| The new edition of the NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER short film program is celebrating two anniversaries this year: For the 15th time, the German Federal Film Fund (FFA) and German Films are jointly supporting German short films and up-and-coming talent with this initiative. And, for the 5th time, the Filmfest Dresden offered the now well-established platform for the German cinema premiere. The international premiere in Cannes will be the next highlight, before the films start on their international tour. In Dresden, the directors and crew members of the selected shorts presented their works and mingled with the festival guests during numerous industry networking activities. The five films in the program up to 7 minutes each, received a German Federal Film Board's (FFA) Short Tiger Award at a ceremony at the Zentralkino. The award goes to films that are particularly suitable for programming as supporting films in cinemas and also includes theatrical distribution in Germany. This year's awards went to BALCONIES by Xenia Smirnov, LATE SUMMER 91 by Olaf Held, OBEY, OBEY by Akira Kawasaki, PEAR GARDEN by Shadab Shayegan, and TAKO TSUBO by Eva Pedroza and Fanny Sorgo. All the jury members were present: Actress Thea Ehre (Face to Face with German Films 2025), Alexandra Gramatke (Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg) and Andreas Heidenreich (German Association of Municipal and Cultural Cinemas). The awards were handed over by Joline Sawahn, FFA’s deputy CEO and Head of Funding. During the ceremony, former Short Tiger winners Anne Isensee and Tomer Eshed shared insights into their careers. At the program's premiere on April 12, the audience at the screening took the opportunity to discover Germany's most promising young filmmakers. The program was also presented at the 54th Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival in Potsdam (April 23-27, 2025). Next up for the filmmakers and their films will be the traditional screening at the Festival des Cannes' Marché du Film on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 (6.15pm at the Olympia 2). The program will then go on tour around the globe at the Festivals of German Films and other international festivals. More information about the films and directors of this year's NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER program is available here. Industry professionals can screen the films on the Festivalscope Pro and T-Port platforms if they are registered, or they can request a screening link from nextgeneration@german-films.de The FFA Short Tiger winners can be booked by German cinemas as supporting films through interfilm Berlin. | |
| For the 16th time, the German Film Days (Tyske Filmdage) in Copenhagen presented a diverse range of current German films and invited filmmakers to take part in discussions. From April 6 to 10, eight carefully curated films were shown at the Grand Teatret in Copenhagen, Øst for Paradis in Aarhus and Café Biografen in Odense. German filmmakers, including producer Sol Bondy (KOELN 75), director Andres Veiel (RIEFENSTAHL) and director Fabian Stumm (SAD JOKES), were also present to introduce their films in person. See the full list of films: DYING by Matthias Glasner
FEMOCRACY II by Torsten Körner
KOELN 75 by Ido Fluk
PETRA KELLY - ACT NOW! by Doris Metz
RIEFENSTAHL by Andres Veiel
SAD JOKES by Fabian Stumm
THE GLORY OF LIFE by Georg Maas, Judith Kaufmann
THE LIGHT by Tom Tykwer | |
| This year again, German Films had a prominent presence at the B2B conference Series Mania Forum in Lille, France. While hosting an umbrella booth for the German industry, German Films also held a “German Happy Hour” reception together with film fund partners Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and MOIN and were joined by over 200 guests. In the Face to Face with German Talents: Serious about series panel, hosted by Deadline Hollywood’s Jesse Whittock, this year’s faces, actors Aaron Altaras, Lea Drinda, Thea Ehre and DoP Tim Kuhn, shared their experiences and the successes of the German series industry on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. Aaron Altaras was also part of this year’s Series Mania public festival as a jury member for the Short Form section. | |
