A look ahead at the best of 2009. Three big Hollywood films with a German connection hit theaters this year: Bryan Singer's VALKYRIE starring Tom Cruise; literary adaptation THE READER from Stephen Daldry and the political thriller THE INTERNATIONAL from Tom Tykwer. Julia Jentsch, star of the Oscar-nominated SOPHIE SCHOLL returns as the lead in EFFI Hermine Huntgeburth's adaptation of the Theodor Fontane classic Effi Briest. And in October Sönke Wortmann’s long-awaited period film POPE JOAN makes its debut.