A writer ends his self-imposed exile to return home to his country and family in Director Paweł Pawlikowski’s biographical drama from Poland, Germany, Italy & France, Fatherland (Ojczyzna).

Set in the summer of 1949 at the height of the Cold War, Pawlikowski’s film recounts the story of how Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann and his actress daughter Erika embarked on a challenging and emotional road trip across a Germany in ruins. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Mann has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also deep fractures within his own family.

Fatherland is the third entry in Pawlikowski’s trilogy that includes 2013’s Ida and 2018’s Cold War. The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2026, where it earned Pawlikowski the Best Director award.

On October 21, after the Eastern Region Special Projects Committee Global Cinema Series screening in New York, Pawlikowski discussed the making of the film during a Q&A moderated by Eastern Region Special Projects Committee Chair Raymond DeFelitta (Bottom of the Ninth).

Asked why his work seems so much like art the award-winning Director responded, “I have to enjoy it when I’m shooting. When you are shooting, all the time you’re reacting to it. ‘Was it good enough? Was it strong enough? Was there enough subtext, twist, or was this shot expressive enough?’ So, there is a kind of give and take. I’m trying to avoid this situation, which I have experienced when I was making films in the past. You just kind of say, ‘Okay, it’s fine. It’s good enough. Let’s move on.’ And the, ‘We’ll cut our way out of problems.’ You try to avoid that. You try to do quality control all the time. Not quality control in a technical sense, but ‘Am I liking it? Is it magical? Does it give me goosebumps?’ That kind of stuff. Not everything can give you goosebumps, but as much as possible.”

In addition to Fatherland, Ida and his Oscar-nominated Cold War, Pawlikowski’s other directorial credits include the features Woman in the Fifth, the BAFTA Award-winning features Last Resort and My Summer of Love; the documentaries From Moscow to Pietushki, Dostoevsky’s Travels, Serbian Epics and Tripping with Zhirinovsky; and the movie for television, Twockers.