The 41st edition of DOK.fest München will open on 6 May at the Deutsches Theater with the world premiere of Ingeborg Bachmann – Someone Who Was Once Me, a hybrid documentary by Regina Schilling starring Sandra Hüller as the celebrated Austrian writer.

Set for a German theatrical release on 25 June, which would have marked Bachmann’s 100th birthday, the film blends dramatised scenes with archival material, interviews and Bachmann’s own writings. Schilling’s portrait follows the author from her wartime childhood in Carinthia and literary rise within Group 47 to her final years in Rome, tracing both her artistic development and her relationships with figures including Paul Celan, Hans Werner Henze and Max Frisch.

Festival director Adele Kohout said the opening film reflects the breadth of documentary form while resonating with many of the themes shaping this year’s programme, including loneliness, connection, generational experience and the political pressures that shape collective life.

Schilling, who lives and works between Cologne and Berlin, is one of Germany’s most established documentary filmmakers. Her previous works include Kulenkampffs Schuhe, Igor Levit – No Fear, Geschlossene Gesellschaft – Der Missbrauch an der Odenwaldschule and Bierbichler.

The film screens in the section HerStory – Seven Films about Fearless Women and is also nominated for the VIKTORIA DOK.international Main Competition. This year’s DOK.fest Munich runs from 6 to 18 May, with around 100 films screening in cinemas across the city. The parallel online programme, DOK.fest München @home, runs nationwide from 11 to 25 May.