| The feature film THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG by Mohammad Rasoulof (Run Way Pictures) is on the shortlist for 97th Oscar® Awards in the "Best International Feature Film" category. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced their decision today (December 17, 2024). The German entry is now joining another 14 films on the shortlist. The following German co-productions are on the shortlist alongside the German entry: - ARMAND by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (NO/NL/SE/DE, One Two Films) - Norway
- SANTOSH by Sandhya Suri (UK/FR/IN/DE, Razor Film Produktion) - United Kingdom
On January 17, 2025, the Academy will reveal which five of the 15 films in the shortlist will be going forward to the final selection to take part in the competition for the Oscar® in this category. Films from 85 countries were accepted for consideration for the selection.
In August, a nine-member independent jury had selected THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG from 13 submissions as the German entry for the "Best International Feature Film" Oscar® category.
About the film:
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG had its world premiere in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Competition's Special Jury Prize, the FIPRESCI Prize, the European Art House Cinemas Award (AFCAE), the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Prix François Chalais for Best Film. The film was subsequently screened at other film festivals such as Locarno, Telluride, Toronto, San Sebastian as well as important autumn festivals in the USA.
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG has also won the following prizes - among others: Audience Award for Best International Feature - Sydney Film Festival (Australia), Audience Award For Best European Film - San Sebastian Film Festival (Spain), Silver Hugo for Best Screenplay - Chicago International Film Fest (USA) as well as the Arab Critics‘ Award for European Films. THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG was produced by Run Way Pictures (Hamburg) in co-production with Parallel45, ARTE France Cinéma and with the participation of ARTE France and in cooperation with Films Boutique. The film was supported by L' aide aux cinémas du monde, Centre National du Cinéma et de L' image Animée, Institut Français and MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein. The German distributor Alamode will release the film in German cinemas on December 26, 2024. Films Boutique is handling international sales. In North America, NEON is responsible for the film’s distribution and released the film nationwide in US cinemas on November 27, 2024. The shortlist for the short films was also unveiled: Live Action Short Film
CRUST (KRUSTE) by Jens Kevin Georg (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF) Animated Short Film
THE WILD-TEMPERED CLAVIER by Anna Samo (Tiger Unterwegs Filmproduktion) The German production HOLLYWOOD GATE by Ibrahim Nash'at (DE/US, Rolling Narratives) has entered the race in the BEST DOCUMENTARY category. In addition, German filmmakers were nominated for the shortlist in the following categories for their participation in these films: - Best Original Score (Volker Bertelmann) for CONCLAVE
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Heike Merker) for MARIA
The Oscar® awards ceremony will be held at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood on 2 March, 2025.
Further information about the 97th Oscars® and the regulations can be found here. | |
| From November 25 to 29, 2024, the Tykse Filmdager, together with the Goethe Institute, examined current films from Germany for the third time. The opening film was Georg Maas and Judith Kaufmann's THE GLORY OF LIFE. Against the backdrop of this year's Kafka anniversary, this film biography tells the story of the last years of Kafka's life and the relationship between him and his great love Dora Diamant. Georg Maas presented his film in person in Oslo and answered questions from the audience in a Q&A.
The program also included the documentary WUNDERLAND by Sabine Howe, which offers a journey for the whole family through the Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg, one of the most visited attractions in Germany.
THE BOY WHO OWNS THE WORLD, the directorial debut by Robert Gwisdek, was also presented. Gwisdek himself can currently be seen in Norwegian cinemas as the depressive composer Bernard in Robert Glasner's family epic Dying. Gwisdek's film is about the young musician Basilio who, together with his mentor, tries to find true poetry.
