| The German Films’ website was relaunched in early September. While all the useful functions like the Festival Guide, Film Archive, Film Submission Management are still part of the online page, the new design now offers even more information with new interactive sections such as “German Films Around The World”. The site is also barrier-free, offering assistive technologies aimed at users with physical or cognitive disabilities. So, refresh your browser and take a look at www.german-films.de! | |
| A German filmmaker doing comedy. In Hollywood. Yup, it can be done. And done well, might we add.
In our latest podcast episode, director Christian Ditter talks about why the film classic CINEMA PARADISO holds a special place in his heart, which technical innovation is currently making him happy, and we also discuss the culinary heritage of Kaiserschmarrn. Who says podcasts can’t be fun and informative?! SHORT TAKE: THE GERMAN FILMS PODCAST has already racked up more than 8,000 listeners from various countries since the format’s launch - and more are joining with each new episode. You can find all of the episodes on our website and wherever podcasts are available. SHORT TAKE on Instagram! | |
| The focus of the next session for the English-language KINO! FILM SALON online film club on 16 October, 2022 will be on Jonas Bak’s WOOD AND WATER. The debut feature by German director Jonas Bak celebrated its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2021 and received its U.S. premiere at the prestigious New Directors/ New Films showcase curated by Film at Lincoln Center in New York. The film travelled to numerous international film festivals and received various awards. Our film curator Jim Kolmar selected this movie: “Jonas Bak's deceptively minimalist debut is a quietly rapturous meditation on the nature of personal freedom and the embrace of change. Featuring Bak's own mother as the mesmerizing lead pursuing liberty in her golden years, this delicate film unfolds with grace and patience. WOOD AND WATER dares to consider the risks we're willing to take as time begins to tighten its grip.” RSVP: https://bit.ly/kinofilmsalonwoodandwater Date and time: Sunday, October 16th at 11am - 12pm PT, 2pm - 3pm ET, 8pm - 9pm CT.
Hosted by Jim Kolmar
KINO! FILM SALON is a production of Telescope Film, in collaboration with the German Film Office. | |
| The 27th edition of the Festival du Cinéma Allemand from 12 to 16 October, 2022 in Paris will open with a screening of Andreas Dresen’s new film RABIYE KURNAZ VS. GEORGE W. BUSH, starring Meltem Kaptan and Alexander Scheer from a screenplay by Laila Stieler. The film tells the true story of Rabiye Kurnaz and her struggle to secure the release of her son Murat who was imprisoned in Guantanamo - a five-year struggle that will take her from home in Bremen to the Supreme Court.
The festival will also be presenting a focus on LAILA STIELER to show other films (GUNDERMANN and LOVE LIFE) by the screenwriter as well as organising a master class at the La Fémis film school.
Several films that attracted a great deal of attention at the last Berlinale and other new releases will ensure that the programme in Paris is just as colourful and diverse as at previous editions.
The Festival du Cinéma Allemand in Paris is organised in cooperation with Arte, the Goethe-Institut in Paris, and the German Embassy in Paris. List of films RABIYE KURNAZ VS. GEORGE W. BUSH by Andreas Dresen (opening film)
A ROOM OF MY OWN by Ioseb "Soso" Bliadze
AXIOM by Jöns Jönsson
A E I O U - A QUICK ALPHABET OF LOVE by Nicolette Krebitz
BULLDOG by André Szardenings
BETTINA by Lutz Pehnert
TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER by Annika Pinske
YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATE by Kilian Riedhof
ALFONS ZITTERBACKE – ENDLICH KLASSENFAHRT! by Mark Schlichter
GUNDERMANN by Andreas Dresen
LOVE LIFE by Maria Schrader
Next Generation Short Tiger 2022 programme | |
| German Films and Finnish Film Affair presented the collaborative event Co-producing with Germany on 23 September, 2022 from 11:30-12:30 at the Bio Rex Lasipalatsi Theatre in Helsinki. Finland and Germany are enjoying a fruitful film relationship, with more exciting co-productions in the works. In this talk, moderator Marta Balaga discussed with international producers about how their co-productions have been initiated, nurtured and what’s to come next. The speakers were Jussi Rantamäki from Aamu Film Company and Jamila Wenske from Achtung Panda! who have co-produced such films as THE WOODCUTTER STORY and COMPARTMENT NO. 5 together, Heino Deckert from Ma.ja.de Filmproduktion (INVISIBLE DEMONS) and Marianne Mäkelä from Napa Films (GAME OF MINDS). The discussion was organised in collaboration with Finnish Film Affair and Creative Europe Media Desk Finland. Click here for the brochure. | |
| The 22nd Festival de Cine Alemàn was held in Buenos Aires from 8 to 14 September, 2022 with the motto "See you in the cinema - Nos vemos en el cine". The festival had already kicked off on 2 September, 2022 with a well-attended press conference and an online appearance by Maggie Peren, who presented her film THE FORGER. The film starring Louis Hoffmann opened the film week at the Cinepolis Recoleta cinemas on 8 September, 2022.
