\’Shoa\’ and \’Downfall\’ Lead Cannes Winners Headed to Beijing\’s \’Film and Peace\’ Festival

\”The film captures the deep anguish that war inflicts upon humanity.\” This is how the record stands.
Beijing International Film Festival
highlighted a concentration on themes of war and peace through a dedicated \”Cinema for Peace\” initiative currently being showcased.
15th edition
starting on Friday.

It will showcase \”12 masterpieces\” depicting \”the tragedy of war\” on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II this year to \”immerse ourselves in history,\” organizers said. \”Filmmakers at home and abroad use light and shadow to remember the cruelty and endless pain of war and use memory, emotion and shocking reality to preserve recollection and sound the alarm for today.\”

One of the movies being screened at the Chinese festival will be the winner of the very first
Cannes Film Festival
in 1946,
The Last Chance
, a film from 1945 directed by the Austrian-Swiss director Leopold Lindtberg. Other notable works include those of Claude Lanzmann’s
Shoa
, Terrence Malick\’s
The Thin Red Line
, and Jonathan Glazer\’s Academy Award-winning film
The Zone of Interest
.

A number of the movies showcased in this section are newly restored 4K editions, as stated by the film festival.
runs April 18-26
.

Here’s a glance at the roster for the Beijing \”Film and Peace\” festival.

The Last Chance
, Leopold Lindtberg, 1945

The movie narrates the tale of two POWs—one British and one American—who break free from a concentration camp and guide refugees away from Nazi control.

Shoa
, Claude Lanzmann, 1985

The iconic nine-hour long documentary on the Holocaust includes interviews with survivors, witnesses, and those who were involved as perpetrators.

What I Possessed Was Emptiness
, Guillaume Ribot, 2025

The making of
Shoa
The impact it had on Lanzmann takes center stage as Ribot explores unused footage from the Holocaust documentary.

The Burmese Harp
, Kon Ichikawa, 1956

As referred to by the Beijing festival as a \”rare masterpiece among Japanese anti-war films,\” this movie narrates the experiences of Japanese soldiers participating in the Burma Campaign during World War II.

Wings
, Larisa Shepitko, 1966

\”The Beijing festival emphasizes in its summary that this movie centers on the lives of former female pilots after the war, illustrating the enduring impacts etched in the hearts of those who lived through the conflict,\” says the description.

Cross of Iron
, Sam Peckinpah, 1977

James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason, and David Warner lead in this movie centering around the clash of classes between a highborn Prussian officer and a sarcastic, seasoned infantry commander.

The Emperor\’s Naked Army Marches On
, Kazuo Hara, 1987

This documentary focuses on a 62-year-old former soldier from Japan’s World War II operations in New Guinea, as he seeks out individuals accountable for the mysterious fatalities of two members within his squad.

The Thin Red Line
, Terrence Malick, 1998

The renowned film featuring actors such as Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, and John Travolta depicts a squad of troops engaged in an intense struggle at Guadalcanal, which turns into a desperate bid for survival.

Downfall
, Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004

Bruno Ganz plays Adolf Hitler in this acclaimed film depicting the last days of the Nazi high command within their underground bunker. The movie will be shown in Beijing after being restored to a pristine 4K format.

Above the Drowning Sea
René Balcer and Nicola Zavaglia, 2017

As World War II loomed, tens of thousands of Jewish refugees found themselves imprisoned in Vienna under Nazi control. This film recounts their harrowing journey to safety in Shanghai.

The Zone of Interest
, Jonathan Glazer, 2023

Labeled by Beijing as both a \”highly experimental masterpiece\” and a \”meditation on war,\” this drama focusing on the life of Rudolf Höss, the commander of Auschwitz, along with his family—starring Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller—took home the award for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

The Propagandist
, Luuk Bouwman, 2024

Leveraging previously unused interviews along with family and propaganda films, this documentary traces the ascent and decline of Dutch filmmaker Jan Teunissen, who rose to become the leader of the Dutch film division and a principal creator of Nazi propaganda.