| Exciting films in the cinemas, vibrant events on the beach and many thousands of enthusiastic festival visitors and participants - the Cannes International Film Festival was once again a special event this year. Again, German Films welcomed, in cooperation with the German Federal Film Board (FFA), Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), and Focus Germany, festival visitors at the German Pavilion at the Village International Riviera. In the Pavilion, as well as at the Marché du Film and other locations around the festival site, German Films supported the industry with various events. Several hundred guests from the international film industry and festival community used the Animation Germany, Documentary, Buyers & Sales as well as the regular German Films Happy Hour events to network. MBB Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and German Films held a cocktail reception together, celebrating with stars and industry representatives at Hotel Mondrian under the sun and the palm trees of the Croisette. Furthermore, the Raindance Film Festival makers held a reception in Cannes to announce and celebrate our upcoming co-operation: Germany will be Guest of Honour at this year's festival in London (more info here). The Next Generation Short Tiger screening on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 was well attended. At this international premiere of the program, most of the directors were present together with producers and other crew members. In cooperation with AG Kurzfilm and the festival’s short film initiative SFC | Rendez-vous Industry, German Films offered them networking opportunities and coaching sessions. After the NGST screening, the guests were invited to the traditional party at a beach restaurant. The next screening of the program will be in June at Raindance festival. More info about the films and directors of this year's Next Generation Short Tiger program is available here. A very special event this year was the German Film's 70th anniversary party on Sunday evening. Around 300 guests from the film industry celebrated in a cheerful atmosphere at the Pavilion and on the beach. A big thank you from German Films for the many congratulations on our anniversary! In terms of Cannes wins, Mohammad Rasoulof's THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG garnered four awards in total - the Jury's Special Award, the FIPRESCI Award, the Prix François Chalais and Prix des Cinémas Art et Essai. Two German minority co-productions also got awarded: ARMAND (Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden) by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel won the Caméra d'Or Award. For GRAND TOUR, distributed by The Match Factory, Miguel GOMES won the AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR. | |
| KINO 2024 started with German films as part of the 43rd Istanbul Film Festival (April 17-28) and continued in May (May 2-5) at the Sinematek/Sinema Evi Kadiköy. German director Timm Kröger joined the festival in a virtual Q&A and presented his movie THE UNIVERSAL THEORY to the audience. The film week will be continued in other Turkish cities in the fall. Full list of screened films:
THE GARDEN CADENCES by Dane Komljen
BALDIGA – ENTSICHERTES HERZ by Markus Stein
ELLBOW by Asli Özarslan
THE UNIVERSAL THEORY by Timm Kröger
SHAHID by Narges Kalhor
TEACHES OF PEACHES by Philipp Fussenegger und Judy Landkammer
SCORCHED EARTH by Thomas Arslan | |
| The German Film Fest is taking place for the 25th time this year in Madrid at the famous Cine Embajadores.
The popular and much-visited movie theater will open its doors for another edition of the festival from June 12-16. MILKTEETH will open the film fest and is presented by the leading actress Mathilde Bundschuh.
This year, the directors Christina Friedrich (ZONE) and Veit Helmer (GONDOLA) will also be present to show their films to the audience and press.
Some Spanish schools have also been invited to special screenings of the film THE FLYING CLASSROOM. Moreover, the Next Generation Short Tiger program will be screened on Saturday afternoon with Sofia Ayala (VOLVER AL SUR) as a guest present. Films from the 70 YEARS OF GERMAN FILMS series will be shown as well. The festival takes place in cooperation with the local Goethe-Institut and is supported by the Amigos del Goethe-Institut Espana, the German Embassy Madrid and FILMIN. Full list of screened films:
MILKTEETH by Sofia Bösch (Opening Film)
ZONE by Christina Friedrich
MARTIN READS THE QURAN by Jurijs Saule
GONDOLA by Veit Helmer
ETERNAL YOU by Moritz Riesewieck, Hans Block
THE FLYING CLASSROOM by Carolina Hellsgard 70 Years Films:
I'M YOUR MAN by Maria Schrader
SOLO SUNNY by Konrad Wolf
HAPPY LAMENTO by Alexander Kluge | |
| After a successful preliminary online programme regarded as extremely positive by the 20 up-and-coming European producers, European Film Promotion (EFP) welcomed the participants of the PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE programme which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year at the film festival in Cannes. Among the 20 producers of this year's programm is Fabian Driehorst from Germany. He is one of the select producers who focus on the production of animated films and documentaries. With his Hamburg-based company Fabian&Fred, he has produced the multi-award-winning animated film Sultana's Dream by Isabel Herguera, among others. The networking and promotion platform provides a tailor-made programme for the participants, including one-on-one pitching sessions and case studies as well as ample opportunity to exchange experiences and find new co-production partners. 20 of Europe’s most promising producers have been selected to take part in EFP’s prestigious promotion and networking platform which is not only celebrating its 25th anniversary, but will also be casting a spotlight on the numerous collaborations which have developed between around 500 participants from 37 European countries during this quarter century. | |
| After a slight decline in 2022, German films experienced an upswing in 2023 compared to the previous year in box office as well as in audience numbers.