The festival not only had 23 screenings of films in the cinemas, but also collaborated with the Goethe-Institut this year on organising an extended programme focusing on THE CONFERENCE. Director Matti Geschonneck presented his film in person with Q&As after the sold-out screenings and also participated in a roundtable and another screening hosted by the Jewish organisation in Buenos Aires.
But the aforementioned films weren’t the only ones to screen to packed cinemas since COMMITMENT PHOBIA by Helena Hufnagel, in particular, was also sold out.
LAURA’S STAR and TOUBAB were hits with schoolchildren and language students. TOUBAB came third in the list of audience favourites behind THE CONFERENCE and THE FORGER.
This year again saw the festival, which receives support in particular from the Goethe-Institut and the local German Embassy, receiving the distinction as a culturally important event. This award is issued by the city council in Buenos Aires. The programme:
THE FORGER by Maggie Peren (opening film)
LIFE ON TAPE by Melanie Lischker
EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE by Marten Persiel
FUTURE IS A LONELY PLACE by Martin Hawie, Laura Harwarth
COMMITMENT PHOBIA by Helena Hufnagel
LAURA’S STAR by Joya Thome
NO ONE’S WITH THE CALVES by Sabrina Sarabi
PINA by Wim Wenders
TOUBAB by Florian Dietrich
THE CONFERENCE by Matti Geschonneck
NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER 2022 programme
More information about the Festival of German Films in Buenos Aires can be found here. | |
| DOK Preview Germany is a showcase for 7 German productions (feature-length documentaries) that will present themselves to international buyers, editors, world sales, festival curators and distributors. Each film has a unique style, and Preview Germany's moderators, Julia Teichmann and Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer, together with the film teams, will give a sneak peek into new titles ready for their premiere with international distribution in mind. The hand-picked selection of films includes a mix of works-in-progress and newly completed films. DOK Preview Germany is a joint production of German Films and DOK Leipzig, with the support of AG DOK. It takes place on 17 October, 2022 during DOK Leipzig, International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film. D-Facto Motion will award the Works-in-Progress Prize to one of the projects presented at DOK Preview Germany, providing post-production services valued at 10,000 €. Project Selection 2022: 300 TRILLION by Rudolph Herzog (Neue Celluloid Fabrik)
BOYZ by Sylvain Cruiziat (madfilms Cruiziat & Egert)
CALLS FROM MOSCOW by Luis Alejandro Yero (Cosmic Productions)
FOR THE TIME BEING by Nele Dehnenkamp (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg)
HEAVEN CAN WAIT (WT) by Sven Halfar (Cosmic Productions)
THE SILENCE OF GRANITE by Grit Lemke (IT WORKS! Medien GmbH)
TELL THEM ABOUT US by Rand Beiruty (Tondowski Films GbR, Shaghab Films) | |
| This year will see the Ukrainian Institute ensuring the international promotion of five Ukrainian films through the proMOTION programme despite the lack of state funding. Thanks to the cooperation with foreign partners, five films will each receive financing of up to 300,000 hryvnias. Memorandums of cooperation have already been signed with Göteborg Film Fund/Göteborg Film Festival and German Films. The Ukrainian Institute launched a long-term programme proMOTION in 2020 to support the international promotion of Ukrainian films and increase the presence of Ukrainian cinema in the international market. The programme also aims at developing the marketing skills of Ukrainian filmmakers and fostering a systematic international collaboration, in particular with foreign promotion agencies.