| From 17 to 20 March 2025, German World Sales appeared at the EUROPE! Hub at FILMART in Hong Kong. EFP worked closely with German Films in the run-up to FILMART to provide a beautiful and eye-catching European presence between the Asian pavilions in Hong Kong. This year's FILMART attracted more than 7,600 participants from 42 countries and over 760 exhibitors from 34 countries and 250 from mainland China. Participating German world sales companies were Studio 100, The Playmaker Munich and Picture Tree International. German Films supported the stand financially and paid the participation fee for the world sales companies. | |
| European Film Promotion (EFP) has once again selected 20 promising European producers for its 26th edition of "Producers on the Move" during the Festival de Cannes (May 13-24, 2025). As a collaborating member, German Films is pleased to support this programme and the selected German Producer Fred Burle from One Two Films. The following producers are taking part in the special EFP networking programme at this year’s festival: Blerina Hankollari (Albania), Andi G Hess (Austria), Géraldine Sprimont (Belgium/Wallonie), Magdelena Ilieva (Bulgaria), Tamara Babun Zovko (Croatia), Daniel Mühlendorph (Denmark), Lionel Massol (France), Fred Burle (Germany), Claudia Sümeghy (Hungary), Deirdre Levins (Ireland), Francesca Andreoli (Italy), Kristele Pudane (Latvia), Klementina Remeikaitė (Lithuania), Vincent Quénault (Luxembourg), Bojana Radulović (Montenegro), Janne Hjeltnes (Norway), Agnieszka Wasiak (Poland), Carla Fotea (Romania), Eliza Jones (Sweden) and Thomas Reichlin (Switzerland). The producers will participate in tailor-made sessions to foster international co-productions, intensify the exchange of experience, and help create new professional networks. All participants will take part in a five-day on-site programme in Cannes, incorporating case studies, social events and an extensive promotional campaign. Three of the selected producers will be there in person to present their films which have been selected for this year's festival in Cannes. Fred Burle (One Two Films) is the German co-producer of Kléber Mendonça Filho’s, THE SECRET AGENT, which is running in Competition (as an entry from Brazil), Géraldine Sprimont (Need Productions) from Belgium is involved in Déni Oumar Pitsaev’s documentary, IMAGO, part of the competition section of this year’s Critics’ Week, and the Frenchman Lionel Massol is the associate producer of the short film LOYNES by Dorian Jesper, selected for La Quinzaine. | |
| From June 10-13, 2025, the International Animation Film Market will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. The commercial department of the Canadian Embassy in Berlin, in cooperation with the state film fund Telefilm Canada and with the support of Animation Germany and German Films, is therefore initiating a German-Canadian Animation Lab that aims to strengthen co-productions. The program includes both virtual and physical elements. As part of this project, five producers from Germany and Canada will have the opportunity to participate in carefully curated virtual workshops. These workshops offer insights into different aspects of co-production and also include training on pitch preparation, B2B meetings and individual mentoring. Subsequently, additional personal networking events will take place at the International Animated Film Market in Annecy (MIFA) from June 10-14, intended to consolidate the exchange between German and Canadian animation producers. | |
| The focus of the next session of the English-language KINO! FILM SALON online film club on May 18th will be HEAD-ON by Fatih Akin. The drama celebrated its world premiere in the international competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2004 and was awarded the Golden Bear. Lead Actress Sibel Kekilli can be seen in her first role on the big screen and she received the New Faces Award in 2004 for her outstanding performance.
Fatih Akin returns to Cannes this year with his latest feature film AMRUM, which is part of the Cannes Premieres section. The family drama reunites the director with German actress Diane Kruger, who received the Palme d’Or for her performance in his crime thriller IN THE FADE (Official Selection Cannes 2017) Our curator Jim Kolmar's comment on the movie: "Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin emerged in confrontational style with HEAD ON. This blistering drama won numerous awards, including the Berlinale’s Golden Bear, and every nominated category in the 2004 German Film Awards.
