THE STORY – With all the resources and authority of the state behind her, young prosecutor Seyo Kim is determined to confront far-right violence in eastern Germany. But when she, herself, becomes a target – surviving a racist attack on her life – Seyo decides to investigate on her own, defying explicit orders from her superiors and putting her life further at risk.
THE CAST – Chen Emilie Yan, Julia Jentsch, Alev Irmak, Arnd Klawitter & Sebastian Urzendowsky
THE TEAM – Faraz Shariat (Director) & Claudia Schaefer, Jee-Un Kim & Dr. Sun-Ju Choi (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 113 Minutes
Staatsschutz (or Prosecution, although the direct translation is State Security) is the second feature from German director Faraz Shariat, who previously made Futur Drei (No Hard Feelings) in 2020. Premiering in the Panorama strand at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, his new film is a gripping legal thriller that takes an unflinching look at institutional racism in present-day Eastern Germany.
Chen Emilie Yan plays Seyo Kim, a young Korean-German prosecutor (she was born in Germany but has a Korean father) who has been gradually making a name for herself, prosecuting perpetrators of far-right violence in modern day Eastern Germany. However, after she survives a vicious racist attack on her own life, an incensed Seyo decides to do her own investigating and starts digging into old cases, despite being explicitly warned not to do so by her superior, Chief Prosecutor Forch (Arnd Klawitter). As her investigation progresses, Seyo receives further threats and when her elderly father is tricked into revealing her address, she realises that her life, and the lives of those she loves – including covert girlfriend Min-Su (Kotbong Yang) – are in danger. Refusing to give in, Seyo continues her efforts, unearthing some shocking revelations about the true state of Germany’s public prosecution service.
Those self-same revelations are the source of the film’s burning anger. Germany’s public prosecution service famously prides itself on being the most objective institution in the world, but the hard reality is laid out bare here, in shocking detail.
The way the script (co-written by Claudia Schaefer, Jee-Un Kim and Dr. Sun-Ju Choi) slowly reveals each layer of the case is masterful, like painstakingly peeling an onion. Similarly, when Seyo finally gets to court – working in conjunction with senior prosecutor Alexandra Tiedermann (Julia Jentsch) – the film delivers beautifully on all the pleasures of the courtroom drama genre, from surprise appearances of characters who had previously refused to testify, to hostile witnesses being tricked into giving themselves away.
Shariat’s direction is accomplished throughout. An early stand-out sequence is the horrifying attack scene, which essentially happens in three quick stages, as somebody tries to set her on fire as she emerges from beneath a bridge. It takes place in a single take, in long-shot, underlining the powerlessness of the audience, while simultaneously providing a powerful visual reference to the underpass scene in Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible (2002).
In addition, Shariat has an eye for a striking visual, aided and abetted by cinematographer Lotta Kilian, who makes the courtroom interiors look sharp and intimidating. Perhaps the nicest touch is the way the film uses Seyo’s “murder wall” as a visual metaphor for the way the case is depriving her of light in her life – she literally tapes up all the documents on her own windows at home.
The story itself is also incredibly dark. Indeed, at times it comes close to qualifying as horror. Late in the film, a scene plays out that we initially find familiar – some cops stop Seyo for spurious reasons – but the sequence continues into another location, getting sickeningly darker and more horrifying with every passing moment, not least because it highlights just how vulnerable we all are when faced with corrupt institutional forces.
Making her feature debut, having previously appeared on TV, Chen Emilie Yan is sensational as Seyo Kim. It’s immediately apparent that her character is driven to succeed, as witnessed by the position she has achieved at a relatively young age, but we can infer that she’s also faced her fair share of casual racism and obstruction on the way there.
To that end, the case (and by extension the film) takes an unflinching look at that racism and concludes that the problem is endemic, and far more widespread than just members of extreme right-wing groups. When the full truth of what she’s facing finally hits her, Yan has a breakdown scene that hits incredibly hard, giving the film one of its most powerful and most memorable moments. As for the supporting roles, Arnd Klawitter is splendidly oleaginous as Forch, playing the sort of character whose comeuppance is eagerly anticipated by the audience. Similarly, there’s strong work from German film industry stalwart Julia Jentsch (The Edukators, What Marielle Knows) as Alexandra, while Kotbong Yang provides a welcome sense of warmth and calm in her small handful of scenes as Min-Su. There’s also a moving turn from Mercy Dorcas Otieno as Maida Cali, a previous victim of police racism, who Seyo tracks down and persuades to speak out. If there’s a note of hope in the film, it’s embodied in the desire of both Seyo and Maida to step up and do the right thing, despite the possible cost.
Although it is painful to watch at times, this is a powerful and important legal thriller that makes an urgent statement, while still delivering on all the time-honoured pleasures of the courtroom drama genre.
