As announced at yesterday's press conference of the 33rd Filmfest Dresden: the short film programme NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER goes to... Dresden. What could be more fitting for the 11th edition of German Films and the FFA's joint initiative to promote young talents than for this year's jury members - the actress Marleen Lohse, commissioning editor Katrin Küchler (MDR short film magazine programme unicato) and cinema-owner Dr. Christian Bräuer (managing director of Yorck Group of Cinema) -  to select 11 shorts out of the 91 submissions.
 
While the pandemic had meant that the participants had to forego the traditional premiere of their works on the big screen during last year's Festival de Cannes, the films in this year's line-up will finally be able to come back to the cinema: the international premiere of the shorts will be held for the first time - after many years in Cannes - during the 33rd Filmfest Dresden (13 - 18 July, 2021) with all of the filmmakers and jury members present. On Saturday, 17 July at 4 p.m., the audience will be treated to 110 minutes of pithy and varied entertainment at the Schauburg cinema – coming straight from the talent factories and the creative scene of the German film industry.

"At last, we can give the directors of this year's NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER films an opportunity again to share their films with cinema audiences and promote them as part of our mission to support young talents. Whether it's the Croisette or the Elbe - what really counts are the projects and the creative potential with which the filmmakers have addressed socially relevant issues. German Films will support the young talents throughout the year by providing the exceptional films with international visibility," says Simone Baumann, Managing Director of German Films.

"We are pleased that this year sees us being able to present NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER as a physical event again - festival audiences in Dresden can expect a top-class enhancement to the existing programme," says Frank Völkert, Deputy FFA Board Member. "Let's look forward to creative films, new talents, inspiring discoveries and a great experience for everyone watching short films in the cinema, something that we have all missed for far too long."

The programme will be going on a grand tour after its premiere in the Saxon capital: the 11 films can be seen internationally at the Festivals of German Films which are organised by German Films abroad. This means that NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER will also be finding its audience in Buenos Aires, Paris, Moscow and Madrid, among other places.

Just how forward-looking being included in the NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER line-up can be is shown by the two talented young directors Lukas von Berg and Aleksandra Odic who have now been invited with their new films SAINT ANDROID and FRIDA to Cinéfondation's film school competition during the 74th Festival de Cannes. Odic was in the short film programme in 2019 with THE BOY IN THE CHEQUERED SHIRT, while von Berg won the SHORT TIGER in 2018 with L'ARIA DEL MOSCERINO.

Registered users of Festivalscope Pro and T-Port can now view the selected films on those industry platforms, and the programme will also be available for viewing by industry delegates at the Short Film Corner during the Marché du Film in Cannes. In addition, industry professionals can request a personal viewing link from German Films (nextgeneration@german-films.de).

The films of NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER 2021:
ANIMALI by Elisabeth Wilke (HFF Munich, fiction)
BIRD OF PARADISE by Jannik Weiße (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, fiction)
BOTTLES by Jannis Alexander Kiefer (fiction, Short Tiger)
DRAWING FROM MEMORY by Daood Alabdulaa (HFF Munich, animated documentary, Short Tiger)
DUE TO LEGAL REASONS THIS FILM IS CALLED BREAKING BERT by Anne Isensee (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, animation, Short Tiger)
HANDBOOK FOR A PRIVILEGED EUROPEAN WOMAN by Alma Buddecke (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, fiction)
IN GERMANY by Christoph Mushayija Rath (DFFB, fiction)
NOby Bruno Manguen Sapiña (Academy of Media Arts Cologne, fiction)
PANIC OR REASON by Marlin van Soest (HAW Hamburg, animated documentary)
POSTPARTUM by Henriette Rietz (animation, Short Tiger)
WE ARE GOOD by Manuel Boskamp (HFF Munich, documentary)

Detailed information about all of the films and filmmakers can be found here.

The joint initiative of NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER by German Films and FFA has been in existence since 2011. The criteria for the FFA Short Tiger are: maximum length of five minutes, entertaining and innovative and particularly suitable for the cinema. Entries may be submitted by German film schools, technical and art colleges with film training courses, while AG Kurzfilm can also accept applications from the independent film scene. A jury of experts decides on up to five prize-winners and awards prize money of € 5,000 to each film. NEXT GENERATION was initiated by German Films in 1997 to present young talents from German film schools on an international level. Submissions for the programme may not be any longer than 15 minutes and must have been made by students from a German film school in 2020/2021.

German Films and the FFA would like to thank AG Kurzfilm and Filmfest Dresden for their support of NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER 2021.