South Tyrol, 1961. The northern Italian region is rocked by a series of bombings carried out by separatists. While Paul, a young farmer’s son, wants to escape the dead-end prospects of his village and study painting, his brother Anton fights uncompromisingly to protect the German-speaking minority – by force if necessary. When Anton is exposed as one of the attackers, he flees, leaving the farm and his family behind. Reluctantly, Paul puts his own plans on hold to support Anton’s wife Anna and her young son. As the situation escalates and the Italian police crack down, Anna begins to push back ever more forcefully against the patriarchal structures around her. Paul, meanwhile, faces a choice – between loyalty to his family and his own self-fulfilment.

In his cinema debut, director Michael Kofler offers a gripping and powerful account of the events surrounding the “Feuernacht” (Night of Fire) in South Tyrol. Thomas Prenn (Hochwald) and Laurence Rupp (Veni Vidi Vici) are compelling as two very different brothers, alongside Aenne Schwarz (Leibniz – Chronik eines verschollenen Bildes) as a woman well ahead of her time.

We are delighted to launch the new Deutschcafé film series, which will bring one German-language film night per semester, creating opportunities to meet one another and to engage with German-speaking culture.

We open with the film “Zweitland” (2025) by Michael Kofler, as part of this year’s Woche für Deutsch (Week of German). Before the screening, doctoral researchers Leonore Nassen and Lorenza Vandeweyer, who is from South Tyrol, will give a short introduction to the topic; afterwards, the Agora Caffee at the University of Antwerp will host a relaxed discussion.

Admission is free, but we do ask you to register using the registration button below.

🡪 REGISTER HERE

We look forward to seeing you there!