In spring 2022, a competition for participation was held and five winners were selected. According to the terms of the programme, the Ukrainian Institute was to provide support for the winners' international promotion. The financing of the campaigns will be made possible thanks to the involvement of international funds. The agreements were reached with Göteborg Film Fund/Göteborg Film Festival, whose activities aim to strengthen the film industry in countries with a high level of film production, but various economic or political challenges. The fund will finance the international promotion of Antonio Lukich’s LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG, which was presented at film festivals in Venice and Toronto, and Iryna Tsilyk’s first fiction film ROCK. PAPER. GRENADE according to the estimated budgets submitted. Göteborg Film Fund also partially supported the promotion of PAMFIR by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, which is now travelling around the world and collecting awards after a successful premiere in Cannes and screening in Karlovy Vary. “We are very happy to accompany one of our residency guests, Antonio Lukich, to Venice and Toronto and support the promotional activities for the film within the framework of a cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute and its proMOTION programme. And the same goes for Iryna Tsilyk’s film which will be premiering during the autumn. We are also excited about being a little bit more engaged in PAMFIR by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, which received our postproduction support last year, and premiered in Cannes this May. Our goal is to keep the industry within Ukraine active as much as possible under these really tough circumstances. That's why the Göteborg Film Fund also launched development grants for filmmakers working in Ukraine,” says Camilla Larsson, Fund Manager at Göteborg Film Festival. A memorandum has also been signed with German Films, which allocated half of the required amount for the international promotion of the film PAMFIR by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, which had been made as a co-production between Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, Chile and Luxembourg. The world premiere of the film took place in the Directors' Fortnight programme of Cannes Film Festival. “German Films is happy to support Ukrainian filmmakers in this difficult situation. PAMFIR by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk is a European co-production and Ukrainian cinema is a part of our European culture and heritage. We are thrilled to help promote it in the international market and get it the recognition it deserves. We all need to make sure that the Ukrainian film industry not only survives, but has a future,” notes Simone Baumann, Managing Director of German Films. As part of an agreement between the Ukrainian Institute and the European Film Promotion network, PAMFIR has also received Film Sales Support (FSS) for its promotional campaign. The Ukrainian Institute is continuing negotiations with potential partners to cover the costs of promotion for two more films participating in this year's proMOTION programme. The five winners of the proMOTION 2022 programme are the films with high international potential: COMPANY OF STEEL directed by Yuliia Hontaruk, LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG by Antonio Lukic, MOUNTAINS AND HEAVEN IN BETWEEN by Dmytro Hreshko, PAMFIR by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, and ROCK. PAPER. GRENADE by Iryna Tsilyk. | |
| Cartoon Forum, the pitching & co-production forum for animated TV projects, was opening its doors in Toulouse, France from 19 to 22 September, 2022. Producers were able to pitch their project in front of 1,000 broadcasters, investors, and other potential partners from over 40 countries. For the 16th time, Cartoon Tributes was paying homage to outstanding players of European animation. Broken down into three categories - Broadcaster, Investor/Distributor, and Producer of the Year -, these awards were voted on by around 1,000 participants attending Cartoon Forum. Germany’s public broadcaster KiKA was one of the four nominees on the shortlist for Broadcaster of the Year. The winners were announced on 22 September, 2022. A total of 80 international animated series were selected from 35 countries, of which 11 were German (co-)productions being pitched: STAR STABLE: MISTFALL, 26x22', Ferly (FIN) & Atmosphere Media (GER)
