Faraz Shariat | | Cast: Chen Emilie Yan, Julia Jentsch, Alev Irmak, Arnd Klawitter, Sebastian Urzendowsky | Germany 2026 | World premiere
German-Iranian filmmaker Faraz Shariat offers no surprises in his thundering new thriller screening in Berlinale’s Panorama strand. It follows state prosecutor Seyo Kim who survives a Neo-Nazi attack and then pursues her own case through the courts, confronting both the perpetrators and a justice system that turns a blind eye to right-wing extremism.
With a pulsating soundscape and some astounding performances Prosecution taps into the vein of our polarising political landscape – a timely tale about today’s escalating cultural violence, in this case: the far right rising up against immigration in modern day Germany.
The German legal system prides itself in being impartial but Seyo (Chen Emilie Yan) sets out to prove the opposite. A dedicated, hard-working professional who we first meet in court in the case of a racial attack on a black citizen. Days later Seyo receives threats and is advised to enhance her personal security at home. So she secures her home, steps up her gun skills and splashes out on a snazzy black sports car with bullet-proof windows. And not only that, the Chief Public Prosecutor is asked to cease all contact with her and Seyo is banned from speaking to the press.
Seyo soon has direct experience of a potentially racist attack. Cycling in the park one day, this lawyer for the prosecution is set on fire and suffers moderate burns. Righ-wing activist Pascal Roder stands accused of injuring Seyo with a Molotov cocktail chucked from an overhead pathway. His defence lawyer posits that the case has been blown out of proportion because the injured party, Seyo, is foreign citizen, and that Roder is not breaking the law in posting neo-Nazi images on his own personal space.
There are clearly grounds for a prosecution and this gutsy young woman will not back down. Seyo mounts her own defence, delving into files she has no right to access. The results are alarming.
Prosecution then follows fairly predicable lines and eventually reaches its outcome without any shocks. Ticking all the buzzy boxes: racism, LGBTQ, misogyny, immigration and so on in a sleek, this tightly-plotted courtroom drama, playing in the Berlinale’s Panorama is from a director at the top of his game.
BERLINALE | PANORAMA 2026 | 12-22 February 2026