The program concluded with TOUCHED by Claudia Rorarius, a film about an illicit relationship, desire and the need for closeness. To mark the 70th anniversary of German Films, the two films RUN LOLA RUN and ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT were also shown from the retrospective. Full list of screened films: - RUN LOLA RUN by Tom Tykwer
- ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT by Edward Berger
- THE GLORY OF LIFE by Georg Maas & Judith Kaufmann
- JENSEITS DER BLAUEN GRENZE by Sarah Neumann
- WHEN WILL IT BE AGAIN LIKE IT NEVER WAS BEFORE by Sonja Heiss
- THE UNIVERSAL THEORY by Timm Kröger
- BLIND AT HEART by Barbara Albert
- MONSTER INSIDE by Christina Ebelt
- WUNDERLAND by Sabine Howe
- SHOCK by Daniel Rakete Siegel & Denis Moschitto
- THE BOY WHO OWNS THE WORLD by Robert Gwisdek
- TOUCHED by Claudia Rorarius
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| The program European Shooting Stars will enter its 28th edition next year. The EFP (European Film Promotion) announced the ten up-and-coming European actors who will be honored as EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2025. The actress Devrim Lingnau will represent Germany in 2025. The EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2025 are Maria Makris (Cyprus), Besir Zeciri (Denmark), Maarja Johanna Mägi (Estonia), Devrim Lingnau (Germany), Elín Hall (Iceland), Kārlis Arnolds Avots (Latvia), Šarūnas Zenkevičius (Lithuania), Lidija Kordić (Montenegro), Vicente Wallenstein (Portugal) and Frida Gustavsson (Sweden). The German Shooting Star Devrim Lingnau was born in Mannheim to a Turkish father, and a German mother. With a passion for the arts, and a promising international career already underway, Lingnau impressed in British horror flick CARMILLA (2019), where she starred alongside Jessica Raine and Tobias Menzies. She is also the face of The Emmy-winning Netflix drama series THE EMPRESS (2022), which won her the Best Newcomer award at the German Screen Actor Awards. Her next major role is in Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s psychological, pertinent thriller HYSTERIA (2025). The European Shooting Stars jury explained their decision in favor of Devrim Lingnau as follows: “German star Devrim Lingnau is an outstanding candidate. In HYSTERIA she is so involved in the character and yet you don’t see any tools, or techniques, it’s as if she is living in the moment, like she hasn’t read a script, just embedded in the truth of the story. She manages to keep the audience curious, she is a mystery, and yet maintains a transparency. Despite her delicate, minimalistic approach, she tells us so much. She will be a star, for sure." Devrim Lingnau on her selection as a Shooting Star: “Being selected as a European Shooting Star 2025 makes me very happy! I see the program as a cordial invitation to exchange ideas with artists and filmmakers and to discover common interests.
The election gives me the uplifting feeling that I am meant to be and wanted as an actress - even with the topics that concern me!" Previous German EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS have included Katharina Stark (2024), Leonie Benesch (2023), Emilio Sakraya (2022), Albrecht Schuch (2021), Jonas Dassler (2020), Emma Drogunova (2019), Franz Rogowski (2018), Louis Hofmann (2017), Jella Haase (2016) and Jannis Niewöhner (2015). The European Film Promotion (EFP) will present the EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2025 to the international film world during the Berlinale (February 13 - 23, 2025). | |
| GER 2019 SYSTEM CRASHER
(SYSTEMSPREGNER) Since its premiere in the 2019 Berlinale Competition, SYSTEM CRASHER has become an absolute phenomenon. Spurred on by the Silver Bear, the film went on to screen at around 200 film festivals worldwide – from Taiwan to Brazil, from the USA to Israel, from India to Norway. Director and author Nora Fingscheidt and lead actress Helena Zengel in particular were celebrated and received many awards. In Germany alone, the film, which was made on a comparatively modest budget, won eight German Film Awards. The film was seen by over 600,000 people in German cinemas and sold to the most important territories in the world. There are even plans for a US remake with Channing Tatum. The basis of this enormous phenomenon is a powerful, fundamentally honest and therefore