THOMAS PRENN IN ZWEITLANDMICHAEL KOFLER: ZWEITLAND (A LAND WITHIN) (2025) - BERLIN & BEYOND 2026Ethnic and family conflict in the South Tyrol, 1961 TRAILER Zweitland is an intimate portrait of the little region between Austria and Italy called South Tyrol or Alto Adige at a time of dramatic conflict, 1961. It is peaceful today, and the home of sunny-dispositioned world no. 2 tennis star Jannik Sinner, but as recently as the early 1960's, when this film takes place, Italy and Austria fought over it and its inhabitants died in the crossfire.
Zweitland (A Land Within) is told in this strong first film by local native Michael Kotler, who intensely concentrates the story's geopolitical and historical complexity through the lives of three siblings who live in a rural village, Anna Passler (Aenne Schwarz), Anton Passler (Laurence Rupp), and Paul Passler (Thomas Prenn).
The opening scene is an intense wresting match between Paul and Anton. Anton wins, but Paul deals him a hard blow at the end. Paul dreams of moving away as soon as possible to study painting at the Munich Academy of Art. He struggles in this with the image of their father, who besides being a farmer was a sculptor but died of drink, mocked as a failure. During these years the South Tyrolean Liberation Committee (BAS) is organising frequent terrorist attacks, mainly against the Italian security forces, in order to return to Austria. In Italy, since the Fascist era, it had even been forbidden to speak German in the region. Anna, a schoolteacher, wants to make her classes bilingual. The locals want to focus on German. They speak a local Germanic dialect.
Paul is a courageous and idealistic young man. Precisely because he belongs to the German-speaking minority, he struggles to find work and is very close to both his friend Hans (Fabian Mair Mitterer) and his family. However, when Hans is arrested by the Italian police and brother Anton is wanted for organising an attack, Paul finds himself forced to give up his dreams to run the family farm and take care of his sister-in-law (Aenne Schwarz) – who is also strong and courageous, but is now forbidden to teach because of this situation.
The film is dark, brooding, and slow-moving, though not lacking in a sense of the intense political tension and day-to-day danger of the explosive situation. Though Laurence Rupp is the star member of the cast, it is the poetic Thomas Prenn who carries the film. The camera loves him and lingers on him. Those who see this film as part of the Berlin & Beyond festival will at least learn something about ethnic conflict in Europe. Though I don't know German, the impression is that this is an authentic recreation of the local dialect and local manners and customs and a passion project for the South Tyrol-born first-time director, who does his best to keep things exciting and intense, even though he slows down the action a lot at times too - not always a bad thing.
Zweitland, 112 mins., premiered at Munich Jun. 29, 2025, showing at other festivals including Kolkota, in the US at Palm Springs Jan. 6, 2026. Screened for this review as part of Berlin & Beyond, San Francisco & Berkeley, Calif., Mar. 19-23, 2026.
Showtime: Rialto Elmwood, Berkeley – March 22 at 4:45 PM – Buy Tickets
Special Guest: Thomas Prenn (Actor)
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