Film | 📅 Tuesday, 4 August 2026 ⏰ 7pm | 📍Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg | 🎟️Register
Date and Time: Tuesday, 4 August 2026, 7pm
Film Duration: 2 hours
Entry: Free Registration required, Register at forms.cloud.microsoft
Note - For 12 years old and above.
Venue Info: About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Barakhamba(Blue Line)'
Area: Events at Kasturba Gandhi Marg
Area: Events at Kasturba Gandhi Marg
Munich, early 1943. A group of students – Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, Willi Graf and Alexander Schmorell – are working for the resistance movement “The White Rose”, fighting against the National Socialist regime and the war. In a secret studio they prepare anti-Nazi leaflets, some which they send by post, the rest of which Hans plans to distribute in the university. On 18 February the Scholls enter the university campus and distribute the leaflets. As lectures finish, Sophie pushes a large stack of pamphlets from above, letting them flutter down into the building’s main atrium, now filling up with students. As Sophie and her brother try to leave the building they are stopped by the caretaker who drags them in front of the college dean. A few hours later Hans and Sophie find themselves in separate interrogation rooms in the old Wittelsbacher Palais, the Gestapo headquarters, being grilled about their political activities.
Robert Mohr, an experienced interrogator, threatens Sophie with charges of high treason, aiding the enemy and undermining military morale. In a calm, confident and intelligent manner, Sophie does her best to conceal the truth and very nearly manages to convince Mohr of her innocence. She is issued a discharge certificate but just as she thinks she will be set free, Mohr receives a call that changes everything. Too much incriminating evidence has been found since her arrest, in the form of stamps, typewriters, etc. Christoph Probst, another member of the White Rose has also been taken in for questioning. The evidence piles up and Sophie’s brother eventually cracks under the pressure, prompting Sophie to make a confession herself.
In the course of a series of long, exhausting interrogations, Mohr tries to get to the bottom of Sophie’s activities, to uncover her motives and establish the names of the other members of the group. Displaying great courage and intellect, Sophie defies Mohr, refusing to betray her comrades and remaining true to her ideals. Even when offered a deal that could save her life, she remains steadfast and ultimately signs her confession. On 22 February, Sophie, Hans and Christoph find themselves in the Munich Court of Justice facing the fanatical Chief Magistrate, Roland Freisler. The court is packed with gung-ho Nazi supporters. Christoph, who has three children, makes a last, desperate plea to save himself, with the complete agreement of his two comrades. The defence counsel makes no attempt to lessen the students’ sentence. Hans and Sophie, on the other hand, courageously defend themselves against Freisler’s furious tirade of accusations, causing the Chief Magistrate to lose his composure more than once. At the end of this show trial, the three are sentenced to death – a decision obviously made before the trial had even begun. The sentence is carried out on the same day. Sophie, Hans and Christoph are executed by guillotine, remaining faithful to their beliefs and ideals to the last.
Directed by Marc Rothemund
Year: 2019
About the Curator: One-time advertising writer, Vani Subramanian has been a feminist activist and documentary filmmaker since the nineties.
Her work as a filmmaker explores the connections between our everyday practices, perceptions and prejudices, and the larger political questions confronting us through the lens of everyday practices, perceptions and prejudices – be it about gender and space, sex selective abortions, sectarian intolerance, education, food practices, cinema spectatorship and culture, neighbourhood histories and memory, or justice and the death penalty.
Vani's films have been screened and received awards, both nationally and internationally. Over the years, she has extended her practice to video art in performance, mixed media installations and pop-up digital art shows.
She is also the Creative Director of reFrame Institute of Art and Expression, an initiative that produces, mentors and disseminates artistic efforts that respond to contemporary challenges.
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