deeply moving story of a girl whose desperate search for love unleashes an energy that no one can match. The girl blows up all systems of family and youth welfare and, as it were, the hearts of the audience, because the film confronts its audiences with the unadorned tragic force of this authentic scenario. Thanks to this irresistibly honest and direct approach, SYSTEM CRASHER develops a brute energy that is rare in German film, which even intensified over time with the social focal point of the burgeoning corona crisis. For both Fingscheidt and Zengel, SYSTEM CRASHER has marked their entry into exciting international projects. Nora Fingscheidt shot with Sandra Bullock (THE UNFORGIVABLE) and Saoirse Ronan (THE OUTRUN), Zengel with Tom Hanks (NEWS OF THE WORLD) and Willem Dafoe (THE LEGEND OF OCHI). (Oliver Baumgarten) Director: Nora Fingscheidt Screenplay: Nora Fingscheidt DoP: Yunus Roy Imer Editor: Stephan Bechinger, Julia Kovalenko Composer: John Gürtler Production: Jakob & Jonas Weydemann, Peter Hartwig, Frauke Kolbmüller for Weydemann Bros., kineo Filmproduktion, Oma Inge Film, ZDF Runtime: 125 Min. Premiere: February 8, 2019 Cast: Helena Zengel, Gabriela Maria Schmeide, Albrecht Schuch, Lisa Hagmeister, Melanie Straub, Victoria Trauttmansdorff, Maryam Zaree et al. Rights: Beta Film, Munich (German distributor: Port au Prince Pictures) | |
| The focus of the next session for the English-language KINO! FILM SALON online film club on January 19, 2025, will be Frauke Finsterwalder’s period drama SISI & I with Sandra Hüller in the leading role. Our curator Jim Kolmar's curational comment: "Frauke Finsterwalder’s follow up to her visionary provocation FINSTERWALD (2013) is a strange, uninhibited historical drama with a taste for the eccentric. SISI & I stars the iconic Sandra Hüller as Countess Irma Sztáray, lady-in-waiting to Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Susanne Wolff) AKA Sisi. It is a ribald depiction of the relationship between the two women as they explore the bounds of freedom in Greece, distanced from the strictures of Austro-Hungarian society, and are tempted to explore all the sexual shenanigans and associated debauchery that implies. Based on Irma's real-life writings, the film has a delightfully playful quality that refuses to be hidebound by period accuracy. It is cheekily entertaining, mischievous and lavishly produced, satisfying the demands of true historical drama aficionados, and seducing those with a taste for the absurd. In other words, it’s an absolute riot." RSVP: bit.ly/kinofilmsalonsisiandi Date and time: Sunday, January 19th at 11:00am – 12:00pm PT, 2:00pm – 3:00pm ET, 8:00pm – 9:00pm CET.
Hosted by Jim Kolmar KINO! FILM SALON is a production by Telescope Film, in collaboration with the German Film Office Find the trailer here | |
| Episode 71 - January 2, 2025:
Actor Damian Hardung shares some interesting thoughts with us about the importance of truly connecting and understanding other people in our latest ShortTake episode. But we also talk about his love for all things sport – especially if it entails a ball. He recounts a favorite memory from shooting and traveling in Italy as well as from his internship in a GP’s office. Episode 72 - January 23, 2025:
Oscar® Winner? Check! But actually getting paid for directing… Well, let’s just say Jens Kevin Georg has a bone to pick with the universe about that. We had great fun with the director in our latest ShortTake episode, talking about his favorite pasta dish, impostor syndrome, and his terrific pitch of who should play him in a film about his life. You can find all of the episodes on our website and wherever podcasts are available. SHORT TAKE on Instagram! | |
| dok.incubator is looking for ambitious feature-length documentaries in the rough-cut stage to participate in the 2025 workshop. The program invites editors, directors, and producers to an eight-month development of their films under the guidance of renowned professionals, experienced producers, internationally established editors, and top European marketers. Through their practical experience, the participants learn all the important parts of the process by applying them directly to their films. Eight teams, composed of a producer, a director, and an editor, will focus on the film’s unique perspective and sharpening the storytelling, placing it within the international context and finding concrete tools to effectively approach future audiences. Intensive work on editing, distribution, and audience-building upgrades their rough-cut to a high-end film with the potential to meet worldwide interest. And the system apparently works! Over the past 13 years the workshop has helped 14 films to get into Sundance competitions, around 40 films were screened at IDFA, and 6 were nominated for the European Film Award. Deadline for submissions is January 27, 2025. Apply here. | |
