| After the Berlinale and Cannes, the 81st Venice International Film Festival was the third of the three major festivals celebrating the art of film on the Lido di Venezia from August 28 to September 7. A total of 17 German productions and co-productions were represented in various sections this year, andmore projects were presented in the Venice Production Bridge. With RIEFENSTAHL by Andres Veiel (Out of Competition), SEPTEMBER 5 by Tim Fehlbaum (Orizzonti - Extra) and QUIET LIFE by Alexandris Avranas (Orizzonti), three important German productions celebrated their premieres. HAPPY HOLIDAYS by Scandar Copti was also screened in the Orrizonti section. In the independent Giornate Degli Autori section, director Shahab Fotouhi showed his film BOOMERANG. A total of 63 projects from 25 countries were presented at Venice Immersive this year. Germany was represented by the production BELOW DECK by Martina Mahlknecht and Martin Prinot. Moreover German Films hosted a panel for the programme. Together with Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, FFF Bayern and Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, German Films addressed the issue of ‘Getting the Money Abroad: Opportunities and Challenges of International Coproductions With Germany in XR’ German Films also hosted a cocktail reception at the Lido. Around 150 guests joined for a get-together, including film teams from the films participating in the festival and industry experts. Attendees were able to exchange ideas and network in a Mediterranean atmosphere. | |
| Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place this year from September 5 to 15. A total of 278 films were programmed and screened during the 11-day festival, including 24 German productions and co-productions. There were several international and North American premieres as well as a world premiere among the German productions being shown in Toronto. Türker Süer's debut EDGE OF NIGHT and Scandar Copti's HAPPY HOLIDAYS had their North American premieres in the Centrepiece section. Ali Samadi Ahadi celebrated the world premiere of his film SEVEN DAYS. The German Oscar® entry THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG by Mohammad Rasoulof was also programmed as a Canadian premiere. SAD JOKES by Fabian Stumm made its international debut in the Discovery sidebar, which shows debut and second films by up-and-coming filmmakers from contemporary international cinema. | |
| As part of the 70th anniversary of German Films, special cinema days took place in Copenhagen from August 15 to 28, 2024. Grand Teatret and Gloria, in collaboration with German Films and the Goethe Institute Denmark, organized a cinema event to mark 70 years of German Films.
German Films is a regular partner of the German Film Days in Copenhagen every year. Grand Teatret and Gloria and the Goethe Institute exploited the German Films anniversary retrospective curated by Alfred Holighaus to give audiences in Denmark the opportunity to either see well-known and appreciated German films from the past on the big screen again or to discover important films from German film history that have not yet been seen. The following films were shown at the special film festival in Copenhagen: - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (IM WESTEN NICHTS NEUES) by Edward Berger (opening film)
- RUN LOLA RUN (LOLA RENNT) by Tom Tykwer
- THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (DIE EHE DER MARIA BRAUN) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- THE WHITE RIBBON (DAS WEIßE BAND) by Michael Haneke
- TRACES OF STONE (SPUR DER STEINE) by Frank Beyer
- I’M YOUR MAN (ICH BIN DEIN MENSCH) by Maria Schrader
- TONI ERDMANN by Maren Ade
| |
| The 29th edition of the Festival du Cinéma Allemand in Paris will take place this year from October 9-13, 2024. The event will open with FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE by Andreas Dresen. The screening that is organized in cooperation with the French distributor Haut et Court and the Goethe Institut Paris, with the kind support of ARTE, will be presented by the director of photography Judith Kaufmann to the French audience as an "Avant Premiere" on the opening night. In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut and with the support of the DFJW/OFAJ, Judith Kaufmann will further hold a masterclass for students of the Sorbonne Nouvelle and present the films CORSAGE and WHEN WE LEAVE during the festival. Director Angelina Maccarone and F2F-Talent Banafshe Hourmazdi will present the political thriller KLANDESTIN to the French press and audience twice. The young director Bianca Scali will present her film IT’S JUST A WHOLE as part of the Next Generation Short Tiger Program 2024. In the presence of actress Aenne Schwarz, the screening of EVERY YOU EVERY ME by Michael Fetter Nathanskywill close the festival on Sunday evening, October 13. Other highlights in the program include the "Avant Premiere" of RIEFENSTAHL by Andres Veiel and TREASURE by Julia von Heinz. List of screened films:
FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE by Andreas Dresen (Haut et Court)
EVERY YOU EVERY ME by Michael Fetter Nathansky
MUENTER & KANDINSKYby Marcus O. Rosenmüller
RIEFENSTAHL by Andres Veiel (Arp Sélection)
TREASURE by Julia von Heinz (Haut et Court)
ELBOW by Asli Özarslan
SCORCHED EARTHby Thomas Arslan
WE CALL HER HANKA by Grit Lemke
WINNERS by Soleen Yusef
KLANDESTINby Angelina Maccarone
CORSAGE by Marie Kreutzer (Ad Vitam)
WHEN WE LEAVE by Feo Aladag (Wildbunch)
Next Generation Short Tiger 2024 (various directors) The Festival of German Films in Paris is organized in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Paris and with the friendly support of ARTE and the DFJW/OFAJ. | |
| In cooperation with the Goethe Institute and Argentinian distributors, German Films once again presented a varied programme of films from Germany to the audience at the 24th edition of the Festival de Cine Alemàn in Argentina from September 19 to 25. The German Film Festival has become a meeting place where history and the present come together on a journey through time. As part of the 70th anniversary of German Films, this time there were showing not only of current films, but also films from the retrospective compiled for the anniversary.