Middle-aged, beer soaked gadfly Cahit (Birol Ünel) ends up in hospital after a particularly self-destructive night, and meets the beguiling, suicidal Sibel (Sibel Kekilli). Somehow stumbling into a marriage of convenience, the two become wrapped up in a brutal, fatalistic romance with a near Shakespearean level of emotional complexity. It’s a thrilling, shattering film of love, sex, family loyalty, and a violence born of desperation. In Akin’s hands, it’s a work of great humanity and harsh reality - HEAD ON reaffirms him as one of the leading lights of contemporary film." RSVP here Date and time: Sunday, May 18th 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 78 - May 8, 2025:
On May 8, we have a double feature. Because two new films by these special filmmakers are being released at the beginning of May, there are two episodes. We had a lot of fun talking to director Christian Zübert about his search for the perfect spaghetti aglio-olio recipe, his LORD OF THE RINGS obsession, one of his early jobs as a Sous Chef, the importance of 90s film THE DARK CRYSTAL in kickstarting his film career and his fervent wish to be better at three point shots when playing basketball. Episode 79 - May 8, 2025:
It was a pleasure to talk to writer-director Jan-Ole Gerster – about his new film – the vacation-noir ISLANDS, his former job as an ambulance driver, an intense experience watching SCHINDLERS LIST and his love for walking – and Mexican food.
Episode 80 - May 29, 2025:
If she wasn’t an actress, director & producer, radio/TV host creative multi-hyphenate Désirée Nosbusch might have become an architect or interior designer. She talks about her long-standing fascination of exploring the past by walking through cemeteries, her latest film as a director – Poison – and the terrific motto of her Italian grandmother. You can find all of the episodes on our website and wherever podcasts are available. SHORT TAKE on Instagram! | |
| Episode 1 - May 13, 2025:We are starting a new season of our DEEP DIVE GENRE podcast. The focus this time is on political drama. In the first episode we talked to SEPTEMBER 5 writer-director Tim Fehlbaum about how he became a director, his beginnings in stop-motion, how choosing a project should feel almost like falling in love and the importance of images and story for a successful film. You can find all of the episodes on our website and wherever podcasts are available. DEEP DIVE GENRE on Instagram! | |
| 52nd Student Academy Awards®
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) awards an Oscar® for the “Best Student Film” in the categories Narrative, Animation, Documentary and Alternative/Experimental. Deadline for entries is May 18, 2025. The full rules and regulations are available here. The awards ceremony will take place for the first time on October 6, 2025 during the New York Film Festival, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York. For further inquiries, please contact Nicole Kaufmann (kaufmann@german-films.de) Professional training and network for budding European film producers
The Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris is a one-year training programme for European film producers and distributors at the beginning of their career. The programme is organised jointly by the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and La Fémis in Paris. Top executives from the film and media industry teach classes focusing on script and project development, financing, production, distribution and marketing. In 2025/2026, only applications by English-speaking candidates will be accepted. Deadline for applications is June 2, 2025, 12pm CEST. More information can be found here. Call for Submissions: KVIFF Central Stage & KVIFF Eastern Promises
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is now accepting submissions for KVIFF Eastern Promises 2025, including the brand-new KVIFF Central Stage– a reimagined showcase replacing the previous Works in Progress section. Selected projects in development, production, or post-production will be presented during the Industry Days at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, taking place from Sunday, July 6 to Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Full details for each section are available on the KVIFF Central Stage website and KVIFF Talents website. The application form is available here. North America Tour Helga Fanderl
