A week of international award-winning German films from the 1999-2009 decade kicked off on Nov. 1 at the Hanoi Goethe Institute.

Among the screenings will be Policewoman (2000), Head-On (2004), Go for Zucker (2004), Longing (2006), The Lives of Others (2006) and Jerichow (2008).

The Lives of Others, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, was released at the same time as the screenplay was published. It is set in 1984 East Berlin . An agent of the secret police, monitoring the conduct of a writer, who is also his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed in their lives. It won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It had earlier won seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards – including best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor – after setting a new record for having received 11 nominations.

It also won the Bavarian Film Prize and the German Film Prize. At the Locarno International Film Festival it won the People's Choice Award, while in France it won the Cesar for Best Foreign Film.

The movie will be shown on November 6 at 7.30pm.

Head-On, which drew widespread attention for focusing on Turkish immigrants, was the fourth film by German/Turkish director Fatih Akin, and marked his international breakthrough.

It was awarded the Golden Bear, the German Film Prize and the European Film Prize. It will be screened on November 3 at 7.30pm.

The film week is part of the celebrations to mark Germany Year in Vietnam . Every two months a decade of German cinema history will be featured. Each film, in its own right, was talked about, shocked and impressed, and epitomised the era both in East and West Germany , according to organisers.

"In November we focus on the new millennium, the time of the reunification of divided Germany , with all its problems," organisers said.

The films will have English subtitles and Vietnamese dubbing. Free tickets can be picked up at 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street./.