In the cinemas, important filmmakers such as Wim Wenders, Alexander Kluge and Michael Haneke shared the screens with younger filmmakers who demonstrate the vitality of contemporary German cinema. Argentina hosted director Eva Trobisch, who presented her film IVO. The short films by the young film makers from the Next Generation Short Tiger programme were also shown. A total of around 4,100 visitors attended the festival, nine screenings were even fully booked, while 80 percent of the seats at the remaining screenings were usually taken.
As in previous years, there were also screenings for schools: the two films THE FLYING CLASSROOM and BLACK BOX were seen by 487 students. The festival was supported by the sponsors Mubi, Sendfiles and Los Helechos. More information about the Festival of German Films in Buenos Aires here. | |
| The German short film CRUST (KRUSTE) by Jens Kevin Georg (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF) was able to celebrate a big win in September. In the 51th Student Academy Awards® competition, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® decided that CRUST (KRUSTE) was one of the three winners in the Narrative category. A total of twelve winning films in four categories were selected from 2,683 submissions. In his film CRUST, director and screenwriter Jens Kevin Georg tells the story of growing up and identity: 12-year-old Fabi is finally supposed to prove himself as a fully-fledged member of the family. But he can only become one of them with his first wound, which crusts into a scar. Fabi wants to belong too, but how much will be left of him (and his skin)? When he is faced with a daring challenge, Fabi has to make a decision. Gold, silver and bronze placements in the four award categories will be announced at the ceremony on October 14, 2024 in London. In partnership with the BFI London Film Festival, Student Academy Award® winners will have access to panels and networking opportunities. In addition, winners will have exclusive access to Academy members to support their career advancement.
All Student Academy Award-winning films are eligible to compete for the Oscars® in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film or Documentary Short Film categories. | |
| The 15th edition of the traditional Czech-German Short Film Tour FEINKOŠT will kick off with a premiere screening at Prague’s Přítomnost Cinema on October 10, 2024. Three Czech and three German productions were selected for the programme, which covers the full spectrum of documentary films and shows the director's personal touch. The following films will be screened until December 2024 in several German and Czech cities: BAIGAL NUUR – LAKE BAIGAL by Alisi Telengut (DE/CA), BODY-SOUL-PATIENT by Jindřich Andrš (CZ), GETTY ABORTIONS by Franzis Kabisch (DE/AT), IN BETWEEN by Lý Bao Long (CZ), OF FENCES AND MEN by Petr Michal (CZ), and SLEEPING DOGS by Jenia Bayat Mokhtari, Amelie Befeldt, Samuli Salonen and Sarah Veith (DE). FEINKOŠT is organized by the AG Kurzfilm and KineDok / Institute of Documentary Film Prague with support from German Films and other institutions. More information here. The program trailer is available here, further details about the films, the screening dates and the program flyer here. | |
| GER 2003
THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL
(OT: DIE GESCHICHTE VOM WEINENDEN KAMEL) Time and again, German documentary filmmaking has led to international surprises, and full cinemas and acclaim in this country. But the enthusiasm generated by THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL between 2003 and 2004 was really something special. The film tells a cinematically fascinating story from the southern Mongolian Gobi desert. A camel belonging to a nomadic family gives birth to a calf, but is so exhausted that it rejects it. After all attempts to reunite mother and child fail, the elders remember a custom according to which poetic violin music and singing are supposed to soften the mother camel’s heart. The two filmmakers Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni made the film as students at the HFF Munich film school and immediately created an unprecedented hit with this debut. Over 320,000 moviegoers in Germany were moved to tears by the story – a story that tells of family cohesion, of a life controlled by nature with little technology and of the magic of music. Anja Pohl’s editing succeeds masterfully in integrating the camels like protagonists in the film, thus strengthening identification and emotional closeness. Loved all over the world, the film has received numerous awards. Its career was crowned in 2005 with an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature – what a way for two film students to enter the world of international film! (Oliver Baumgarten) Director: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni Screenplay: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni DoP: Luigi Falorni Editor: Anja Pohl Composer: Marcel Leniz, Marc Riedinger, Choigiw Sangidorj Production: Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (HFF), BR Runtime: 91 Min. Premiere: June 29, 2003 in Munich. Rights: HFF München | |
