We’re pleased to close this short season of films with the latest work by Andreas Dresen, who’s one of Germany’s most respected directors and the recipient of countless awards. A prize-winner at Cannes, Stopped on Track was also voted the ‘best German film of 2011’ by national critics. It’s a typically brave and powerful work that takes an unblinking look at death. Forty-year-old Frank (Milan Peschel) is an average family man who’s told by his doctor that he has an inoperable brain tumour. What follows is a raw, compelling study of the months between diagnosis and death, and the impact of Frank’s illness on himself, his family and friends.

Meticulously researched, with real medical personnel among the cast and all the dialogue improvised, the film’s veracity is indisputable. There’s an honesty and realness about the film’s depiction of the pain, anger and frustration caused by the illness that raises it well beyond the sentimentality of movies like Terms of Endearment.

Winner of Best Director (Andreas Dresen), Best Actor (Milan Peschel) and Best Supporting Actor (Otto Meillies) at this year’s  Lolas (German Film Awards), and winner of the Un Certain Regard prize for Best Film at its debut at Cannes Film Festival 2011.

Showing as part of German Film Week, presented in co-operation with the Goethe-Institut Irland.