TIGER AND BEAR, 52x7', Wolkenlenker & Janosch film & medien (GER)
SLEEPY'S DREAM TEAM, 52x3'30'', bigchild Entertainment & Freebird Pictures (GER)
COCOBANANA, 52x7', Den Siste Skilling (NOR) & Knudsen Pictures (GER)
VANJA'S WORLD, 26x7’, Fabian&Fred (GER)
CHILL OUT, ZEUS!, 52x11', arx anima animation studio (AUT) & die film (GER)
THE LAST WHALE SINGER, 26x11’, Telescope Animation (GER), Big Bad Boo (CAN) & Big Bad Boo Entertainment (NED)
DINO FINO, 26x11', German Film Partners (GER)
SCHALOTTE - AN ONION FOR ALL CASES, 26x7', Trickstudio Lutterbeck (GER)
MY SUPERHERO HUSBAND, 10x22', Funny Tales (GRE) & The Alphabet Initiative Agency (GER)
MERVYN'S ALBUM, 52x13', Kick the Door Productions (ESP) & BigB Animation (GER) | |
| AWARDS FOR GERMAN FILMS IN VENICE
The graduation film FROM THE MAIN SQUARE (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF) by Pedro Harres, which screened in the Venice Immersive section, won the Grand Jury Prize. Alex Schaad’s debut SKIN DEEP (Walker+Worm Film, Donndorffilm), which premiered in the Settimana Della Critica sidebar, received the Queer Lion. GERMAN SHORT FILM CANDIDATES FOR THE ACADEMY AWARDS 2023
Live-action, animated and documentary films with running times of up to 40 minutes that have qualified for submission to the 95th Academy Awards need to be registered with the Academy by 14 October, 2022. German Films is planning to publish a list of all submitted German short films and asks all producers to inform us about their submission and film by 14 October 2022 by contacting Martin Scheuring. CO-PRODUCTION MARKET EURO CONNECTION 2023 IN CLERMONT-FERRAND
The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival is organising the 15th European co-production forum Euro Connection on 31 January/1 February, 2023. Entries are welcomed from short film projects with running times of up to 30 minutes (animation, feature film, documentary, VR) that are planned as international co-productions, have already secured part of the financing, and are due to start shooting from June 2023 or later. The contact for submissions from Germany is AG Kurzfilm, for further information click here. The deadline is on 20 October, 2022. SUBMISSIONS OPEN FOR T-PORT LIGHTHOUSE SHORT FILM SELECTION 2022
The non-profit online platform T-Port makes the latest short films accessible to international industry professionals. Films of all genres up to 40 min and produced in 2021/2022 can now be submitted to the 2022 edition of the T-Port Lighthouse Selection. This highlighted section on the platform will be curated this year by Olha Raiter, co-founder and program director of the Lviv International Short Film Festival, and Enrico Vannucci, programmer and member of Locarno’s Pardi di Domani selection committee. All films registered on T-Port by 15 October, 2022 will be considered, for more info click here. | |
| German productions and co-productions in Toronto, San Sebastian, Drama, Busan, London, Telluride, Zurich, Hamptons, Bristol, Tokyo, Bucharest, Chicago, Austin, Raindance, Newport, Warsaw, Limassol, Heartland and Mill Valley. | |
| Awards for German productions and co-productions in Ottawa, Zagreb, Venice, San Sebastian and Austin. | |
| International theatrical releases in October of German films supported by the German Films Distribution Support Programme. LOVE, DEUTSCHMARK AND DEATH in Austria (Distributor: Stadtkino Filmverleih, World Sales: Filmfaust, Theatrical Release: 7 October, 2022)
MR. BACHMANN AND HIS CLASS in Italy (Distributor: Just Wanted, World Sales: Films Boutique, Theatrical Release: 10 October, 2022)
MOONBOUND in The Netherlands (Distributor: Paradiso Entertainment Nederland, World Sales: Sola Media, Theatrical Release: 19 October, 2022)
THE CONFERENCE in Israel (Distributor: Red Cape Distribution, World Sales: Global Screen, Theatrical Release: 20 October, 2022)
GREAT FREEDOM in Norway (Distributor: AS Fidalgo, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: 28 October, 2022)
RABBIT ACADEMY: MISSION EGGPOSSIBLE in Spain (Distributor: Distribución de películas Barlovento, World Sales: Sola Media, Theatrical Release: 28 October, 2022) All details correct at time of going to press. Note: changes may occur at any time. | |
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