| The focus of the next session for the English-language KINO! FILM SALON online film club on October 13th will be Fatih Akin’s feature film drama THE EDGE OF HEAVEN, which celebrated its world premiere in the Cannes International Competition in 2007. Eventually the film received three German Film Awards in 2008. Our curator Jim Kolmar's personal comment: "Fatih Akin’s THE EDGE OF HEAVEN, the fiction follow up to his debut AGAINST THE WALL, delivers another tour of thematic complexity and cinematic bravado. The story follows a cluster of overlapping narratives that centre around the search for family in the wake of tragedy. It’s a layered exploration of intersecting relationships, particular those between Turkey and Germany. Akin displays his gift for deep, flawed characters, unafraid to show them at both their best and their worst. There are no clear lines here, and no easy answers. Akin’s elegant aesthetics complement a strong cast of Turkish and German actors including a heartbreakingly understated Hannah Schygulla. As is typical with Fatih Akin’s films, THE EDGE OF HEAVEN operates on a far deeper level than the surface narrative, offering an impassioned critique of the things that divide us, and the artificial reasons they exist in the first place. In short, it’s unmissable, and one of the great European films of the last twenty years." RSVP: https://bit.ly/kinofilmsalonedgeofheaven Date and time: Sunday, October 13 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 of Telescope Film, in collaboration with the German Film Office Trailer: here | |
| Episode 67 - October 10, 2024: Don Quixote or Harry Potter? Max von der Groeben can’t quite decide. What he does know though is what his perfect day is like! Find out more about the talented actor, like which random thing makes him happy, or the theatre performance that lit his acting fuse in our latest ShortTake episode. Episode 68 - October 31, 2024: Loves filmmaking? Check. And Potatoes? Check. And Don't-Laugh-challenges with her son? Check. Plus, writer-director Eva Trobisch has the cool and unconventional idea of being portrayed by Rutger Hauer in a film about her life – and she tells us about the random happiness brought by baby turtles. Find out more about our FACE TO FACE AMBASSADOR in our latest ShortTake episode. You can find all episodes on our website, and wherever podcasts are available.
SHORT TAKE on Instagram! | |
| Episode 2 - October 8, 2024:
Director Andreas Dresen and his wonderful films hold a very special place in the German movie canon. He tells stories about regular people, who keep the country – and the world – running. And the price they often pay for it. In our Podcast-interview we talked about his Super 8-beginnings, theatre, opera, music, the future cinematic generation and lots more. Episode 3 - October 29, 2024:
Writer-director Nora Fingscheidt’s last three films – SYSTEMCRASHER, THE UNFORGIVABLE and THE OUTRUN - have been very different, but what they do have in common are radical protagonists that live outside the norms of society. She reveals why a director is more like a conductor and what she loves about working with long-time creative collaborators. You can find all of the episodes on our website and wherever podcasts are available. DEEP DIVE GENRE on Instagram! | |
| Focus on Germany at Show Me Shorts Aotearoa New Zealand
Germany is the Country in Focus at the 2024 edition of the Show Me Shorts Film Festival Aotearoa New Zealand, organized by the festival in partnership with the Goethe Institute of New Zealand. Show Me Shorts opens on October 10 in Auckland and will present 85 international short films in 126 screenings at 40 locations across the nation until October 28. Two special focus programs will screen at the festival: The Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg has curated a collection of seven German shorts, Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck (shorts/salon) selected three German and two international shorts about communication for the special event Hello Stranger. The German film LONG TIME NO SEE (LANGE NICHT GESEHEN) by Kevin Biele and the British production ROCK PAPER SCISSORS by German director Franz Böhm are among the four nominees for Best International Film. Anna Feistel, programmer of the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg will serve on the national jury. The jury award winners will be announced on October 13, the winner of the audience award at the end of the festival. A complete list of the 12 German short films being presented at the festival is available here. Calls for Submission Visions du Réel: The call for non-fiction films and projects for the 56th edition of Visions du Réel (April. 