Journalist Leo hopes to finally make his international breakthrough with a report on a rebel group in Thailand. His friend Mawar helps him to make local contacts. In return, Leo promises to help him make a fresh start in Germany. However, when the editorial team provides him with photographer Julian without being asked, Leo becomes increasingly entangled in a web of lies and morally questionable decisions, putting everyone involved in danger.
Hoping for his international breakthrough as a journalist, Leo has left his life in Germany behind to report on a secret rebel group in southern Thailand. In between his research, Leo spends time with his friend Mawar, who dreams of a better future in Germany. Leo offers to help him, but the time he spends with Mawar and his family reminds Leo painfully of his own life in Berlin. In the midst of the lengthy research, Leo’s concern about losing contact with his daughter grows. In order to be able to leave earlier, Leo makes a serious mistake. He writes the article without ever having been in real contact with the rebels. But when photographer Julian suddenly shows up to take pictures of the rebels, Leo is catapulted into a moral downward spiral.
The film “Good News” takes a penetrating look at the challenges journalists face in the service of their careers as they are torn between ethical principles and professional success. At the center is Leo, a journalist desperately trying to create an explosive report while increasingly losing his personal values and relationships. The story illuminates the delicate boundaries between ethics and ambition, friendship and betrayal, and asks how far a person is willing to go to achieve their personal and professional goals.
“In September 2019, I took part in a student exchange program in South Africa. While there, I came across an unexpected area of tension in preparation for a documentary film: the short film was to tell the life of a black mother who commutes back and forth between a white gated community and her township every day as a cleaner. I quickly realized that I would need local support to make the film. Due to a lack of money, I worked with friends in Johannesburg. But on my first trips to the township, where crime is to be expected, I found myself in an ethical dilemma: Should I expose my friends to possible danger for a movie? Can I use the trust of my private relationships for this project? When do I abuse relationships?”
“In my case, it was a free artistic student project without existential pressure. But what if a whole life depended on the success of a project? How far would someone go, especially with more dangerous subjects like a rebel group? “Good News” is my cinematic exploration of these questions. The film takes a look at the ethical boundaries of media professionals who are dependent on the success of their projects. When is trust abused and what level of risk is acceptable?”
Title: Good News
Director: Hannes Schilling
Screenplay: Ghiath Al Mhitawi, Hannes Schilling
Producers : Jost Hering, Hannes Schilling
Performers: Ilja Stahl (Leo), Sabree Matming (Marwan), Dennis Scheuermann (Julian),
Camera: Falco Seliger
Editing: Marie Fontanel, Paul Gröbel
Sound: Alexander Wolf, Anastasiia Nasonkina
Music: Lena Radivoj
Genres: Drama, Thriller
Production company: Jost Hering Films
Country of production: Germany
Production year: 2024
Languages:German, English, Thai and Melayu
Subtitles: English (partial UT), German (partial UT)
Age rating: 12+ (descriptors: drug use, threats)
Length: 75 minutes
Aspect ratio: 2:39:1
Projection formats: DCP (DCI 2K Scope) / Mp4-Video HD (1920×1080 LB)
Resolution: 2048×858 pixels
Sound: 5.1 (DCP) / 2.0
Awards:
2024: Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis
Award for the socially relevant film
2024: Achtung Berlin Filmfestival
Best Acting Role “Mawar”
2024: Cinalfama Film Festival, Portugal
Best German Film
2024: Fünfseen Filmfestival
Perspektive Feature Film Award 2024
2024: First Steps Award
Best Feature Film (Nominated)
Premiere:
45th Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival 2024, Germany
Film label: Artkeim²
Distributor: UCM.ONE
Theatrical release: 22. May 2025
Born in Erfurt in 1989, Hannes Schilling studied Audiovisual Media in Berlin from 2009 to 2015. In 2014, he completed a semester abroad in Jerusalem at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem. Hannes Schilling studied directing at the Babelsberg Film University until 2024.
He has already received several nominations and awards for his student work, including a nomination for the German Short Film Award for his second-year film “Nach dem Fest “, which he won in 2019 for his bachelor’s degree film “Der Proband”. He also took part in the exchange program at Johannesburg University of Witwatersrand in September 2019 and was a guest student at the Prince of Songkla University in Thailand in 2021 . The feature film “Good News ” was his graduation film at the Film University KONRAD WOLF. He is currently working on his debut film.
Filmography (selection)
| 2024 | Good News (feature film) |
| 2019 | Piece of forest (30 min, documentary) |
| 2019 | The test person (30 min, short film) |
| 2017 | After the party (15 min, short film) |
Jost Hering has been working as an independent film producer since the fall of 1989. Since then, he has realized around 50 productions as a producer or co-producer. Jost Hering Filme pursues the goal of developing, financing and producing “sophisticated feature and documentary films” for television and cinema audiences.
In most cases, the films are made in cooperation with public broadcasters and also receive a theatrical release. Other partners include numerous foreign TV stations, funding organizations and producers.
Filmography (selection)
| 2023 | Drifter (79 min, feature film) |
| 2022 | Fossil (90min, feature film) |
| 2020 | Future Three (92min, feature film) |
Press reviews of the film
“This oppressive film does not present its socially burning themes didactically, but makes them tangible to the senses. This universal parable tells of exploitation and lack of value, of manipulation and power: between continents, between rich and poor, between people, between men. In doing so, it draws attention to our own abysses and holds up an ice-cold mirror to us.” (Laudatio Max Ophüls Film Prize for socially relevant film)
A German journalist travels to southern Thailand to report on a rebel group – and hopes for his big break. But when reality defies his expectations, he begins to distort the truth. Good News is a dense, morally complex drama about ambition, deception and the fragile line between fact and fiction. UCM.ONE is releasing the…