German experimental director Helga Fanderl has created more than a thousand short super 8 films since 1986, which she presents in unique screenings, selecting, programming and projecting them in conjunction to reveal different aspects and relations between them. In March and April, she toured five cities in North America: The 63rd Ann Arbor Film Festival (March 25-30, 2025) organized the special screening “Constellations Super-8 (2009-2024)”. For the monthly “Visions” series in Montreal, Helga Fanderl was invited to the La Lumière Collective on April 8, 2025. On April 17, 2025 the Visual Study Workshop in Rochester screened 20 films in the program “Serendipity” at the Spring edition of the VSW Salon. The tour concluded on April 19, 2025 in New York with a screening at the Anthology Film Archive. In between the public screenings and artist’s talks, she also travelled to Boulder to give insights into her work and to screen a program for film students at the University of Colorado. HAPPY HOLIDAYS on the short list for the Latin American Critics’ Award
For the second time, European Film Promotion (EFP) is presenting the Latin American Critics’ Award for European Films. The winning film will be announced at the Guadalajara Film Festival (FICG) on June 7, 2025. Nominated by 19 national film promotion institutes from throughout Europe, the short list includes the German production HAPPY HOLIDAYS by Scandar Copti. The previous winner was THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE by İlker Çatak for Germany. | |
| Awards for German productions and co-productions at Nyon and Ann Arbor. | |
| International releases of German films in May 2025 supported by the German Films Distribution Support program: A GIRL NAMED WILLOW in Bulgaria (Distributor: Art 2020, World Sales: Sola Media, Theatrical Release: May 30, 2025, Grant: 5.000 €)
ARCHITECTON in Serbia (Distributor: MCF MegaCom Film, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: May 1, 2025, Grant: 2,500 €)
ARCHITECTON in the Netherlands (Distributor: Cherry Pickers Netherlands, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: May 1, 2025, Grant: 6.000 €)
ARCHITECTON in Belgium and Luxembourg (Distributor: Cherry Pickers Filmdistributie België, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: May 28, 2025, Grant: 2.500 €)
ELBOW in Turkey (Distributor: Mars Production, World Sales: Arthood Entertainment, Theatrical Release: May 23, 2025, Grant: 3.000 €)
ELLI AND HER MONSTER TEAM in Bulgaria (Distributor: Pro Films, World Sales: Pink Parrot Media, Theatrical Release: May 2, 2025, Grant: 7.000 €)
FÜHRER AND SEDUCER in Hungary (Distributor: ADS Service, World Sales: Beta Film, Theatrical Release: May 1, 2025, Grant: 6.000 €)
GONDOLA in the Netherlands (Distributor: J&J Films, World Sales: Coccinelle Film Sales, Theatrical Release: May 1, 2025, Grant: 3,500 €)
GREETINGS FROM MARS in Austria (Distributor: Filmcasino & Polyfilm, World Sales: -, Theatrical Release: May 8, 2025, Grant: 3.000 €)
KÖLN 75 in Hungary (Distributor: Budapest Film, World Sales: Bankside Films, Theatrical Release: May 22, 2025, Grant: 3.000 €)
RIEFENSTAHL in Denmark (Distributor: Camera Film, World Sales: Edge Entertainment, Theatrical Release: May 8, 2025, Grant: 9.000 €)
RIEFENSTAHL in UK and Ireland (Distributor: Dogwoof, World Sales: Beta Film, Theatrical Release: May 9, 2025, Grant: 11.000 €)
THE GLORY OF LIFE in Taiwan (Distributor: Swallow Wings, World Sales: TrustNordisk, Theatrical Release: May 29, 2025, Grant: 8.000 €)
THE KISS OF THE GRASHOPPER in Italy (Distributor: Trent Film, World Sales: Arthood Entertainment, Theatrical Release: May 1, 2025, Grant: 8.000 €)
THE SCHOOL OF MAGICAL ANIMALS 3 in Romania (Distributor: Cay Films, World Sales: Epsilon Film, Theatrical Release: May 30, 2025, Grant: 6.000 €)
THE SUPER ELFKINS in Slovenia (Distributor: Karantanija Cinemas, World Sales: Sola Media, Theatrical Release: May 8, 2025, Grant: 5,000 €)
TWO TO ONE in UK and Ireland (Distributor: Tull Stories, World Sales: The Playmaker Munich, Theatrical Release: May 2, 2025, Grant: 8.000 €)
WOW! MESSAGE FROM OUTER SPACE in Slovenia (Distributor: Cinemania Group, World Sales: The Playmaker Munich, Theatrical Release: May 22, 2025, Grant: 2.500 €) Please note: Correct at time of going to press. Changes may occur at any time. | |
| Contact:
Angela Sonntag (Head of Press & Public Relations) | |
| German Films Service + Marketing GmbH
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Fax +49-89-59 97 87-30 | |
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