4–13, 2025) is now open. The festival is looking for films for the official selection and for projects for VdR–Industry activities. The films in competition are screened as world, international or European premieres. Early deadline November 4, 2024; Final deadline December 13, 2024; Deadline VdR–Development Lab October 25, 2024. More information and submissions here. Berlinale: Filmmakers are invited to submit their works for the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. In order to submit a film to the Berlinale you need to send the film and the completed online film entry form to the festival before the given deadline: Feature-length films: October 30, 2024; Shorts: November 13, 2024. Further information on the submission process here. When East meets West: WEMW 2025 (Trieste, January 19-22, 2025) opens the call for entries and announces a new East & West Focus with 15 programmes and new opportunities for a special 15th edition between creativity and innovation. Co-production forum deadline: October 18, 2024; Works in Progress: deadline November 5, 2024; Eave Slate: deadline November 5, 2024; Inspirational Labs: deadline November 5, 2024. More information here. Clermont-Ferrand 2025: The final deadline for international short film submissions to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2025 is October 3, 2024. For the 17th time, the European co-production forum Euro Connection will be held during the festival on February 4 and 5, 2025. Submissions are welcome from short film projects up to 30 minutes (animation, fiction, documentary) that are planned as international co-productions, have already secured part of their funding, and will not start shooting before June 2025. The contact for submissions from Germany is the AG Kurzfilm – German Short Film Association, further information here. XR projects up to 45 minutes will be presented as well, and applications should be sent directly to the festival. The Euro Connection deadline is on October 20, 2024.
| |
| German productions and co-productions at Baden, Vancouver, Odense, Helsinki, San Sebastian, London, Warsaw, Busan, New York, Hamptons, Mill Valley, Zurich, Bucharest, Tokyo, Aotearoa and Montreal. | |
| Awards for German productions and co-productions at Odense, Venice, Baden, Drama and San Sebastian. | |
| International releases of German films in October 2024 supported by the German Films Distribution Support program: DER BUCHSPAZIERER in Switzerland (Distributor: Filmcoopi, World Sales: Studiocanal, Theatrical Release: October 10, 2024, Grant: 6.500,00 €)
DYING in Romania (Distributor: Freealize, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: October 4, 2024, Grant: 3.000,00 €)
DYING in Norway (Distributor: Selmer Media, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: October 18, 2024, Grant: 9.000,00 €)
ELAHA in North Macedonia (Distributor: Cutaway, World Sales: Pluto Film, Theatrical Release: October 10, 2024, Grant: 3.000,00 €)
ELEMENT OF CRIME – WENN ES DUNKEL UND KALT WIRD IN BERLIN in Austria (Distributor: Filmcasino & Polyfilm, World Sales: DCM, Theatrical Release: October 4, 2024, Grant: 3.000,00 €)
FROM HILDE; WITH LOVE in Switzerland (Distributor: Filmcoopi, World Sales: Beta Film, Theatrical Release: October 31, 2024, Grant: 6.500,00 €)
FÜHRER AND SEDUCER in Norway (Distributor: Star Media Entertainment, World Sales: Beta Film, Theatrical Release: October 11, 2024, Grant: 5.000,00 €)
FÜHRER AND SEDUCER in Czech Republic (Distributor: DonArt Production, World Sales: Beta Film, Theatrical Release: October 20, 2024, Grant: 4.000,00 €)
ONE FOR THE ROAD in Italy (Distributor: Just Wanted, World Sales: Beta Cinema, Theatrical Release: October 17, 2024, Grant: 14.000,00 €)
THE CHAOS SISTERS FEAT. PENGUIN PAUL in Lithuania (Distributor: Unlimited Media, World Sales: The Playmaker Munich, Theatrical Release: October 11, 2024, Grant: 4.000,00 €)
THE UNIVERSAL THEORY in Romania (Distributor: Contactory Studio / Cay Films, World Sales: Charades, Theatrical Release: October 4, 2024, Grant: 3.000,00 €) Please note: Correct at time of going to press. Changes may occur at any time. | |
| German Films Service + Marketing GmbH
Herzog-Wilhelm-Straße 16
80331 München/Deutschland Tel +49-89-59 97 87-0
Fax +49-89-59 97 87-30 | |
| |
|