Detailed analysis of German films abroad in 2023 is available in our latest Facts & Figures report.
For further information, please contact Andrea Schiefer. | |
| German Films invites film rights holders to submit their works for consideration as Germany's entry in the 97th OSCAR® competition in the International Feature Film category, which includes feature films, animated films, and documentaries. To be eligible, films must meet the basic requirements set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Find an overview about the rules and reglulations HERE as well as more information from AMPAS HERE. Important dates: - The German selection committee will review the film submissions on August 21 + 22, 2024 in Munich
- German Films will notify AMPAS of the German contribution by October 2, 2024 at the latest
The short list of fifteen titles will be published on December 17, 2024 The Oscar® nominations will be announced on January 17, 2025. The Oscar® Awards Ceremony will take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood.
Send the electronic registration at German Films by email to Nicole Kaufmann, kaufmann@german-films.de. The registration deadline is Monday, August 5, 2024, 18:00 CET. | |
| FRG 1986
ROSA LUXEMBURG
(OT: ROSA LUXEMBURG) “Your job is to bring ideas into the world, these are your children. You have to decide: do you want to be a mother or a revolutionary?“ Known as a socialist, revolutionary and pacifist who was feared by friends and foes alike, Rosa Luxemburg, who was murdered in cold blood by ultra-right-wing nationalists together with Karl Liebknecht in 1919, was perceived almost exclusively as a public, political figure. Margarethe von Trotta, though, included the personal and private side of Luxemburg and was thus able to paint a more profound picture of the woman who was always both a controversial and heroic figure. In preparation for her film, Margarethe von Trotta not only read around 2,500 letters written by Luxemburg, but also sought contact with people who still knew her personally. In combination with Barbara Sukowa’s energetic performance and Franz Rath’s captivating photography, the result is a psychologically exciting portrait that is politically and historically fascinating thanks to the use of many original speeches. At the latest after winning the Golden Lion in 1981 for “Marianne & Juliane“ (“Die bleierne Zeit“), von Trotta was long regarded as a promising new representative of a weakening New German Cinema. To this day, she remains one of the most exciting voices in German film. With “Rosa Luxemburg“, she was invited to the competition in Cannes for the first time. There, Barbara Sukowa was awarded Best Actress and the film attracted a great deal of international attention. Even in self-proclaimed “real existing socialism“, which no longer had much in common with Luxemburg’s idea of socialism, the biopic was appreciated: it received the GDR Critics’ Prize in 1987. (Oliver Baumgarten) Director: Margarethe von Trotta Screenplay: Margarethe von Trotta DoP: Franz Rath Editor: Dagmar Hirtz Composer: Nicolas Economou Production: Regina Ziegler, Eberhard Junkersdorf for Bioskop-Film, Pro-ject Filmproduktion im Filmverlag der Autoren, Ziegler Film, Bärenfilm-Produktion Runtime: 123 Min. Premiere: April 8, 1986 Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Daniel Olbrychski, Otto Sander, Adelheid Arndt, Jürgen Hlotz, Doris Schade, Karin Baal et al. Rights: Studiocanal GmbH | |
| The focus of the next session for the English-language KINO! FILM SALON online film club on June 16 will be Boris Kunz‘ Near Future mystery science-fiction thriller PARADISE. Our curator Jim Kolmar selected this movie: „In near future Berlin, AEON is a giant biotech conglomerate that provides a medical service for citizens who wish to “donate” years of life to others by giving up some of their own. It’s a scenario that has grave ramifications for a successful young couple faced with an impossible choice. When they lose everything in a fire, Aeon employee Max (Kostja Ullmann) and his wife Elena (Marlene Tanzcik) are forced to pay their insurmountable debts with the only resource they have left - time. Boris Kunz’s PARADISE proposes a fantastical premise, but, like all good sci-fi, its proximity to our current reality means we never quite shake off that discomfiting feeling that this potential future may be closer than we think. PARADISE is deeply intelligent, convincingly rendered and loaded with provocative philosophical questions that extend far beyond the reach of the film.“ RSVP: https://bit.ly/kinofilmsalonparadise Date and time: Sunday, June 16 from 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 of Telescope Film, in collaboration with the German Film Office | |
