WEDNESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER
ISLANDS
Directed by: Jan-Ole Gerster
2025 | M | 2 hours | Germany | English
Doors open at 6:30pm.
Screening starts at 7pm sharp.
A washed-up former tennis pro has traded the bright lights of the professional circuit for the endless repetition of resort life, working as a tennis coach on a remote holiday island. Day after day, he hits balls over the net for carefree tourists, his once-promising career and ambitions now little more than a distant memory.
But his monotonous existence takes an unexpected turn when he crosses paths with a particular tourist family. Drawn into their world, he begins to see the possibility of an escape — perhaps this chance encounter could offer him a way out of the hollow life he has settled into.
Directed by Jan-Ole Gerster (Oh Boy, Lara), Islands is a beautifully atmospheric German drama that gradually shifts from sun-drenched holiday escapism into something much more mysterious and unsettling. Sam Riley (Control, Maleficent), Stacy Martin (Nymphomaniac, The French Dispatch) and Jack Farthing (Spencer, Poldark) lead the cast in this intriguing story of loneliness, identity and the yearning for a second chance.
Beneath the picture-postcard beauty of the island, Gerster creates a sense of unease as the boundaries between holiday fantasy and reality begin to blur. What initially looks like an opportunity for a fresh start becomes increasingly complicated, raising questions about how well we really know the people we meet — and how far someone might go to escape the life they have been living.
Islands premiered in the Berlinale Special section at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2025, marking the return of Gerster with a film that is both quietly absorbing and subtly suspenseful.
Producer: Maximilian Leo
Screenplay: Jan-Ole Gerster, Blaž Kutin, Lawrie Doran
Cinematography: Juan C. Sarmiento Grisales
Cast: Sam Riley, Stacy Martin, Jack Farthing