| German films and co-productions accepted at Cartoon Movie 2025
57 projects from 16 countries have make the selection of Cartoon Movie, the co-production and pitching event for European animated feature films that will take place in Bordeaux from March 4-6, 2025. The selected works capture European animation's current creative diversity. The line-up includes mostly projects in development (34) and in concept (17), next to 3 films in production and 3 in sneak preview. Latvia will be the spotlight of this year's edition of Cartoon Movie. Seven German co-productions will be presented: THE TWILIGHT WORLD (Psyop Media Company Germany), VALENTINO (Zooper Film), CONDENADITOS (Studio Seufz), NESSIE JUNIOR (FFL), SKIP (Ulysses Filmproduktion), COCOBANANA (Knudsen Pictures) and THE LAST WHALE SINGER (Telescope Animation). Calls for submission - Sheffield DocFest: The 32nd edition of Sheffield DocFest will take place from June 18-23, 2025. The call for Film and VR entries is now open. Further information can be found here: Film and VR. Deadline is February 28, 2025, 12 noon.
- DocsBarcelona Industry: DocsBarcelona Industry (May 12-16, 2025) will host the main professional meeting point for the non-fiction sector in Southern Europe. DocsBarcelona will celebrate its 28th edition from May 8-18, 2025. Further information here. Deadline is January 27, 2025.
- FIDMarseille: The 36th edition of FIDMarseille will take place from July 8-13, 2025. Registrations are already open. Further information and registration here. Deadline for films produced in 2024: January 31, 2025. Deadline for films produced in 2025: March 15, 2025.
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| German productions and co-productions at Sundance, Rotterdam, Sydney and Angers. | |
| Awards for German productions and co-productions at Poitiers, Torino, and Bogotá. | |
| International releases of German films in January 2025 supported by the German Films Distribution Support program: FESTE & FREUNDE in Switzerland (Distributor: DCM Film Distribution, World Sales: Leonine Licensing, Theatrical Release: January 2, 2025, Grant: 8.500 €)
RIEFENSTAHL in Belgium (Distributor: Imagine Film Distribution, World Sales: Beta Cinema, Theatrical Release: January 22, 2024, Grant: 15.000 €)
SEPTEMBER 5 in Switzerland (Distributor: Praesens-Film, World Sales: Constantin Film, Theatrical Release: January 9, 2025, Grant: 12.550 €)
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG in Australia and New Zealand (Distributor: Sharmill Films, World Sales: Films Boutique, Theatrical Release: January 23, 2025, Grant: 15.000 €)
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG in Spain (Distributor: Bteam Pictures, World Sales: Films Boutique, Theatrical Release: January 17, 2025, Grant: 15,000 €)
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG in Turkey (Distributor: Yeni Bir Film, World Sales: Films Boutique, Theatrical Release: January 10, 2025, Grant: 7,000 €)
TREASURE in Slovakia (Distributor: Filmtopia, World Sales: FilmNation International, Theatrical Release: January 16, 2025, Grant: 3,000 €)
TWO TO ONE in Lithuania (Distributor: Estinfilm, World Sales: The Playmaker Munich, Theatrical Release: January 10, 2025, Grant: 2.500 €)
Please note: Correct at time of going to press. Changes may occur at any time.
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| A special year is coming to an end for us at German Films. Our anniversary year was made unique by many events, encounters, and special film screenings. Together, we have looked back on the past 70 years and shared many precious moments. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who celebrated this anniversary year with us in a very special way. We wish you all a wonderful end to the year and every blessing in the holiday season. | |
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