| Episode 61 - June 6, 2024: In a really fun interview, 2024 Face to Face ambassador Mona Cathleen Otterbach talked to us about her love for Le Petit Prince, artichokes, why she knows the dialogue of INDIANA JONES by heart, and on top of that has some great recommendations of German filmmaking talent to watch out for. Episode 62 - June 27, 2024: 2024 Face to Face ambassador Jan Bülow took time out of his busy schedule and talked to us about why balance makes relationships great, how he always has room for dessert, and a particular enamorizing scene in the original BLADE RUNNER movie. You can find all episodes on our website, and wherever podcasts are available. SHORT TAKE on Instagram! | |
| New German Short Films – Spring Catalogue Update
30 new fiction, documentary, animation and experimental shorts produced since November 2023 have just been added to the AG Kurzfilm’s online short film catalogue. The new shorts, selected by a jury from suggestions made by members of the AG Kurzfilm (German Short Film Association), include films from the festival line-ups of Clermont-Ferrand, Berlin, Rotterdam, CPH:DOX, and the animation festivals Stuttgart and Annecy, among others. Those interested can search for German short films in the online catalogue using a wide range of functions, keywords, themes, categories. International film professionals can screen the films online after registering. More than 1,000 short films produced since 2004 are now available for viewing. The latest catalogue update is available here. A selection of the recently added films can also be found on the T-Port Platform for Student and Short Films. Applications open for Munich FilmUp! Mentoring and residency program
The initiative MunichFilmUp! sees the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF) supporting six debut feature projects on the basis of a treatment in cooperation with the Filmschoolfest Munich and the Filmfest München and as part of a partnership with the Pop Up Film Residency. Filmmakers will receive comprehensive mentoring between November 2024 and June 2025. This includes an individual three-week residency, support with the first draft of the film's script, and intensive networking activities within the industry and at festivals. The program is free of charge for the six finalists and also includes travel and accommodation. International film school students and young alumni (up to three years after graduation) can apply until September 1, 2024. Further information is available here. | |
| German productions and co-productions at Tribeca, Jeonju, Sydney and San Francisco. | |
| Awards for German productions and co-productions at Busan, Brussels and Seattle. | |
| International releases of German films in June 2024 supported by the German Films Distribution Support program: AFIRE in Norway (Distributor: Arthaus - Stiftelsen for Filmkunst, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: June 7, 2024)
ELAHA in Mexico (Distributor: Bestiario Film, World Sales: Pluto Film, Theatrical Release: June 27, 2024)
ETERNAL YOU in UK and Ireland (Distributor: Dogwoof, World Sales: Dogwoof, Theatrical Release: June 28, 2024)
EVERY YOU EVERY ME in Switzerland (Distributor: Cineworx, World Sales: Be for Films, Theatrical Release: June 6, 2024)
FALLING INTO PLACE in Switzerland (Distributor: Royal Film, World Sales: Global Screen, Theatrical Release: June 20, 2024)
IVO in Austria (Distributor: Filmcasino & Polyfilm, World Sales: Loco Films, Theatrical Release: June 21, 2024)
LASSIE - A NEW ADVENTURE in Spain (Distributor: A Contracorriente Films , World Sales: Global Screen, Theatrical Release: June 7, 2024)
OSKAR'S DRESS in Poland (Distributor: Vivarto Film, World Sales: Beta Cinema, Theatrical Release: June 21, 2024)
SOMEDAY WE'LL TELL EACH OTHER EVERYTHING in Hong Kong and Macau (Distributor: First Distributors, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: June 6, 2024)
STELLA. A LIFE. In Taiwan (Distributor: Eagle International Communication, World Sales: Global Screen, Theatrical Release: June 28, 2024)
STELLA. A LIFE. in Argentina (Distributor: CDI, World Sales: Global Screen, Theatrical Release: June 16, 2024)
THABO - THE RHINO ADVENTURE in Romania (Distributor: Contactory Studio, World Sales: Sola Media, Theatrical Release: June 7, 2024)
WEEKENDREBELS in Israel (Distributor: Nachshon Films, World Sales: Picture Tree International, Theatrical Release: June 27, 2024) Please note: Correct at time of going to press. Changes may occur at any time. | |
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Fax +49-89-59 97 87-30 | |
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