2023 campaign trailer FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS - THE FILMMAKERS

In 2016, German Films launched a campaign promoting a new wave of German cinema achievements to international audiences and to showcase exceptional German talent worldwide.

The initiative FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS  shines a spotlight on some of the most influential German talents currently working in the industry, who represent just some of the many dynamic 'faces' of German filmmaking today.

Since its first edition, the annual campaign has established itself as a flagship platform to give international visibility to German film talent and draw the attention of the global film industry to a number of the country's most sensational newcomers and professionals.

For the first time, in 2021, German Films decided to also include other film crafts apart from actors, directors and screenwriters as a way of recognising those talents who are doing outstanding work behind the camera. In its complex production process, film is – more than any other art form – particularly reliant on the collaboration of creative minds with diverse skills and backgrounds. In 2021 and 2022, the campaign presented a greater range and  diversity of German filmmaking than ever before.

This year, German Films focuses on a variety of professions again.

Our new faces of the 2023 FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS - THE FILMMAKERS campaign are:

  • Sönke Andresen (ORPHEA IN LOVE), writer
  • Welket Bungué (BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ), actor
  • Dascha Dauenhauer (EVOLUTION), composer
  • Alison Kuhn (THE CASE YOU), director, actor & writer
  • Reza Memari (RICHARD THE STORK), writer & director
  • Lukas Nathrath (ONE LAST EVENING), director, actor & writer
  • Lena Urzendowsky (COCOON), actor

The 2023 FACES are united by their passion for the medium and desire to help shape the German film industry as it moves into a new era. All the participants will therefore contribute their own perspectives and motivations, from the need for adequate representation and inclusion and the desire for equal opportunities to the efforts to produce high-quality, current entertainment.

“Talent promotion is an important part of German Films’ work that is gaining attention and relevance over the last years. German Films is not only about promoting and supporting German films, but also about spotlighting the professionals who make them”, Managing Director Simone Baumann declares. “The focus of this year’s FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS campaign is on multi-faceted talents representing the German film industry with the approach for a sustainable and diverse future. We are proud to present seven talented filmmakers as ambassadors of our campaign this year. It is our aim to attract their visibility and to strengthen their projects’ publicity abroad. With their different biographies and professional backgrounds they have the potential to cross borders and to represent the creativity of film internationally”, Baumann continues.

The first year of the campaign was launched during the BFI London Film Festival in October 2016 and featured the following actresses:

Paula Beer, Liv Lisa Fries, Sandra Hüller, Julia Jentsch, Saskia Rosendahl, and Lilith Stangenberg. 

The campaign kicked off its second year in May 2017 during the Festival de Cannes with the support of six of Germany's most exciting male actors:

Volker Bruch, Alexander Fehling, Louis Hofmann, Jannis Niewöhner, Tom Schilling and Ronald Zehrfeld. 

The 2018 edition presented six of Germany's most prominent directors during a panel event at the 2018 Berlinale: 

Emily Atef, Valeska Grisebach, Lars Kraume, Anca Miruna Lazarescu, Burhan Qurbani und David Wnendt.

The 2019 edition of the campaign was presented at the Drama Series Days during the Berlinale 2019 with six great acting talents:

Maria Dragus, Christian Friedel, Luise Heyer, Jonas Nay, Jördis Triebel and Fahri Yardim.

The 2020 campaign did shine a spotlight on the very people who create the story, the writers:

Jana Burbach, Katharina Eyssen, Hanno Hackfort, Bernd Lange, Rafael Parente and Laila Stieler.

The 2021 campaign did feature a variety of filmmakers of various professions for the first time:

Composer Freya Arde, costume designer Ulé Barcelos, director Sarah Blaßkiewitz, actor Tua El-Fawwal, director Annekatrin Hendel, actor Lorna Ishema, storyboard artist Laila Petersen-Jama, as well as cinematographer Jieun Yi.

In 2022, filmmakers from all different fields of work were featured again:

writer & director Sarah Noa Bozenhardt, actor, prodcucer and writer Sara Fazilat, actor & director Jerry Hoffmann, film editor Julia Kovalenko, writer & director Matthias Luthardt, DOP Zamarin Wahdat and actor Anne Zander.