It was nominated to compete for the Panorama Audience Award at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 18 February 2023.

[5] Released to critical acclaim, the National Board of Review named The Teachers' Lounge one of the top five international films of 2023.

Using her laptop, she secretly records her jacket and gets footage of an unknown person in a distinctive blouse taking money from her wallet.

Kuhn becomes deeply upset during the interrogation and storms out after being put on leave, while Carla is discomfited by the principal's suggestion to get the police involved, preferring to keep the matter private.

However, she is shocked when the principal notes that Carla will also have to be put under investigation, as her secret recording of the teachers' lounge violated the privacy of her colleagues.

After a regular and innocent set of questions, the students abruptly begin interrogating Carla about the secret recording, the thefts, accusations against Ali, and Kuhn's dismissal.

Carla, caught off-guard, gives vague and broad responses and is refused the opportunity to review the interview ahead of the printing of the newspaper.

[9] The inspiration for the story came from a school visit in Istanbul where İlker Çatak and Johannes Duncker [de] witnessed "these two boys in class that were actually stealing.

And then Johannes told me a story about his sister, who's a math teacher in Cologne in Germany, who had a similar kind of thing going on with thefts.

The website's consensus reads: "A smart and provocative modern parable with the heart of a thriller, The Teachers' Lounge brilliantly uses its setting as the backdrop for a look at how quickly even tight-knit communities can be destabilized.

[16] The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung found that in the film, "Much of what concerns society at large - the difficulty of dealing with diversity, multidimensional identities, cultural stereotypes - is made concrete in school, as if under a magnifying glass".

"[18] A positive review for Filmdienst wonders, "Despite all the enthusiasm that the film, which was tense from start to finish, generated at the premiere at the Berlinale, it was rightly noted that it was not entirely clear what The Teachers' Lounge was actually trying to achieve.

"[19] Der Tagespiegel, considering the film in a broader context, wrote that it "shows very pointedly how little can be enough to make dialogue impossible in our highly sensitive times.