuntschi: The Swiss Alps horror folktale
• If Not Us, Who: Explosive and revolutionary stories of Germany
• Joschka & Mr. Fischer: documentary film

There is also a star-studded roster of over a dozen visiting directors, actors, and luminaries — including Pepe Danquart, Milan Peschel, Nesrin and Yasemin Samdereli, Michael Steiner and Andres Veiel.

A presentation of the Goethe Institut San Francisco, Berlin & Beyond has been the U.S.’s premier festival of new cinema from Germany, Austria and Switzerland since 1996. The festival serves as a gateway for the American public to experience the diversity, history and progression of the German-speaking countries in Europe, while celebrating the universal spirit and vision of filmmakers from this global region. In the last 15 years, over 500 films have been presented to 110,000 people, along with the memorable presence of hundreds of guest artists.

For the complete schedule and to get your tickets, visit the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival website.